16 May 2009
**UPDATED**
Kaira left a great suggestion in the comment section of this post this afternoon. Why not include the price of each item so we can see the breakdown of what I paid for what. Duh! That's a great idea and I don't know why I didn't think of that to begin with! Thanks, Kaira for the suggestion. And, since you asked so nicely, I am happy to oblige! (See below for prices added to each item.)
**original post follows**
My alarm went off at 6:50 this morning as it does every Saturday morning in the months of March - October. Saturday mornings aren't for sleeping in in our house. At least not for the Mama. Saturday mornings are the earliest of all the mornings, and, in my opinion, the most exciting!
I set out today with rain pouring down, $11 in my pocket, the cuffs of my jeans rolled up, and complete submission to whatever the humid weather had in store for my hair. It was a garage sale morning - and I was pumped!
Yeah, it was early and rainy and I wasn't even sure people were going to be willing to sit out in the rain to sell their stuff. But I had vision. (I also had a snack bag full of baby carrots and a granola bar!)
Sure enough, a little over three hours later, I was already pulling back into my driveway. The sun was beating down and the temperature was already flirting with 80 degrees. I opened the front door and Oliver was excitedly making his way down the stairs asking me if I'd brought something home for him.
Boy, did I!
I love this! I love going out by myself or with my Mom and sister for a few hours every week, knowing in my head the things I'd like to find, and also stumbling across all kinds of things I'm thrilled I did.
I think of it as a twofold venture:
1. I get to get out away from being a Mommy with my little change purse filled with whatever money I was able to scrounge up the night before, and shop to my little heart's content. I love the thrill of the hunt!
2. It's is my way of being able to provide for my family. I don't actually bring in a lot of actual income into our house. We're just fine with that. But, I like to contribute in other ways. And this is a great one. I may have said before that I can actually count on my two hands the number of clothing items we've ever bought for Oliver from a retail store. He's a second-hand kid and he looks great! The same goes for us with much of what we wear and use in our house. We are not the original owners of at least 50% of the things in every room in our house. It's honestly hard for me to bring myself to pay full price for anything now.
Last summer, for example, was our first summer in Tennessee that we weren't paying someone else to do our lawn care. We needed tools. I needed a leaf rake, dirt rake, push broom and some orange extension cords. It took several weeks of finding one thing hear and another there. But, I found them! And, paid less than $8 for all of that and more.
It's frugal, yes. But, I also think it's very "green". Why buy new when you can just use something your neighbor is finished with?
So, what did I come home with this morning? What did I buy today that I knew would make Oliver's whole body wiggle? So glad you asked! Here's a little list:
- $1 - 2 cute shirts for me! (Always a plus and much more rare than good clothes for Oliver. All 2-year-olds are about the same size. All 26-year-olds are not.)
- $.50 - 1 pair of soccer cleats for Oliver (a size smaller than the pair I bought last weekend)
- $.25 - A kite - still in the packaging (a good thing to tuck away for a windy day)
- $.25 - A soaker gun and a pair of swimmies (our neighborhood pool is opening next Saturday!)
- $1 - A small planter
- $3 - A small dresser for Oliver's room - I think I'll paint it navy as well (to match his new headboard), it will be good storage since his changing table is on it's way out.
- $2 - A big ol' construction something. (This is what I knew would make Oliver's heart happy.) I'm not confident on the name of this thing (though I'm really trying to learn!), so if anyone can tell me what this is, I'd be happy to know!
- $.50 - 2 navy and blue baskets for closet storage for Oliver
- $.25 "But Not the Hippopatamous" by Sandra Boynton (one of our FAVORITE children's book authors!)
- $1 - 4 picture frames of various sizes. I love buying good, old frames at tag sales because I can get interesting frames, paint them black, and have an interesting collection of frames and photos on our big stair wall. This week I got a frame for a 4x6 photo that is actually at least 3" wide on each side. It's very ornate, very cool.
- Free (I asked about the price and the woman told me I could just have it!) A lawn sprinkler. It's pure summer fun waiting to be hooked up to a hose!
- $1 - A set of dark grey queen bed sheets with pillow cases. It's great to have a nice back-up pair!
- $.25 - 2 galvanized pails. I'm thinking of maybe painting the red one blue, drilling a hole in the bottom and making it a planter. Hmm.
And, that's what $11 will buy you in middle Tennessee on a Saturday morning.
And, for Saturday afternoon? Why, construction, of course!
Love and bargains!
Raechel
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12 comments:
I'm holding strong to it being called a dirt mover. It has the hinged body which makes it different than a front loader. And we all know the bull dozer has a flatter blade on the front...
At least this is what Oliver told me... :-)
Wow! I thought I was a good bargain hunter, but you, you are AMAZING!!!! I think it's a fantastic way to contribute to your household, and the TONKA truck/digger/excavator? is way cool!
good for you! those finds are awesome!!!!
Is there an auger or anything inside the bucketz/
I think Owen would name it a "huge bull du du du du"
ooohhhhhhh!! i love "rummaging" on a saturday morning - here in the u.p. of michigan though, our mornings can still be FROSTY in may, so our season isn't in full swing yet! but, you've made me anxious to get out my newspaper and check out what i can discover next weekend! :) you did GREAT! :) love the buckets! :)
I LOVE Garge sales too - you did AWESOME! On a side note - next edition, would you add what you paid for each item? That would be fun to see as well. :)
A fine suggestion, Kaira! I added the prices to this post so you can see!
Happy Sunday!
R
We LOVE "Not the Hippo" here. I think we have two copies. Just in case.
And I like your break-down of prices. Lets me know what I should be bargaining down to. We had a garage sale this weekend--I now have some cold hard cash to take with me to sales in the future!
Congrats on all the lovely finds.
I'm so glad to see that you added those prices - they are AMAZING! I was thinking about what a fun blog thingy it would be to do a Super Sales Saturday or something to highlight the garage sale deals of the week. I got some good ones last weekend too but didn't get a chance to blog on them as of yet. Anyhow, I am green with envy. :)
thanks for adding those prices too.
~Kaira (from my personal blog)
I have solved the mystery...the Tonka 728 (Google it) is definitely a front loader....Maybe the bucket has been removed and put back on upside down!!!
we have that same "construction" toy :) lol
i too LOVE yard sales! and bargains.
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