Thrifty and Nifty: Fabulous Finds!

This past weekend, Jenks had it's city wide garage sale and even though it has rained for like the past 10 days, there were still plenty of good bargains to be found around town. All 5 of us loaded up for a rainy, cold day of treasure hunting! Grant, equipped with our portable DVD player (something we bought almost 5 years ago for our train ride down to Dallas....what a great investment!!!), favorite Sitting Duck's DVD, snacks, and "Pa-Pween"(you know, Lightning McQueen) settled in his car seat for a long day of stop and go action. With a quick trip to the ATM and a list of things we were looking for, the Howard/Schwertfeger expedition began.

We were out looking for some newborn clothes, fall/winter clothes for Grant, some bunk beds, and some books and puzzles and other quiet, learning toys. We found some great bargains including brand new infant clothes with the tags still on them!!! What a find and the lady only wanted $0.25 a piece!!! We got some very cute items, socks, and a hat. Then we found some great old Disney VHS tapes, I love old movies and Grant enjoys them too! We also found some more toddler clothes and baby clothes at another home, all in perfect condition and some with tags on them, again at a great price. We did not find any bunk beds(wasn't really expecting to) or wood puzzles (do people not own these things?) and the book selection was terrible, but we did get a free set of encyclopedias (it's never too early to start that homeschool curriculum library), a picture frame that matches one we already had for $0.50, a free old mystery book(I love those old classics), and a silver tea set from an estate sale for $4.00(this was a splurge, but I've been looking for an old one for a long time, so Tom got it for me as a Mom's day present.) In total we spent around $12.00 and got tons of things. Garage sales can be very bad if you don't have a plan of what you want, a set budget or what you will spend total and on certain things, or if you just pick up random things.....it can easily turn into just grabbing junk and clutter you don't need, just because it's a good deal. I always like to ask myself three things before I buy or get something:

1. Will this bless my family?

2. Does this glorify God?

3. Do I know exactly where it will go/where I will use it?

If it doesn't fit those parameters, then it isn't a deal and it doesn't belong in my home! I'm still super excited about having a garage sale once we get settled in Michigan and we found out that there is a city-wide one in August, perfect timing.....that will give me plenty of time get everything unpacked, put away, and purge all the things we don't need or won't fit into our new home......how exciting!!!!!! Happy Shopping!