Wrapping Up The Long Term

We have a birthday party to go to and we pulled out our handy dandy wrapping paper. But this isn't any ordinary paper, it is wrapping paper that cost us nearly nothing.

About 7 years ago, we stumbled onto a place called Mike's Merchandise. You see, Mike buys stuff ... sometimes semi-trailer loads of stuff that was bound for stores and for whatever reason it didn't make its destination, Mike buys items from auctions, Mike buys from all over and simply resales it. Mike's isn't some seedy kind of place and the items aren't stolen. Mike just has a knack for finding good goods. The items in his store vary greatly ... and are as different as the number of semi-trailers crisscrossing the US. His stores are always full and the items can be crazy .... like parts for an F-16, sometimes coffins, sometimes conveyor belts, and so on.

5 years ago, while walking through Mike's, we found a giant, and I mean giant, roll of thick wrapping paper covered in balloons. It was clearly intended for a store that does bulk wrapping but at 50 cents for the entire roll, how could we pass it up? Over the years we've used it to wrapped many birthday presents, anniversary presents, New Years gifts, and more. I'd say we are down to the last 10 percent of the original roll and I doubt we will finish off the roll before we set sail, but boy has that 50 cents paid off over the years.

This is an example of thinking long term that has worked well for us. You see, we saw something of great value, but others saw absurd dimensions that didn't fit what their mindset of what wrapping paper should be (the roll weighed over 45 lbs when we bought it!). Do you see cumbersome wrapping paper intended for a store? or do you see incredible value that you can apply at home over the long term?