Yard Sale Finds-Easter Shopping Edition

I know I have said this in the past, but I am trying hard to stick to the things that we need and use as I shop at yard sales now.  The fact that we will be having our fourth girl very soon has also changed the way I shop.

Back when I had just 1 child, I used to buy clothes as an actual investment!  Seriously.  I could find some super cheap high end clothes in the area I lived.  So, I would buy them, let Mustang wear them once (praying the whole time she didn't mess them up) and then sell them for a profit-sometimes a substantial one.  

Because of this, I didn't need to add money from our budget for MANY years.  The profits I had made kept me running through about 3 kids.

But, as I have had more children, less time to sell stuff, less time to work on removing stains, less time to pray they didn't ruin the 'valuable' clothing, and really, just less time to care that they were or weren't wearing the 'high end' stuff...my view on clothes shopping has really changed.

Now, when I yard sale shop I think 1) does it fit now?  2) will said child wear it (I ask them now and listen, when they say no it really does mean it will just sit in the closet) and 3) will it last through THREE kids????  I still am debating on keeping Mustang's clothes for Mini Cooper (I didn't in the past and there is a huge size difference), so I re-buy for Mini Cooper and then just move her stuff directly into Explorer's closet, which will pretty much move directly into baby girl's closet, and if it survives moves into the donate pile, because it's not (generally) worth selling after 3 (or maybe 4 or 5 if I bought it used) girls have worn it.  But, someone might like it as free play clothes :).

With all that in mind, my yard shopping has become much more streamlined.  With 5 kids it's still a HUGE necessity as I can't afford to clothe 5 kids with new clothing.  But, I'm at least trying to be sure it doesn't add to my clutter issue!!

Huh, that was long winded!!

On to the finds!

First up, the Easter finds (like the title says).  Nope, no Easter eggs or cheesy decor.  Easter CLOTHES.  One week away from Easter is the PERFECT time to start looking for Easter attire, right?  Um, well, yeah.  I was thrilled to find Charger's Easter shirt and shoes!.

The shirt was a little pricey at $5.00, but for a like new Ralph Lauren shirt, I was okay with that.  The shoes are also like new and were $3.00.  I already have his jeans (also Polo), so he is set!

Mustang has been growing like a weed-especially her feet.  Of course, nothing from last spring fits.  So, finding these hardly worn shoes for $1.00 that match her dress perfectly made me very happy!

I don't often shop for DH, but at $2.00 a piece, these will be great for summer.  They are like new.

More for Charger.  2 pair of like new Adidas shorts for $3.00 each (very happy with that find!).  2 Gymboree shirts for $2.00 each.

Always exciting to find NICE clothes for 50 cents a piece!!  Mustang and I went through the VERY large pile and chose clothes we could both agree on.  It's all Justice, Old Navy and Children's Place, and in great shape.  The one pair of jeans are for next fall (a bit too big now, but at 50 cents they ARE worth storing).

This last item kinda goes against the grain of my intro rant, but was cute enough I had to get it anyways.  It's a size 3, which is the size that Explorer is wearing right now.  Will it still be her size in the fall?  Your guess is as good as mine.  But, it's super duper cute, and if she DOESN'T get to wear it, baby girl will, so for just $1.50 for a Gymboree dress, I'll give it a shot.  Especially since I already have the matching tights ;).

A couple things that didn't make the photo shoot-a really nice sweater vest for Charger (not sure how I missed it) $3.00, a pair of baseball pants that Charger really needs, but are just a *smidge* too small $2.00, and a wicker chair that Mustang picked out for her American Girl doll $1.50.  

Grand total spent:  $35.50.  Not bad considering the original retail price of the last dress was around $36.00.  Hence the reason I shop at yard sales :).

Did you find anything good this week?  I'd love to hear about!  Feel free to leave links to posts in the comments.

Hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Lisa

Yard Sale Finds the Swap Edition

It's yard sale season around these parts...FINALLY.  I didn't blog about them last year, but I missed them!! 

I don't know if it was the looooooooonnnng winter or what, but I was SO excited to get out and visit the first one of the year that I was able to check out.  And, equally as excited to blog about it!

I just went to one, but we also went to our yearly homeschool co-op swap and were blessed with a few goodies (and took 3 trash bags of stuff to share).

At the yard sale, I spent a total of $23.00 (includes the items below, too).  My goal was to find clothes for baby girl.  I was hoping for newborn/3 months, but I wasn't successful.  I did find some cute 6 month items, though.  

 I found 5 pair of pj's for Mini Cooper at just 50 cents a piece.  Great deal!

