Frugal Finds and Fixes: Sometimes it's there waiting for you.

One reason so much water came in the garage last weekend was that the old weatherstripping on the garage doors was past its prime.  After thing started to dry up, outside as well as inside, Mr. Fixit pulled off the old stuff and went looking for replacement stripping.  He bought some at the Large Canadian Chain, but when he got it home and examined it more closely, it did not look like it would fit well on our 1959 doors.  The Big Box place also didn't have what he wanted.  So he tried another place, a smaller chain where he's had good luck before.  This store has two parts: the main store building, and another building at the back for contractors, where you have to be invited in.  When Mr. Fixit explained what he wanted, the hardware guy showed him the regular stuff on the store shelf, and then said, "We have some heavy-duty stripping in the back building--do you want to check that out?" He got the key and took Mr. Fixit into the hardware holy place, and Mr. Fixit kind of did a double take: they had exactly the kind of real rubber stripping he had just taken off the doors.  Old stock, no bar code.  "How long has this been sitting here?" Mr. Fixit asked.  "I guess since before we were bought out by the new owners, so at least fifteen years."

AND the price was at least fifty per cent less than the not-as-good stripping he'd seen elsewhere.

So tell me that's all just a coincidence.  No? I didn't think so.