Author Topic: $300 for a 9' Christmas tree? Nah. $30 and a few hours.  (Read 1452 times)

Syonyk

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4610
    • Syonyk's Project Blog
$300 for a 9' Christmas tree? Nah. $30 and a few hours.
« on: December 21, 2017, 07:27:23 PM »
This is our second Christmas in our house (as opposed to rentals with no room for trees), and last year, we had about a 6' live tree - which looked tiny in the center of our living room, because we have trap windows (a peaked roof in the center of the living room) to show off our amazing view of the mountains and fields.

Well, I wanted a taller tree that would fill the window better and not look comically small, and I was willing to try an artificial tree, because, well, they're easier, and I'd rather not chop down more trees than needed.  We looked briefly at the "live tree" thing, but you put the thing in your living room for a day, then go plant it.  And planting a tree in the middle of winter around here just doesn't sound fun.

Anyway, my wife found a 9' tree at a yard sale or rummage sale or something for a whopping $14.  The catch?  The lights on it almost entirely didn't work.

So, about 5 man-hours of labor later to remove all the lights (they're held on by zip ties and what look like bread bag tabs), $16 in new lights (two strands of 300 each), we have a very nice looking tree that fills our living room nicely, for a fraction the cost of having bought a new one.  And we should be able to keep this tree for many, many years.

Perks of an artificial tree: If the branches aren't aligned just right for where you want an ornament, simply bend the branch slightly into position! :)

Jenny Wren

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 753
  • Location: PNW
  • Just another dharma bum
Re: $300 for a 9' Christmas tree? Nah. $30 and a few hours.
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2017, 07:53:49 PM »
Nice! We did the same thing with our tree, also purchased at a garage sale many years ago! Bonus was since our tree was no longer a prelit tree after removing the old lights, it was easy peasy to upgrade to LEDs in the post-holiday sales a few years ago. Now our tree is also energy efficient, which saves even more.

After the holidays I always see a few artificial trees put out on trash day as well, likely for the same reason.