And for $2.00 I picked up a fall coat for Mini Cooper.  I love that it is black and doesn't show dirt-since it may need to last through all 3 of my little girls!

The swap was just a lot of fun!  It seemed like everyone left with a few new treasures-almost as good as Christmas (maybe even better since it didn't cost any money).  Our favorite finds:

3 magnetic people books.  We love these!

I thought we'd give this game a try.  It's the kind of game we would only play once or twice, so we will play it and then take it to the next swap.  I love how that works!

There weren't any baby girl clothes (there are 4 of us having or have had baby girls this year), but I did find this adorable little dress, boots and hat.  They won't fit for a bit, but I'm happy to store such cuteness!

My very favorite kind of Carter's blanket.

A lovely pile of little girl clothes for Mini Cooper and Explorer to share and pass down to the new little lady.  There were a few more items we found, but they were already in the wash when I took this photo.

And this beautiful Christmas dress.  Hopefully it will fit Explorer this Christmas!

Last but not least, I forgot to take a picture of this, but Mini Cooper found a BabyCakes cupcake maker!  She was thrilled.  I normally wouldn't have bought one (since I hear most people only use it a couple of times), but we are looking forward to making some cupcakes for our Easter week next week.  

My friend Mrs. Taffy is not blogging anymore, so I don't have anywhere to link up at.  I'd love to hear about any treasures you found this week, though!!  It's part of the fun of finding a deal :).

I hope you have a great week!

God Bless,

Lisa

Yard Sale Treasures

I know it's been a very long time since I did one of these, and I'm not likely to make a habit of them.  Mrs. Taffy doesn't do her weekly link up (she doesn't have a blog any more *cry*).  Also, I certainly don't look like too much of a minimalist when I go yard sailing (working on that).  But, this week I hit one of those sales I just HAD to tell someone about, and my hubby doesn't really care, lol!

Of course this would be the week where I had very little cash, which is good because otherwise I would have been tempted to buy everything there.  But, this is what I did get, pretty much all at one sale!

Let me tell you, everything at the sale was ADORABLE, but I went for the Gymboree.  I had to put my focus on one thing or I would have bought it all!  As you can see there are 3 complete outfits, WITH shoes, all in either Explorer, or Mini Cooper's size.  I paid $10.50 for everything in this photo!

More Gymbo-and yes those are gymmies for $1.00!  One outfit on the right is Crazy 8's.  Total for all was $6.50!

These are the few non Gymbo I picked up because they were adorable.  Top skirt is Gap and the bottom is a boutique twirl skirt that is adorable!!  $4.00 for all of this!

And then, my favorite part-the shoe haul!!  $1.00 per pair!

These are from a different sale and an annoying yard sale rant-put sets together...please!!  These sets were not together and were priced SEPARATELY!  Sheesh.  I even asked the lady if anything went with the red stripe pants and she said no?!  I had to find the set and then pay 50 cents per piece, it was weird.  So $2.00 for both sets.

And this little gem-a new with tags Hartstrings set for $5.00.  I was pleased, just hope it still fits this fall!

Grand total of $36.00 for all these adorable items seemed like a pretty great weekend to me!!  Did you find anything good this weekend?  I always love seeing a fun yard sale post, so let me know :).

Have a great Sunday and God Bless,
Lisa

Garage Sale Treasures: Week 6

Believe it or not, I've actually done a lot of yard sailing over the last few weeks, its just that either I haven't had a chance to post my finds, or it seems like I haven't found any real treasures.  The main 'problem' is that I have been doing a pretty good job of sneaking good finds to save as gifts for the kids, so all I have had photos of were clothes.  I know clothes are great, but a little dull after awhile.  This week, however, I have something to show you :).
I must preface the first photo by telling you that the ad just said teachers, parents, homeschoolers, book sale.  I was expecting books to read and hoped that it would be worth my drive because I was cutting close on time for another commitment.  I was NOT expecting a used curriculum sale for a homeschool mom who was selling all her stuff since her youngest was 20 and now finished with school.  She had TONS of stuff and my mind was spinning so I didn't get much  Thankfully, I have emailed her and am going back on Friday to get a few things that I wished I had purchased the first time.  (turns out there was a mass email that went to our homeschool co-op that I missed, so I was able to email her)

I DID, however, get these!!!!  Be still my heart I about passed out on the ground.  Seriously, I could hardly contain myself since these are on my to buy list.  I paid...ready?  $25.00 for all!!!  Um, yeah, I'm still doing the happy dance.  I am so thankful!

