Selling baby bedding at a yard sale

Someone organized a yard sale in our neighborhood. It's being held on June 28th. If we're here (my husband's aunt and uncle invited us to join them at the NJ shore during the week of the 22nd-28th), I'm going to hopefully have some things to sell! Not so much because I want to stand outside in the disgusting heat and deal with bugs and maybe make ten or twenty dollars, but because it's nice to participate in neighborly events. We have lived here for over a year, and we know the people on either side of us. That's it.

So, I need to dig up some things to sell! I have some baby bedding left over from when Ryan was still using his crib, a hot sling that I really should part with, and of course, toys, books, arts and crafts stuff -- all the typical kiddie stuff you'll find most moms and dads selling during yard sales and flea market events!

What do you sell at yard sales? And what was your best find at a yard sale?

My choice of crib bedding

My favorite crib bedding is Classic Pooh. When I was pregnant with my son, the Classic Pooh frenzy started with a few adorable items I saw in Target. When my husband and I created a baby wish list, we chose all sorts of Classic Pooh items. When the baby gifts from friends and gift swaps arrived, they were Classic Pooh. And when we decorated our son’s room and went shopping for curtains, wall decals and a crib dust ruffle, we made sure to match everything to his Classic Pooh crib bedding.

What baby crib bedding themes do you like?

Consignments don't always save you money

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I found a consignment shop in our area. They had a lot of nice stuff, but I quickly found out that you don't always save as much money at a consignment shop as you think you do! Oh, I got some good deals --a very nice changing table for $25, an L.L.Bean bunting bag for $10, and various articles of clothing, books and videos for just a few dollars apiece.

But they wanted a hundred dollars or more for used bassinets with visible wear and tear on them. I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $125 for a bassinet with frayed edges, when I can pick up a lower end new one for $200 or less! And some of their clothes...oy. I'd find shirts for $5 and $6, and pants for $12 - $15. Newsflash: you can get clothes BRAND NEW for those prices. Granted, they'd be Target and the like, rather than Gap... but used Gap clothing or brand new Target clothing? Used clothes that you're paying for the brand name in order to have, or brand new?

The choice should be clear!

Home Grown Vegetables

My closest friend has always had a green thumb and though we share just about all common interests until recently we differed on home gardening. I had never really given any type of gardening any thought and had always viewed her passion for this as a waste of time. Things changed recently however when I found out that I could save quite a bit of money by growing my own vegetables.

Being a vegetarian my diet consists mostly of earth grown foods and with the price of veggies rising and becoming over inflated my girlfriend approached me and told me that she was going to begin growing her own vegetables both to save a few dollars and to get a better quality product. I was interested though my motivation was solely saving money. I found myself dreading working in her indoor garden but I was surprised at how much fun I was having.

Perhaps it was because I was spending more time with her and perhaps it was because I was learning something new but I began looking forward to the three days a week that I was spending in the greenhouse. As I began to get a hold on gardening and working with different types of soils and plants, I was surprised to find there was so much more to it than simply throwing seeds into the ground and watering things.

Several of her grow lights went out within my first couple of visits. I didn’t think these lights were important but my assumption was quickly refuted by my girlfriend when she explained that these types of lights are designed specifically to help plants grow. I actually spent one day of my first week hunting down specific types of commercial lighting for the greenhouse. The lights she wanted were fairly expensive but we went halves on the cost as I felt as though we were becoming partners in gardening.

Once the new lights were installed we got back to the ground work. Three weeks later I was pleased to see the bell peppers I planted on my own begin to sprout. It was at that point that I admitted to both myself and my girlfriend that I was enjoying doing garden work. Not long after that the rest of our first batch of vegetables sprouted and some even ripened and were ready to be eaten.

I’ll say this about growing your own food. It’s hard work and it takes time to grow these things however the flavor and even the size of the vegetables far outclass anything you find in the store. In addition to this, home grown vegetables contain no unnatural preservatives and go into your kitchen fresh; no weeks of shipping are involved. This experience leads me to believe that I will never buy vegetables from any store again.

For those of you who have never eaten anything homegrown, you need to at least once. Once you decide to go this route you’re in for a treat and I can guarantee that you too will begin growing your own vegetables. Before I became a vegetarian I had eaten a steak that came from a cow raised by my friend. This was much like vegetables in that the homegrown food was far better than any store bought product. Though it takes care and effort to grow your own food, the work is worth it. Your body and your bank account will thank you for it!

Looking For A New Home

I never thought that buying a new home would be so difficult. Being married and this being not just my wife’s but my first home purchase as well, I figured all it would involve would be looking at a few homes and then deciding which one felt most like home to us. As we began seeing houses we both began making lists of things we wanted or had to have in our first home.

I was and continue to be adamant about getting some sort of tech-recreational room. When I’m not working and I’m not with my wife there’s nothing I enjoy more than a rousing video game, television, or good movie. Though we enjoy most of the same things, she doesn’t always want to partake in the same things I do. As hard as I have worked for the new home, I figured that a “man” room was in order.

My wife posed no opposition to such a room or requirement though she did present her own. Originally she has wanted a swimming pool but has recently decided that she’s like the home to have something that will allow her to tend to an indoor garden complete with grow lights and ready to plant soil. She has always enjoyed growing her own flora and a variety of vegetables as well.

Aside from those two life-size requests we also found ourselves nitpicking things in each of the homes we saw and continue to see. The entire process has quickly become overwhelming. I’m not sure if it’s because of the amount of money we are prepared to spend on this home or if it’s just personal desires but none of the homes we’ve seen feel like they’re “our” home yet. Moving around a lot as a young child I can remember some homes feeling like “home” while others did not. We’re both looking for that certain something again, with our first home.

Some of these houses have great living rooms but no den. Others still have fantastic kitchen and dining areas but the living rooms and/or bedrooms have been to awkward or small. We’ve also seen several homes that don’t have gardening areas and a few that have had no large guest room that I could turn into my private entertainment headquarters. Many of the homes we’ve viewed thus far have all had something we fell in love with but found out rather quickly that we were often dealing with a double edged sword.

House hunting is one of those things in life you think will be easy but in actuality it turns out to be a bewildering experience. Mind you we have yet to become frustrated or overwhelmed, we are simply surprised at just how picky we’ve suddenly become. Before we went out viewing homes we thought we knew what we want and where prepared to find the perfect home in a short matter of time. We still look forward to seeing each home on our list but we are both starting to realize that we may have to make some compromises as there is no perfect home out there.

We have taken this advice from our real estate agent and it’s actually improved the experience to some degree but it’s hard to make compromises when you know you’re signing your life away. My wife however is much better at compromising which is also helping to keep my expectations of a new home in reality. For those thinking of or beginning to look for their first home be prepared to find something you don’t like in almost every home you see. You’ll also need to be prepared to have a give and take mentality. Doing so will make the process exciting and keep things positive.