A month ago we thought it would be fun to participate in our annual block sale. For a number of months I had been collecting stuff in the basement that I wanted to get rid of. I sold some of the higher dollar items on Craigslist and started my "appliance fund," with my earnings. Throughout the months as I would collect items to get rid of, I would slowly notice a few items missing from my pile. Justin is definitely a keeper, (a Schaack trait), and if he thinks we may use something within the next 10 years, it's a keeper. (It took me a couple months to convince him that we REALLY didn't need the janitor-sized mop bucket with a mop handle, but no mop head).
Word spread that we were going to be participating in the garage sale and family members decided to bring a few things over hoping to make a little spending cash as well. It was a great deal of work setting up all the tables and organizing all the items, (although J and I both enjoy organizing so that part was quite fun, even if it meant staying up a little later than normal to get it all done).
A total of 6 houses on the street participated and we had the best weather with temps in the 70's and no rain. Friday morning I opened my garage door a little before 8 o'clock, walked down to the end of the block to put up one more sign and when I came back to my house, there were two ladies leaving my garage with items in their hands, (they had left money for me). Dang, some people are really into this garage sale thing! The entire Friday morning was very busy and we sold a lot of items. My dad and Uncle Willard helped as I did have to go into work for a few hours. I was thankful to have the help because things were busy and I would have had a hard time keeping up with everything. Some people bartered the prices a little bit, but for the most part, people paid the sticker price.
The afternoon, things slowed down a little bit and we just had a few people come by after 4:00. It was such a successful day, I decided to bake cookies and sell them along with lemonade the following day, knowing parents would likely be shopping with little ones.
Although Saturday wasn't as busy, we had a great time, sold a lot and made twice as much money as we thought we would. Between the four families, we made over $800 and no item sold for more than $50. Oh and that janitor mop bucket sold for $10 to a Hispanic gentleman the first morning of the sale :). Pretty impressive for our first garage sale. I may have to start checking out some garage sales for myself, because apparently for some people, this is a die hard hobby! My "appliance fund" has gradually grown and I'm hoping to do a little upgrading by this Fall. Although from previous posts, you know I am quite the saver so it wouldn't surprise me if that money sat around for a while...
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Reason # 287 Why I Love My...
...Mini Van:
There's a sentence I never, ever thought I would write! So when we heard the news we were expecting twins, one of the first things that went through my mind after holy crap, and how can I afford two more kids was, we need a bigger vehicle!
Many may know that Justin and I have been anti-mini van our entire lives. In fact, I'm sure it was discussed early on in our courtship, and luckily we both had the same opinion regarding these "soccer mom" vehicles. Needless to say, we were going to have two more added to our family and needed a way to transport our three kiddos.
We initially started looking at the Chevrolet Traverse, a crossover SUV. We both liked the look of it and the inside was spacious with an option of captain seats for the second row or a bench seat. We knew we would likely need to use the captain seats for the twins, meaning AJ would be in the third row. This left very little room in the "trunk" (is it still called a trunk in a mini van?). Anyway, shortly after checking out the Chevy Traverse, I was placed on bed rest, which made car shopping a lot more challenging.
So we decided to poll family and friends about their likes and dislikes of their SUVs vs mini vans. Both vehicles had their pros and cons that we had to sort out. Since I had a lot of free time on my hands, I did my research and we decided a mini van was the way to go.
We narrowed our options down quickly to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. Their specs were pretty similar as were their prices. We loved the sporty look of the new Odyssey so that swayed us. Justin test drove one on a Saturday, bringing it home so I could at least sit in it and check it out. I've never made a decision so quickly before, but realized I didn't have a lot of time to shop around :). We decided to go with it, but the most important thing was picking out the color. Screw bedrest, I'm going to the dealership myself to pick out the exterior and interior colors! I spent way too much time on my feet that day, but finally decided on a perfect combination. Of course, we had to have leather-can you imagine cleaning up after two toddlers? I love how easy leather is to clean and the look of it. By August, our garage occupied our new minivan (which we didn't drive until it was time to bring the babies home), and Justin's truck got demoted to outside.
We've never regretted buying our family truckster and two brother-in-laws/sister-in-laws have purchased mini vans since us :), so others must have thought it was a good idea too. I love never worrying if we are going to have enough room for everything. In fact, we often over pack, but even when we do that, there is still room. It has survived two road trips to CO, with another in the plans for this month. All kids can actually climb into the van by themselves and love to play in there. Some times, we take out the middle console and let them hang out in the van (with their shoes off, of course). They love it. I never know what's going to be on when I actually turn the van on, (rear wiper, front windshield wiper, bright lights, hazard lights...) One rainy weekend day, we took the second and third rows out and they had a hay day. This was also a great opportunity to do some deep cleaning! I'm sure my vacuum sucked up at least half a box of Cheerios during the last deep cleaning.
So yes, there are many, many reasons why we are the proud owners of our mini van. Just don't go calling us soccer mom/dad!
There's a sentence I never, ever thought I would write! So when we heard the news we were expecting twins, one of the first things that went through my mind after holy crap, and how can I afford two more kids was, we need a bigger vehicle!
Many may know that Justin and I have been anti-mini van our entire lives. In fact, I'm sure it was discussed early on in our courtship, and luckily we both had the same opinion regarding these "soccer mom" vehicles. Needless to say, we were going to have two more added to our family and needed a way to transport our three kiddos.
We initially started looking at the Chevrolet Traverse, a crossover SUV. We both liked the look of it and the inside was spacious with an option of captain seats for the second row or a bench seat. We knew we would likely need to use the captain seats for the twins, meaning AJ would be in the third row. This left very little room in the "trunk" (is it still called a trunk in a mini van?). Anyway, shortly after checking out the Chevy Traverse, I was placed on bed rest, which made car shopping a lot more challenging.
So we decided to poll family and friends about their likes and dislikes of their SUVs vs mini vans. Both vehicles had their pros and cons that we had to sort out. Since I had a lot of free time on my hands, I did my research and we decided a mini van was the way to go.
We narrowed our options down quickly to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. Their specs were pretty similar as were their prices. We loved the sporty look of the new Odyssey so that swayed us. Justin test drove one on a Saturday, bringing it home so I could at least sit in it and check it out. I've never made a decision so quickly before, but realized I didn't have a lot of time to shop around :). We decided to go with it, but the most important thing was picking out the color. Screw bedrest, I'm going to the dealership myself to pick out the exterior and interior colors! I spent way too much time on my feet that day, but finally decided on a perfect combination. Of course, we had to have leather-can you imagine cleaning up after two toddlers? I love how easy leather is to clean and the look of it. By August, our garage occupied our new minivan (which we didn't drive until it was time to bring the babies home), and Justin's truck got demoted to outside.
We've never regretted buying our family truckster and two brother-in-laws/sister-in-laws have purchased mini vans since us :), so others must have thought it was a good idea too. I love never worrying if we are going to have enough room for everything. In fact, we often over pack, but even when we do that, there is still room. It has survived two road trips to CO, with another in the plans for this month. All kids can actually climb into the van by themselves and love to play in there. Some times, we take out the middle console and let them hang out in the van (with their shoes off, of course). They love it. I never know what's going to be on when I actually turn the van on, (rear wiper, front windshield wiper, bright lights, hazard lights...) One rainy weekend day, we took the second and third rows out and they had a hay day. This was also a great opportunity to do some deep cleaning! I'm sure my vacuum sucked up at least half a box of Cheerios during the last deep cleaning.
So yes, there are many, many reasons why we are the proud owners of our mini van. Just don't go calling us soccer mom/dad!
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