Yard Sale Deals

There is no way to express how great yard sale-ing is in our town. It becomes addicting because the deals are so hard to pass up! I've tried to be really careful this year about not buying things that I will not use or that will just create clutter and be thrown out next year. And my goal this summer is to only spend around one hour at it when I go, during which I can hit about 6 kid-stuff sales and only use up about $1 in gas going a total of about 5 miles.

A new baby bib that will go in my baby gift stash (50 cents), a brand new washable bib cover-all for Jer (50 cents), new pacifiers (I hope Justus is a paci-baby), and a baby feeder for 50 cents (mesh thing you put fruit in that allows them to chew without choking when they are small infants.) I also got some educational kids videos for a quarter each that will be nice for those cold winter days ahead when Mama is sick of Ali choosing the same movie again and again each day for about 20 days in a row.

I've been looking for another glass bread pan and $1 is a great price! I now bake in only glass since my metal pans have been leaving metal flecks on the bread loaves. The dishtowel is new and a welcome addition to my stash which is growing quite ragged after only 5 years of marriage!

A gift wrap stash extravaganza! I wasn't planning on buying this gift wrap (Shiloh and Amy laugh because they know my weakness for cards and gift wrap stuff at yard sales) but as I looked it over, I was surprised that a grandma would sell an unopened stack of 40 sheets of gift wrap when she obviously had lots of family she could have used it for on holidays. I asked her why she was selling it and she said she had too much and wouldn't use it and she was SO DESPERATE for me to take it that she said, "I'll throw in a bunch of other stuff if you buy the whole box for $2." So, I got 40 sheets of new gift wrap in 20 different birthday/Christmas/wedding designs, 3 new gift bags, 2 new packages of tissue paper, 2 new rolls of Christmas ribbon, 2 Christmas ornaments, a huge bag of new stick-on bows, fancy sheared tissue paper, a new package of Christmas goodie sacks, and a package of gift tag stickers. What a deal! I won't need anything for Christmas now as far as wrapping stuff goes; no matter what kind of deals Walgreens has on Black Friday! She also threw in a free new Nalgene-style water bottle she wanted to get rid of and gave Ali a free toy.

I didn't take pics but the thrift store had stuff-a-bag-for-$2 day which allowed me to get a lot of nice things for hardly anything! I got two or three sets of summer PJs which Jer needed, some socks for him, 3T pants for Jer for next year, baby clothes for a friend who needed some, shoes for Ali, baby towels for Justus, etc.

At one sale I went to a girl handed me a garbage bag and told me to stuff it full for $1!!! I had gotten there at the very end so I missed all the good stuff, but I saw the folks who had gotten there before me heading off with 7 huge bags full of girls' toys and stuff! I did find a bunch (10-15) of beautiful bow hairclips in a rainbow of colors so our bow supply is adequately stocked which is nice since Ali somehow managed to lose half of the ones I made a while back. And since that's all I could find to buy that I wanted she only charged me a quarter!

My very eco-conscious neighbor also started a Free Market every Sunday which is like a free yard sale in the park. So, there is no lack of clothing/toys/books, etc. in our town for anyone who wants it!