1/7/2012

1/7/2012

Since garage sales are not as abundant here in the winter I have been looking on craigslist to make sure we hit some good ones. I hit a fundraiser for a baseball team. No where near the biggest garage sale I have been to but a pretty good size! At this garage sale I bought. A soccer ball, pair of shoes, little buzz lightyear costume, and some laces..... grand total: 3 dollars. I didn't take a picture of the soccer ball but it was in great condition.

I have been looking for some cute flats and I love these. They were $1!

I use lace for SO many things so I always try to have some on hand.

Jaysa LOVES Buzz lightyear. I put this on her when I got home and she kept asking me to call her Buzz.

I also bought these pillows today for .50 cents a piece. I have been looking for pillows like this at stores for the last few months! They are a dark brown burlap fabric. Crazy I found them at a garage sale! Saved myself a lot of money!

Here they are on my bed. I only ended up using two but I am sure I will find a spot to put the others. Took this pic on my iphone so sorry it's not a great one.

I also picked up this boppy for $1. I am going to wash it, get a new cover for it and give it to a friend that is pregnant. You really have to be careful about giving garage sale presents. I ONLY give garage sale gifts to friends who I know don't mind shopping at second hand stores, who have come garage saleing with me or have asked me to pick up things for them while I garage sale. Some people don't like the idea of having something that was previously owned. I don't look at it that way. I see it as being able to have the finer things in life and saving money at the same time. Here is how much I saved. At Target a bobby pillow that comes with a cover was anywhere from $35.00 to $50.00. Click here to see their prices on Boppys. I saved at least $34 dollars. Even after buying a new cover I will still save $24 dollars.

DEAL OF THE DAY

Today my Deal of the day would be this double stroller and car seat that I bought for $20! They had $30 on it which is a great price. However, I went and asked if they would go down and she said she would take $20! This is a really nice double stroller. It's a Baby Trend Sit-n-Stand Plus and has been kept in really good condition. The women said she only used it like 4 times. I looked up stroller at Target.com and something similar runs about $160.00 The car seat sells for $98.00. Thats a $238 savings!!!! Totally worth it to me. Unfortunately I do not need a new double stroller and I for sure do not need a new car seat. I paid $55 for my car seat and stroller. So this was a better deal but I am going to list these on craigslist and see if I can make a profit on it.

When buying car seats from a garage sale you have to be VERY careful. It has to be a recent car seat. If it's too old it may not meet car seat standards these days. Make sure it's only a few years old and that it has not been buckled into a car during an accident. Someone told me that in some places policer officers are starting the cut the straps of car seats that have been in wrecks so that they cannot be used again. I also know that none of the second hand stores will take a car seat if the stickers on the side have been ripped off. To some people I would just suggest they buy a new one. If you can't afford a new one buy one from a second hand stores who have checked out the car seat already. Initially I was just interested in the stroller but the women threw in the car seat for me. It has all its stickers and is a recent model so I knew I could take it to a second hand store and have them buy it from me. In this case it made no sense to leave it behind.

OTHER AWSOME DEALS

Cute barstools. $5 dollars a piece!

Such a cool old dresser!!!! This was bought when I got there. The lady only paid $10 dollars for it and plans to redo it!

Kids toys. Toys are SOOOOOO expensive in stores!!!! which is why I prefer to buy mine at garage sales. The three little bikes in this picture are $2 dollars a piece. Thats a much more affordable price.

LESSON LEARNED

Today I decided to drive out to a neighborhood that was not on my route but that was in an affluent area. Initially I thought it wasn't going to be that far out of my way but I was WRONG. I wasted 30 mins and my gas getting out there and it was not even a garage sale! The couple had the bright idea that they would clean out their garage Saturday morning but list it as a garage sale just in case they wanted to sale anything they didn't want........WHAT?!?!?!?!? Needless to say they had nothing good and had no idea what was for sale and what they were keeping. I was not happy! I had wasted my time and money. Lesson Learned: Just because it is in a nice area doesn't mean they will be selling nice things. Sometimes driving to the nicer areas that may be a little further away doesn't pay off.