Day 206 -- Garage Sales


I was a bit of a snot in my younger days. 

I thought, "I will NEVER buy my kids stuff at a garage sale."

I pictured them running around in pristine, matching outfits purchased from Carter's, nary a runny nose or a grass stain in the lot.

And then, I actually had kids.

In my journey towards greater enlightenment, I have realized that garage sales are pretty much just the best thing ever when you have a lot of small children.

Here are my top reasons why in a bulleted list:

  • Why buy something that costs a lot of money when there are good odds it will be thrown up on/pooped on/red Kool-aid spilled-on/and otherwise generally rendered unfit even for donation to Goodwill?
  • Why buy something that costs a lot of money when they will wear it for maybe 6 months?
  • Why buy something at a store that is logically placed in its corresponding department when you can discover it beneath piles of junk that have no organization whatsoever?  Every piece that I find is like a rescued treasure.  It's true that garage sales bring out the American Picker in me.
  • I don't like to haggle at all, but I think that a lot of people do.  It's fun to see Colby do it.
  • I get a  little thrill from seeing how much stuff I can buy with just a little cash.  It's like a challenge to see how much loot you can walk away from sale with carrying in just a couple bucks.
  • They are Earth-friendly.  Hello -- "reuse" is the second R, right?
  • They are budget friendly.  When we need to buy Breslin winter boots, but we find some at a garage sale for $1, that frees up money to put other things in the budget, like swim lessons or an extra date night.

Today, I took Dharia to a sale I happened to see on the way to the grocery store.  I bought her a pair of ridiculously cute brown clogs for fall that will look great with dresses and tights.  I also bought her a down vest with Minnie Mouse on it and a pair of pants.  Her favorite purchase of the entire trip, however, was a box of Disney Princess valentines that we took home for 25 cents.  Inside were glitter tattoos.  You can't beat the fun we had together for just a few dollars.

I love garage sales!  Thank God for them!

Lord, thank you for garage sales.  Thank you for the fun Dharia and I had together shopping at a garage sale.  Thank you that it is the season for garage sales!  In your name I pray, Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 162 -- "Showing Us the Way"

Image
One of my favorite things about the spring is the baccalaureate celebration that takes place the week before graduation.  I love the chance to see my seniors in their caps and gowns and to praise God for their arrival to the finish line.  For every year since I can remember, I've listened to Western's Select Choir perform the song "Showing Us the Way" by Michael V. Ficocelli.  When I was a senior, I even got to sing it at my own baccalaureate.  That year, and every year since I have taught at Western, I get choked up listening to the perfectly fitting lyrics of this song.  Tonight, on a perfect evening at the Cascades Falls, tears ran down my face as I watched the seniors I taught sing the words of this song to their classmates, parents, teachers, and friends.  I smiled and cried a little more as I realized that someday there's a good chance I'll be watching my own kids sing it at their baccalaureate. I had to share it with you.  This isn't Western's
Read more

Adelai Joy

Giving birth to my daughter was a series of events I will never forget. On Tuesday evening, Colby and I went out to dinner. At some point in the evening, I told Colby that I thought we should head to the hospital. Given my history of delievering babies in a startingly short amount of time, I thought we should go to the hospital sooner rather than later (labors for both Breslin and Dharia were only 4 hours each). When we got there, I was discouraged to find that I wasn't very far along in the labor process, but they decided not to send us home based on said history. It turns out this was a very good thing. 20 minutes after being told that we could be there for a while, I was in the jacuzzi tub when I realized that the baby was coming RIGHT NOW. Long story short, I gave birth to my daughter in the bathroom of my hospital room. Even though it was somewhat horrifying, I find myself wanting to relive the details of her birth over and over again. I never want to forget the feeling of wel
Read more

We Dance...and We Sing...When We Play the Drum!

Let it be known that my son gets his money's worth out of his toys. Or, in this case, someone else's money's worth. Whatever. You know what I mean. The toys that he likes, he really, really likes. He uses them a lot for a long time. This particular toy is a drum that was given to him by our friends, The Tappans, at his FIRST birthday party. Needless to say, tonight he was REALLY enjoying his gift.
Read more