Garage Sale-ing!

I woke up to the sun shining and the birds singing so I dragged the kids out of bed to do some Garage Sale-ing. I live smack dab in suburbia so the second the weather becomes agreeable the fluorescent signs start popping up and whole neighbourhoods become open air markets.

Now there is an art to shopping at garage sales. You must get up early. Many yard/garage sales start at 9 am. That means you should be out to your first garage sale by at least 9:30. You need to wait long enough that they should have gotten everything out, but not too late because the good stuff gets snatched up fast. Make sure you have some cash. But not too much. Remember, this is stuff that other people don't want so the majority of it is crap. There are some lovely gems buried in the crap though. First you find a couple in your area. Then you plan your route (or not. I just drive around and try spot as many signs as possible). Then you do a slow drive by. If you don't immediately see something of interest Do. Not. Stop! If you were to stop at every garage sale, you would waste your morning and end up with far too much junk because they suck you in. Now let's say you see something of interest, for us it is if they are predominately kids' stuff oriented garage sales. We do a slow drive by and then park as close as possible. Now here is the tricky part. I have two kids so I do a quick pop out and closer look-see. If there is something that I may really want to buy I go and grab the kids, because baking your children in a warm car is frowned upon.

I let the Sprogling try out the toys I'm considering buying for him and show Little Bit the clothing and soft toys that catch my eye. If the Sprogling seems to like the toy, it goes in the maybe pile. I walk up and down and look at everything and then I take a second look on the stuff that I want and grab the best item or two. Do not buy everything. Chances are you do not need it all. Then pack the kids back up and scoot before you reconsider and buy more.

Rinse and repeat!

Today was a good sale day. I grabbed a bundle of soft reading books that as soon as I wash them, Little Bit can chew on to her heart's content instead of ruining her brothers' board books. Patrick got two toys that closely resemble his favourites at the nursery at church, so I know he'll play with them and hopefully he won't be so possessive of the ones at church. And the steal of the day were some of those puzzle foam mats.

You know, like these, but multi coloured.

Those suckers usually cost nearly 30 bucks a pop normally for a pack of 4 and I got 4 packs for $40.00. It was more than I planned to spend but I've been eyeing these for a very long time. With a daredevil toddler in the residence, you begin to worry about cracked heads more than ever.

Great day for Garage Sale-ing and now we are home sipping on bright red drinks and developing juice mustaches.