This Week's Best Garage-Sale-Haul

Last Friday, a bunch of my family members were out garage-saling for the morning.  They asked me and the boys to come meet them, so we ate breakfast and got in the car.  They were in the next town over, so we started to drive that way, but of course we kept hitting sales on the way!  We didn't find much at any of the sales, and considering we had to be somewhere at noon, we decided to give up on our own little quest and meet up with the rest of the gang...

...and then we stopped at one more sale.  As soon as we got out of the car, I could tell that it was little boy heaven! Every table was stacked high with action figures, games, books, movies, etc.  I was so happy that we had finally found a sale with some stuff for my boys...now if only the price was right!  I looked at some of the tags, and everything seemed pretty reasonable, so I started to make a pile by the lady's table.  The pile grew pretty fast...especially with little Cooper picking up things he liked and then throwing them onto our pile!

Anyhow, I finally stopped the madness and told her we were ready to pay.  She started adding up the total, and when she got close to halfway through the pile, the running total was $12.  I looked at the rest of the items, which included a $5 bag of Lincoln Logs a $6 or $7 Play-Dough Kit, and even more toys.  Then I looked at the money in my pocket--I had $17.  I asked her to stop adding the total, and I told her I would have to leave a few things behind because all I had on me was $17.  She looked at my adorable little boys, and my growing belly, and said "just take it all for $17. I need to get rid of it!"

So, that was our big haul for the week!  My boys were SO excited about all of their new things, and when we got home and started looking through them, I was even more impressed with our bargaining skills!  For example, the Play-Dough Kit came with a carrying case, approximately 25-30 cans of play-dough, and a ton of shaping, cutting, and stamping toys to use with the dough.  That kit alone would probably cost at least $20, and yet it was only one of MANY things that we got at that sale!

Here's the haul:

the Play-Dough Kit and Carrier
15 books (and not just books, but some of my boys' favorites: Scooby, Clifford, Legos, etc.)
8 action figures
1 bag of Lincoln Logs (also worth at least $20 at the store)
1 Lightning McQueen (Cars) board game...with EVERY piece still in the box!
1 big motorcycle (key word for the boys: it's a BIG one)
1 pair of flip flops
1 Batman and Joker movie (which has been playing non-stop in our house for the last 6 days)
1 Matchbox Prison (for them to lock up the "bad guys" they are always chasing)
1 little suitcase for Cooper, which matches the one that we got for Sam at a garage sale 4 years ago!

PS...I can't finish this post without being completely honest...one of our secrets to garage-saling is do NOT take all of your cash up to the sale with you, and always have small bills to offer.  So, when I said that I had $17 on me, I meant that literally.  In other words, I still had another $20 in my car...yikes, I feel so scandalous when I admit that! :)
PPS...We never did meet up with the rest of the family! We got on a roll of our own, and barely made it to my class by noon!

No matter what, the very best part of that garage sale was seeing my boys' eyes light up at the sight of all of their favorite toys being carried to their van.  Happy Bargain Thursday!