There is no doubt that buy­ing gear can get expen­sive.  I per­son­al­ly have pur­chased and wast­ed a ton of mon­ey on gear that I have pur­chased and have replaced because after buy­ing it learn­ing that it may not have been the best solu­tion.  I have also learned not to pur­chase a sin­gle piece of equip­ment that only serves one task, unless you are buy­ing a hur­ri­cane lantern, but even they are dual pur­pose pro­vid­ing both heat and light.  If you know exact­ly what you are look­ing for, and you are look­ing to save mon­ey, and if you are in a metro or sub­ur­ban area, Craigslist might just be your tick­et.

For instance, I rou­tine­ly look for a few items on Craigslist.  Now, I want to try to buy local­ly, so I will go to http://newjersey.craigslist.org.  In the search box for the For Sale sec­tion and I might type in some of the fol­low­ing key­words to see what might be for sale (All results below will be in north­ern NJ):

• dehy­dra­tor:  http://goo.gl/slEB
• back­pack:  http://goo.gl/piP0
• gen­er­a­tor:  http://goo.gl/Y0zE
• camp­ing:  http://goo.gl/Vto7
• camper:  http://goo.gl/NGVY
• camp:  http://goo.gl/87L1
• sur­vival: http://goo.gl/S5ZX
• knife:  http://goo.gl/gG8O
• Cole­man:  http://goo.gl/s3ey
• solar:  http://goo.gl/XBSr
• solar pan­el:  http://goo.gl/1MdT

These are just a few of the key­words for prod­ucts I might be look­ing for.  To boot, this past week I found a guy sell­ing his sur­plus solar pan­els for 40.00 each, and they are in good con­di­tion.  I have emailed him and will prob­a­bly pick up two of them.

Craigslist is not the only ser­vice you can use to look for gear deals as well.  Here are a cou­ple more for you to explore:

• Kaji­ji
• Back­Page
• Pen­nySaverUSA
• Freecy­cle

Be aware, how­ev­er, that these sites may not have near as many list­ings as Craigslist will have.  You will also have to sift through a ton of ads to find what you are look­ing for, assum­ing what you are look­ing for is list­ed there.  It is a great resource for find­ing inex­pen­sive gear if you are will­ing to be patient.  Also, feel free to low ball or try nego­ti­at­ing the price of your future gear.  Peo­ple may be look­ing to just unload it less expen­sive­ly than they list­ed it for.

Good hunt­ing!