Garage sale lovin'

Last weekend we were in Des Moines for a graduation party and a wedding. I took that opportunity to hit up some garage sales that I was hoping would be awesome. They were, in fact, above awesome. Tessa lost steam pretty early in this excursion, so I then I had to pick and choose. Decisions, decisions.

I stopped by a couple small ones in south Ankeny that were next door neighbors. I prefer 2-fers when it comes to garage sales, that way I can take Tessa out and put her in the stroller or carry her without undoing her carseat and putting it back in over and over. At the first garage sale, I got her this light up singing toy (because I'm apparently a sucker for anything that sings and lights up because it'll distract her for 10 seconds) but I also found some Disney VHS movies. I know, I know, VHS is a lost technology, but Disney movies are priceless and I just couldn't pass them up at 50 cents a piece, so I got 7.

I also found a couple pairs of jammies that were barely used. It's hard to believe that my baby is wearing 9 month pajamas so buying 12 month jammies was traumatic. I picked up the pace since Tessa was starting to fuss and fidget. I picked up a colored vase for a quarter (useless something I don't need but I guess I'm accidentally starting to collect colored vases for that kitchen I'll have someday that I can decorate and pretty up. I think that's a pipe dream these days though. I digress. I overheard someone say there was another garage sale on the next cul-de-sac over, so I figured I'd take a quick lap before taking Tessa home.

 First, there was a giant, awesome garage sale set up. But even better, next to this awesome giant garage sale was a driveway with a garage door closed and some stuff sitting out front. There was a sign taped to the garage sale that said, "FREE, please take." Ok, done. I'll help you with that. There were 2 little girls sitting in the driveway so I asked if it was a garage sale and they said, no, their parents just wanted to get rid of some stuff so it's free. Sweet! I start to look through some of the stuff when my eye catches something sitting at the edge of the grass, folded up, and dirty. But, I knew exactly what it was. It was this stroller.

Yup, that stroller, for free. It just needed a good hose down and it was like brand spankin' new. I wanted to keep looking at the other stuff and go to the actual garage sale next door, but something was telling me to take this guy and stick him in my car RIGHT NOW before anything happened to it. So, I did. Shoved it in the back of my car as quickly as possible. I almost felt bad getting it for free, but they insisted they just wanted it gone. Ok, sweet. So, I also grabbed some placemats, a messenger bag, a 3-tier cupcake stand, and another toy for Tessa.

I was really trying not to be greedy but these girls were just encouraging me to take this and take that. So finally, I made it to the actual garage sale next door. I found Joel a brand new Callaway golf bag for 10 bucks and I grabbed a couple more random house items that I certainly didn't need but definitely wanted. Here's my basic logic for buying stuff I don't really need at a garage sale. This is also my justification when Joel asks. Ready?

If I'm going to want to buy it eventually at full price, even if that's in a couple years when we have a real house to decorate, you might as well let me buy it cheap now and store it.

Boom. Logic. Winning. Garage sale success.