I also purchased these from her.  $1.00 for each on the left, 3 for the one in the middle and 5 for each on the right.  I spent $43.00 total at her sale.  One FIAR book costs $35 plus shipping new.  

I found this beautiful-huge, thick-coffee table with full page photos of Italy. I know the children will enjoy exploring this one! $2.00

Super cute dress for me.  $3.00

Dora van $2.00, to go with the Dora house (not sure what happened to that photo), also $2.00.  

A great bunch of clothes for Charger, including a shirt for his Old Settler's pageant costume.  50 cents each piece-3 of which were Levi's jeans!

The cutest jacket ever!  50 cents. 

I also bought a big bag of clothes for the girls through our local Facebook swap which is my new addiction.  $10.00 for everything in the bag-I set out some of my favorites.  

And this sweet costume was on the top of the bag.  Mini Cooper has been in love :).

Did you find any great treasures this week?  I'd love to read about them!  Come link up at My Life On A Taffy Pull's weekly linky, too!  

Garage Sale Treasures Week 5

It's amazing how fast a week goes when summer hits!  I hope you had a good one!  We found a few goodies even though the first yard sale of the day left me confused when the seller was asking brand new prices on her used Melissa and Doug stuff-7.00 for a used puzzle?  Um, no!

Actually, my very best part of the day was that I actually bargained this time!  I never do, but I promise I am going to start doing it more.  I had one item that was priced at 20.00 that I got for 10 because I asked!  It was an item for a gift, though, so you'll have to wait for my end of the season gift posting-I plan to do this all at once when I know that no children will be home to watch the photo taking :).

On to the things you can see now :).

It was mostly Charger's week.  Usually the girls get everything, not this week!  A bunch of shirts, most were 25 cents.  The Abercrombie shirt was 1.00, as was the gray sweater.  The navy and white stripe top was 50 cents.  $3.50 total.

Two nicer shirts, one Ralph Lauren polo, 2.00, and a Card's jersey, 2.50.  Shorts 1.00 and the shoes were 50 cents.

This was my bummer deal.  I gave $4.00 for this John Deere comforter and sheet set-or so I thought.  Stupid me didn't undo the tape, why I still don't know, and there was only ONE sheet and the comforter had some small stains.  *sigh*

This sleeping bag has been something my husband wanted for Charger.  The girls each have a sleeping bag, but he didn't.  Dad wants to do a sleep out in the backyard.  $2.00 for Scooby-doo, socks found inside from last owner: priceless!!  (or just eewww)

I found a great sale for Mustang's clothes.  I asked her to look with me and she refused.  She said she had enough clothes.  Hmm, she may be right :).  I did still get her two tops and a skirt she can mix and match for 3.00.  The gray shirt is Hanna Montana, so she was happy.

Outfit on the left for Mini Cooper, 1.00, two pair of pjs for Explorer, 1.00.

I just realized the other day I needed a new bath rug.  I was happy to find this one for 2.00.

Stop and Go signs for Red Light Green Light, bear paws for our Jesse Bear unit this week.  1.75 total.

Dissect a frog lab and science experiment kit.  $1.00 each.

This made me happy.  It is a 1st grade Phonics and Word Study set!!  All the papers are black line masters and everything needed was here and in perfect shape!

It came with a file folder holder so you could gather each weeks supplies and put it in the right folder!  $3.00.

This was bummer number 2.  4.00 for this really pretty dress.  I don't like it on me :(.  I don't know if I'll get my money back when I sell it or not.  But, it will be going.

Bummers number 3, 4, and really 5.  Neither the shirt (2.00) or shorts (1.00) fit me.  Bummer 5 is that I apparently need to loose weight for the first time in my adult life.  The baby weight just is NOT coming off this time.  It always has in the past.  

But, these two skirts made up for my bummers!!  They were already hanging on the line so I could wear them yesterday.  They were both marked $3.50, and she took 50 cents off each when I asked.  I had hoped for more, but they are very pretty skirts. 6.00 total.

And at the next sale I found this shirt to match the skirts for 25 cents.  

Charger found this cool Cars play set and 6 cars (3 are already lost in the house somewhere).

Mack turns into a roadway.  The seller had them all for 10.00, but offered them to Charger for 5.00.  I do like it when they offer my kids a deal because they are cute :).

Total of 46.50 (plus 10.00 for the gift), so I blew my budget a bit, but overall some good deals.  

Did you find anything good (or any bummers?)   Come link up at My Life on Taffy Pull!

God Bless!