Salvaged For A Good Cause

normally when someone sits something out by the dumpster as opposed to inside of it means they probably just didn't need it anymore and didn't have time to sell it. or, if the item is broken it is still easily repairable. the person who placed it by the dumpster just didn't have the time or knowledge to fix it, or maybe they just wanted a reason to get the latest greatest thing on the market. on tuesday i noticed a vacuum cleaner sitting out by the dumpster nearest to my apartment. now i don't need a vacuum cleaner because i got a new one using some reward points from a program at work earlier this year. but, my church is having a garage sale in just over a week. so i decided i would take it home and check to see if it would work or to find out what was wrong with it. i did some research on the bagless upright and found that it retails for about $160 new. leading me to the conclusion that it was worth saving for the big sale. after a thorough inspection i diagnosed it with a broken agitator brush.

my first action was to attempt to repair the agitator brush the least expensive way possible, super glue. after applying the super glue i used a large rubber band to hold the two pieces together while the adhesive was dried. from there i proceeded to clean the bagless vacuum cleaner since it will more than likely bring in more money clean than dirty.

i knew it would be best if i let the glue dry over a 24hr period so i didn't attach the brush to the vacuum until yesterday evening. after putting the brush back on. i proceed to turn on the vacuum. i'm sad to report that the glue didn't do the trick. i would have to buy a new brush for the vacuum to get the best price at the big sale. i went online, did some research, found out that the name of the part was agitator brush, and proceeded to shop for the cheapest brush i could find using various bargain sites that i know of. the best deal was a generic brush for $12.95. after adding shipping cost of $5.95 my total was $18.90. this total price was good compared to the name brand brushes from other sites that totaled over $22.

all in all i hope that the $18.90 investment will bring a larger return on the bagless upright. i feel that in it's broken state it would have only brought in $10. now that it will be fully functional i think that it will have a much better chance of being sold. on top of that i feel it would be reasonable to think that it now might sell for $40 to $50. doubling my original estimation of a profit of $10.