A quick fix Dinner

Yesterday was kind of a hectic day as I had two extra kids in the house so by the time they both left I was stuck trying to dig up some kind of Idea for dinner.

I had some ground turkey in the freezer so I went to All recipes (one of my favorite websites) and did and ingredient search for recipes that called of ground turkey and I found one that sounded pretty good but I had to modify for what I had in the house.

What I ended up with was basically an Italian turkey pasta.

Ingredients;
1lb ground turkey $1.69
1/2 of a green pepper, I had frozen left from my garden last year.
1 med yellow onion $0.28 I had bought a bag for about $2.00 a week or so ago and there was 7 in the bag.
1 stalk of celery $.10 I'm guessing because I know he celery was $1.69 but no clue how  many stalks here were.
1 Can of Chicken broth $1.59
1 Can of Stewed Tomatoes $1.59
1/2 box of Whole wheat penne Pasta $1.50
1 TBLS of Minced Garlic
2 Tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt or granules
1 tsp chili Powder
1 pinch of sugar
1 tsp of White vinegar.
1/4 C Shredded Italian Cheese $0.50

Saute the turkey with the peppers, onion and celery, in a small stock pot or dutch oven.  Once all ingredients are cooked, remove everything from the pan using a slotted spoon to allow the drippings to stay in the pan.  Once removed add the one can of Chicken broth and 2 cans of water, bring to a boil, add noodles and cook through.  After the noodles are cooked drain water, add the meat and veggie mixture back in, and add the can of tomatoes, Garlic salt, chili powder, sugar and vinegar, and heat through.  Once hot pour into a serving dish and top with Italian cheese and serve. 

I served mine with a small salad.

It was actually a pretty healthy meal, it was a fast recipe, and fairly inexpensive at about $7.25 and fed 3 people and we had left overs for my husband to take to work.

I will probably be making it again soon.

How to put together a rummage sale

I decided that since I love having , and attending, rummage sales I'd do a little Rummage Sale 101.

Here are the basic things you need to do before having a rummage sale:

• Pick a good date.  If your town has city wide rummage sales that is a great time.
• Find a good location.  If you  live outside of town try to find a place in town.
• Have one with a friend. People will spend more time driving to a Multi-family sale for a bigger selection
• Advertise it.  If you forget to put it in the paper make sure you have good signage.
• Have a major item or group of items to draw people.  Things like kids clothes, baby items or a piece of furniture or exercise equipment are big crowd drawing items.

Now that the basics are covered it is all about pricing and organizing. 

      I find that clothing is hard to price for Two reasons.  First the stickers are always falling off and second, people always want them to be cheaper so it seems like a waste.  What I do with kids clothes is simple.  I set up two tables I have a $.50 table and $1.00 table.  If I have outfits I pin them together and set a separate price if I feel it necessary.  I figure it at $1 per piece for outfits.  Now when it comes to pricing it can be different where you live based on how other people sell similar things.  In the town I live in at $1 a piece I am cheap.   Adult clothes really don't sell very well around here so I will often let people just make me an offer, it makes them feel like they have gotten a deal and I feel good that it's gone.

     As far as all the other stuff the best advice is Price it to sell.  $0.25 to $3.00 unless I have a Big ticket item like a dresser or stroller.  Let people make you an offer, you don't have to take it.  I don't deal much on day one of a two day sale.  Don't over price in hopes people will pay it or thinking you can knock it down and still make big money off it.  People will NOT pay $20 for a pair of shoes and they will not ask if you will take $10, they will just walk away.  They will pay $2 without asking a questions. 

    The last thing is when you are setting up make the money making items easy to get at.  By this I mean set the kids clothes in the middle of everything else and make it easy for people to get to both sides of the table.  Then set all of the other stuff around the outside so that when they are digging for one thing they can see the other stuff out of the corner of their eye.  Don't put it all in a straight line of tables or people will find one thing and turn around and walk off make the other stuff noticeable.  Also don't make people work to get to item.  I hate going to city wides and seeing a sale that has baby items and when I get there and ask about clothes they are still in totes and they expect me to dig for the sizes I want....That is NOT going to happen! 

Well that is my How-to on having a rummage sale. Any other questions or anything to add?  Let me know.

Rummage Sales

I want to apologize for my lack of posting lately but with Easter, birthdays, weddings, and going away parties I have just been BUSY!

So to start my return I'm going to be posting about Rummage Sales.

I know not everyone likes to Rummage sale, but I have found them to be an INCREDIBLE way to shop, not just for myself but for others too.  I also find having a rummage sale a year is a great way to help with cleaning.

I can't imagine not going out to rummage sales 2 or 3 times a year.  I usually try to go once or twice in the spring and an at least once in the fall.

 I have never found a Picasso hidden under a family Photo, but I have found a few good buys in the past.  I purchased an Eddie Bauer Coat for my son for $7 (still had the tag), and I also purchased a Brand new (with tag) gap sweatshirt for my self once for just $1.00.  I also came across one that had an infant clothing table where everything was $0.25 this was a month after my son was born so I spent about $10 and had 2 Grocery bags stuffed when I walked out.

I think I will break this out into Two more blogs.  I'll let you know how to have a rummage sale and How to shop them.  For Now I'm going to go to the grocery store and see what goodies and freebies I can find there.