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I was never much of a secondhand clothes shopper. I know, I know, I’m not sure it’s safe to admit that in public here in the Inland Northwest, but there you go.

Every time one of my colleagues shows up in a funky vintage T-shirt he picked up at Goodwill for $3, I’m insanely jealous. Same happens when another colleague shows up in a designer skirt – a beautiful designer skirt – she picked up for $10 at Value Village.

Why, I ask myself, can’t I do the same thing?

I’ve tried a few times and I’ve picked up a purse. Big deal.

One time, I almost bought a coat, but that’s about it.

It is very rare that I pull over for a garage sale, though it does happen, say, twice every garage-sale season.

And once I picked up a very nice birdfeeder.

Let me make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against people who hold garage sales – I think it’s a wonderful idea – and when my own closet gets the annual clean-out, my shirts and sweaters go to Goodwill.

But I guess I don’t have that garage-sale bug people talk about.

And that’s why I find it rather puzzling that I’m totally hooked on buying furniture on Craigslist.com.

I can’t get enough of Craigslist. Someone’s going to have to block my computer access to the site real soon or I’m going to be bankrupt – or maybe I’m not, and that’s why I keep coming back.

The first thing I picked up was a mauve couch. It’s a Victorian copy that looks like it could have served time in a hotel lobby or maybe at your grandma’s house. It spent a couple of weeks on a covered porch, and that’s where I picked it up. I think I paid $125.

Then I got a dresser that looked tiny in the photo but turned out to be three stories tall.

It’s beautiful. A coat of white paint and $75 later I had a great piece of bedroom furniture.

Via a friend, a round table of uncertain origin found its way in front of my fireplace. I think we settled on 30 bucks, and everyone who sees it loves it.

It’s still a bit too tall to be the ideal coffee table, but I’ll figure out a way to lower it.

And just a few weeks ago, I picked up a large chandelier to hang in my dining room. It, too, needs a coat of paint – a matte black, I think – but it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for, and it was a bargain at $60.

Friday, I discovered a wonderful oak desk – for less than fifty bucks. I have to go see it. The only real problem with the desk is it may be too large to fit up the staircase to my upstairs office.

Unless, of course, I can take it apart.

And someone in Browne’s Addition has a stack of old kitchen cupboards I MUST go see.

Come to think of it it’s probably good that I’m a lousy secondhand clothes shopper. As long as I stick with furniture, I won’t be broke all the time.