Yard Sale Season

With the early warm weather we’ve been having, I think people have gotten into the yard sale mood early around here.  The last few weekends I’ve been driving around and seeing the bright signs pointing me into neighborhoods and compelling me to take a peek.  (I love yard sales.)

I’ve done quite well getting a head start on Baby Boy Cline’s wardrobe with some of these sales.  I promise not to continually post pictures of every outfit I purchase for this kiddo but considering this is my first foray into all things baby, I can’t get over how cute little tiny socks and itty bitty swim trunks are.  So I can’t help myself to share a few of my finds…

I scored a bunch of basics at one house that literally had tubs and tubs and tables fully of baby boy clothes.  It was pretty easy to pick through and find things in good conditions – half of these white onesies looked like they had never even been worn.  I really want to do some freezer paper stencil onesies (in my abundance of free time before BBC arrives) so I’ll hopefully use these for that project.

I got another batch of clothes the next weekend another sale – the Paul Frank swim trunks were my favorite.  I know it’s bit of gamble to guess if he’ll really be the appropriate month size that he should be next summer, but for 50 cent – I can take that gamble.

Just stop with the cuteness right there, please.

Oh and I may have picked up a little something for myself…. I love this dress.  The bad news is that I have no idea if it’s going to fit me (it’s definitely a post-pregnancy dress, there is no room for a bump in it) but again, it was a $3 gamble I was willing to make.  It looked very anthropologie-esque and I couldn’t help but bring it home.  If it doesn’t fit me, I will just have to bequeath it to one of my skinnier friends.

My true labor of love in all this thrifting has been piecing together my stroller.  This wasn’t exactly done by yard sale, but by patiently stalking Craiglist and eBay.  I don’t know how I got it in my head that I wanted this particular stroller – some combination of the Baby Bargains book, Babble reviews and pregnancy hormones – but once I did, I was on a mission.  I just didn’t want to pay full price for it.  I started off with a frame I found on Craiglist and made my poor sister go pick up, because it was down in Charlotte.  Then I was able to find a new fabric swap kit and the front wheels on eBay.  I eventually caved on my eBay stalking and bought the back wheels and underneath basket/sunshade as replacement parts from the Uppababy website – and found out they have the nicest customer service people ever.  I didn’t get end up getting the bassinet although there’s a handful on eBay, because I figured a car seat adapter would serve the same function for me.  In the end (sans bassinet), I paid about 1/3rd of what it cost retails.  I’m giving myself a high five right now, in case you’re wondering.

And voila, I now have a stroller!

Matt has nicknamed it “the big wheels” or “the power wheels.”  The back wheels are rather large.  We are clearly ready for some all-terrain trekking.  Hopefully he will appreciate that the reviews said it was the ideal stroller for men taller than 6 feet.

The good news is that after doing all this yard sale and eBay shopping, I had a chance to recoup some of my losses with some yard sale selling of my own.  Jamie graciously opened up her yard for the second year in a row since she has an amazing location and 4 others of us dumped our junk on our her driveway and welcomed Winston-Salem’s finest to come and pick through it.  I know I’ve mentioned it every time I post about hosting sales on this blog, but oh man I just love hosting them.  I am utterly fascinated by the things people will take home to their house – and pay you money for! – after you have decided you no longer want them.  The kicker this year?  A can of dog food. 

Yup, a can of dog food.

We had to switch Buddy to soft food for a few weeks after the poor guy had to have six teeth extracted.  I had an order of soft food coming from my subscribe & save account, but it hadn’t arrived yet so I ran over to Food Lion and bought the cheapest canned stuff they had on the shelf.  I’m just going to gently say it didn’t “agree” with the Spuds, so I couldn’t bring myself to use up the final can when his real food finally arrived.

So I put it in the yard sale.

And someone bought it. 

I’m telling you – price it right and anything will sell.

Anyways, we were mobbed at Jamie’s house.  She had said “no early birds” in her ad because the 4 of us had to set up that morning, but the sale started at 8 and people were showing up at 7:15.  It’s pretty obvious that “no early birds” means to most people “You don’t want other people to show up early, but you’ll be okay if I show up early, right?”

I have no problem being the jerk that tells people – nicely with a sweet little smile of course! – to go get back in their car and wait but by 7:50 we had a line of people waiting not so patiently at the end of Jamie’s driveway.  At 8:00 we told them to have at and you would have thought it was the opening of Apple store the way the crowd rushed us.

Not that I’m complaining.  I mean, they bought my dog food. 

It was steady all morning and we all ended up doing pretty well with clearing our clutter and making some extra cash.  We were all also very pleased with Jamie’s brilliant suggestion that we host the sale in April this year instead of July.  Much, much better.  And of course, just like last year, half the fun is just spending the morning with your friends and having the opportunity to do some serious people watching right in your own driveway. 

Yard sale successes, on both sides of the table… and the season is just getting started!

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Related: Yard Sale adventures from 2011 & 2010