Putting the Dollar to Use

When we lived in Lafayette, I bought a chinois strainer, pestle and stand at a garage sale for one dollar.  The tool is used to make  ultra-smooth soups, sauces, and clear stocks.  I have been storing this bulky thing since getting it in ‘06 but had yet to use it.  In the effort of getting Eliza to like her baby food better, I thought I would try to put the homemade baby food through the chinois to make it less chunky.  I believe that it helped, but Eliza was just not a fan of baby food.  So, I guess I am going to have to find some recipes that call for this tool (maybe from my new Julia Child cookbook) in order to use it more frequently.  But, I did get my dollars worth!

This Could Be the End

You never know when the last warm day of Fall might be or when the last weekend of garage sales is going to happen. That's what got me out of my warm bed on Saturday to hit the road, and I am so glad that I did! We found some items that were on our list to possibly "buy at full price," and that's the best kind of find! There are a many different styles of bartering, and Kirk has been trying to change my habit of offering an amont when something isn't tagged, to instead ask and see first what the seller wants for it! This weekend I tried his method and it worked well! It just proves that every person values things differently. I found the Cookie Jar (see earlier post) but there was no price tag on it, so I asked the lady what she wanted, and she said 50 cents. If I had made an offer first, I was going to ask if she would take $2, which would have still been a steal! I later saw an older model Cookie Jar for $3!

Here are a few other pictured items we found:
A pool float with a sunshade which will be great down in Florida!

Stuffed animals are not something we have ever bought for Eliza (and this is probably the only time that you will see me buy one at a garage sale), but this one was in great shape and says the body parts that you push! I had read reviews and a lot of moms love this stuffed dog.

We also found a Pink Placemat from Kiddopotamus that we got for only 25 cents.

We also cleaned the exersaucer that the Hults family gave us before they moved to Atlanta. Eliza is a little tired in the picture, so she wasn't terribly interested in it, but we think this will be fun for her to hang out in. One cool feature: the house has a recording setting which allows us to record a message to Eliza and when she hits the big button, it now plays "Hi Eliza, mommy and daddy love you."

Tiki Torches

An addendum to our garage sale post, on Friday we also picked up 4 of these black metal tiki torches for only $1.50 each (they retail at Lowe's for $11). I had to spray paint them black, since they had definitely seen some use (and rust), but definitely a deal not to miss. Also, I hate those luau/tropical thatch-like tiki torches (I hate them in the Midwest, but they are fine in the tropics), so it was nice to find some that were metal.

Other than this, the Friday sales were pretty lame this week, but Saturday was great (see earlier post)!

Garage Sales - Week 3

OK, so week 3 of serious garage sale shopping is in the books. Some of you may think we have an addiction, or at least a bit of a problem, but the plan is to stock up so that we have whatever we may need (and can get cheap) before next summer's garage sales. And, if the deal is too good to pass up, we'll even buy some things a few years ahead.

We had extra fun on Saturday, as our first stop was a big sale at Second Presbyterian Church on Meridian. They had tons of stuff (we spent well over an hour there), and Kirk ran into some moms who had donated through DonorsChoose.org (he was wearing a DonorsChoose.org t-shirt that they noticed). It made for some great conversation and friendly shopping (and some deals!).

Now for this week's loot!


Not as much clothing this week, but what we did get was really great! The haul includes a pair of brand new shoes that retailed for $30 (we spent $7 which was a big stretch for us, but Lynne thought it was worth it). The outfits include 5 really cute good quality dresses with pants/bottoms (I love the yellow one with the turtles from Gap), 1 hat, 2 tops, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of tights, and Eliza's first swimsuit (the purple-stripey thing). Combined that was about $16. Again, that's more than we spent the previous weeks on clothes, but part of the cost was a donation to the church hosting the sale, and the clothes are really top notch. Also an important note, these outfits range from 3 months to 12/18 months, so we really are planning ahead!


One of the purchases we were most excited about, this great easel for when Eliza is bigger and can draw and paint. It's in great shape and cost only $10!


This table and chairs matches the easel and fit our plan for our basement. When we finish most of the basement next spring/summer, the plan is to use a significant amount of the space as a play area for Eliza. Lynne had always envisioned a table and chairs, and these, with the matching easel and some pieces we already own, will work really well! These only cost $10 total, too! We bought them from a woman who runs an at home daycare, and she was really nice to talk to.


