Back in the 90s, our daughter’s birthday was approaching and my wife and I decided to give her a sewing machine cabinet. Always frugal, we visited several sewing stores to find just the right one, but at a reasonable price. We were in a store, and I was checking out the merchandise, when I spotted a nice-looking cabinet up near the front window. It was marked down, and I saw that the hinges on the folding top were sprung. Now a good cabinet normally sold for $300-$400, but this one could be had for less. I called the manger over and began to bargain with him about the price. He ultimately caved in at $100, as-is. I knew I could get new hinges for a few bucks, and install them myself.

A bargain if there ever was one. Now all I had to do was get it home, fix it ,and deliver it to our daughter who lived 285 miles south of us.

I wheeled it out of the store, popped the trunk on the car…and it would not fit. So we raced home, got the other car, popped the trunk…and it would not fit in that one either. Humiliated, I called my brother-in-law and had him come to the store with his pickup and haul the cabinet home for me.

I bought the new hinges, installed them and the cabinet was good as new and ready for delivery. But, of course, I already knew that nothing I owned would haul it.

When it comes to things with wheels, there’s part of my brain that sort of drops out whenever I start thinking about them. Get me around a car or truck dealership, and reason takes a hike, while my mind makes up reasons to buy. So here’s what happened.

Problem: I HAD to get that cabinet to our daughter for her birthday.

Solution: I HAD to buy a pickup to accomplish this task.

So I sold my wife’s car to her sister who needed a decent car. 

Taking that cash for a down payment, I visited the Dodge dealer, and tried out a few pickups. I settled on a brand new 1992 Dodge Dakota, for which I paid $13,300.

A few days later, my wife and I drove down to Illinois and presented our daughter with a brand new sewing machine cabinet, which she still uses to this day. My Dodge Dakota, on the other hand, got traded off a few years later on some other irrational (to everyone except me) vehicle purchase.

For those of you keeping score, here’s the final tally:

Sewing machine cabinet – $100

New hinges – $5

Delivery – $13,300 (plus gas and tolls)

But, you know, if you consider the our daughter has had thirty-three years of happy sewing, that sewing cabinet was a real bargain.