Garage Sale Finds

A couple of my friends and I love garage sale-ing!  We nick named ourselves "Garage Sale Gang Moms".  We always go in a gang or together.  And we take no children, no husbands, reusable bags, a minivan, and a pocket of cash.

This really has turned into a great way for us to clothe our children as well as furnish our homes, pick up craft project materials, or score steals on toys and bikes for our kids.  When you can clothe 2 kids for less than $100.00 from garage sales.....YOU DO IT!

We usually do this in the Spring and the Fall.  There are several large neighborhoods in our area that have neighborhood wide garage sales during these times of the year.  We hit them up every season.  Clothes we hardly ever pay more than a $1 per piece and sometimes we score for even less than that.  Just last week I picked up 26 pieces of clothing plus 3 pairs of gently used shoes for my kids for $6.00!  Yep you read that right $6.00!!!!!

Really you can not beat these deals!  Here is one of my "Garage Sale Gang Moms" showing off her latest "crafting" finds!

Do you Garage Sale?  And what has been your best find?

Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers

In our house we have a toddler and a pre-schooler and did I mention that we have a baby on the way?  Yep!  Baby boy #2 due date has been moved a few times in the last 23 weeks but they are telling us May 26th.  If he is anything like his sister and brother, he will be at least a week late.

So as you can imagine my new year's resolution is to get the maximum usage of space out of our shrinking house.  We are not moving....so we have to make do in 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.  I have been encouraged over the last few weeks of stories people have shared with me concerning their small living spaces and their growing families.

This week, I am highlighting a few changes that I have made in our house recently.

First Up.....The Playroom.  

I boxed up all toys 18 months and under in tubs and labeled them out in my garage.  We can't part with these because we have a little one on the way but we can not have ALL of these toys in our house at one time.

I moved a bookshelf from our office into the playroom.  Our kids love books but they were previously stashed in their rooms, in baskets, and all over our house.  Now they are in one place.  The kids love to pull books off of the shelf and "read" them.  Sometimes it makes a mess but we are learning how to clean up our mess.

I placed a lamp and a CD player on the top of the bookshelf for low light and music (which our kids love).  Some days I turn on music and they sing, dance, and play their instruments.  Sometimes I turn on music in hopes to calm the mood.

I made a chalkboard but it failed.  

(Do not attempt to paint heavy duty card board and stick in a frame.  

It will bow and buckle)  

You can see how it buckled at the top.  

Not durable and we need durable in this house.

So as a result of my sister's home depot discovery...my chalkboard is back in order.  Home Depot sells chalkboard in 2x4 size.  I had them cut it to my desired need 2x3 and I slipped it into my white frame.  I seasoned it, wrote a fun word on it, and hung it!  Thanks to my sis, we are back in order.

And just FYI....Home Depot sells White Board that can be cut as well.  Just in case you are doing a project and need white board.

And just in case you think this post looks perfect or I am some how a super mom.....

save this pic of my sink and know 

LIFE. HAPPENS. IN. SMALL. STEPS!