This were some fun little add-ons at the church sale: a plastic doll house (better to transport than the gigantic wooden dollhouse Lynne's grandpa made for her) with all its pieces, and, up on the chair, a shape puzzle ball and a soft fabric tea set. $4 for everything in the photo.


We had been looking for a portable high chair seat for a while, but had a very difficult time finding one that was clean, in good shape, and un-stained on the straps. This was at the church sale for $3, and we got the pink Bumbo and tray for only $4! That is a crazy price! We've seen Bumbos for sale at garage sales for $20. Now, some of you may have read in the past that we already had a Bumbo and a tray, so why another one? My mom is a big fan of these, so one will live at their house, for sure (or maybe we can sell it for more than we paid? :) just kidding).


OK, this was a random find, but we both loved it so we couldn't pass it up. For $4 we got this gigantic caterpillar rocking "horse" for Eliza to enjoy. It is in terrific shape (looks like at was never used, and smells fine), and buying it allowed us to barter down some clothes at this particular garage sale, too.


Kirk is a big fan of Lego's and wants Eliza to enjoy them, so he's always got his eyes peeled for cheap Duplo's and such. We already had some, so now we got some Duplo's and this Mega Block safari set for $2. The old couple selling it (grandparents, clearly), looked at me like I was crazy when I offered them only $2 for the box full. I told them I wouldn't go any higher, and I eventually left with the loot. :)


Lynne saw these and loved them, but didn't say anything. Then Kirk saw them, thought Lynne would love them, and made sure to point them out. $2 later we left with these cute ice cream lights: perfect for an Eliza birthday party in the future?!


We are always looking for good children's books, and we found this lot for $1 total. That's right, all this for a buck, pretty crazy. We want some good multi-cultural books too (other nationalities are a plus, but basically, things without all the characters being white-skinned), and we found a few in this lot, and love "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything," "Peter Rabbit," a PBS book that goes through emotions and facial expressions, and a book from the old Robin Hood Disney movie (Kirk's favorite old Disney cartoon).

After all that, everyone needed a nap!

Garage Sales - Friday is Fantastic

This Friday Kirk had the day off of work, so there were some big garage sales down the street and we decided to go shopping on Friday instead of our usual Saturday morning adventure. We ended up spending 5 hours (!) going to a bunch of sales in our area (we didn't even make it up to Carmel) and learned that Friday is definitely the day to get children's items, since moms pick them all over on Friday and little is left on Saturday. Eliza did great for most of the trek, and we got her loads of goodies pictured below (and some for mom and dad, too!).





Now that Eliza has her own room and closet, Lynne needed more space for her clothes, especially the seasonal ones she wasn't going to wear any time soon. She was excited we found this wardrobe to put in the basement, and Kirk was excited that we bartered it down to $3! (and it was just down the street so he could carry it home).

Here is the major haul! We spent $28 on tons of clothes for Eliza, all in really great shape and good quality (we probably looked through about 100 times this amount today, no joke). The items include 2 sleepers, 4 dresses, 17 pants, 1 sweater, 1 jumper, 9 tops, 1 pair of shoes, 4 pairs of socks. We're stocking up for the first 12 months too, since there aren't garage sales to scour in the winter months.

Our friend Hayden had a set of these, and she loved them, and they are fun and educational (and make a great mat on a wood floor, like we have all over the house). All the letters and numbers, for only $3!

Two little purchases Kirk found at sales that didn't really have things for kids. A little piano and an awesome "Baby's First Bible" with great illustrations and lessons. These were basically free.

Kirk found three cans of brand new tennis balls (a rarity to find unopened balls at a garage sale!) and books by an amazing entrepreneur he likes (Guy Kawasaki) and chef Tom Colicchio (head judge on Top Chef) before he was uber-famous. $1 each

What a great day!

Saturday Morning Dates

For the past two summers, Saturday mornings have been our time together going garage sale hunting. I have never been one to do this before but now it is become quite a strategic set-up. On Friday mornings I will look online & find all the sales for Saturday & then I organize them by area. I quickly send the list to Kirk who continues the organization by picking out the ones that we would like (i.e. ones that have no Baby items for sale!) & then he maps out the sales with an optimal driving route. I know this seems like a great deal of work but it has proven to be worth the effort! Over the past two summers we have found some amazing deals: brand new workout equipment, a brand new chair massager, an old table that I painted and made amazing (only $15!), books, jewelery, a fur stole, camping supplies, high quality cookware, & much more! So you never know what may be around the next corner...or garage in this case!