Rummage sale finds

I promised you a how to on rummage sale shopping so I am going to give you a few tips on how I like to rummage sale.

First thing is that there are two different types of rummage sale shoppers;
1. Drive-bye: Drive around randomly looking at a rummage sale from the road
2. Plan and attack: get listings in advance mark the ones you want to visit and map in order.

     I am a Plan and attacker, although I have been known to do the drive by thing if I just happen to see a random rummage sale (or small neighborhood one).  So basically what I do is find a city wide rummage sale I am interested in, get a listing and start by marking all of the ones that have something I would have a need for.  Next I follow the map, that is usually provided, for the city wides and make a list of what order I want to go in.  I will even go as far as programming them into my GPS.  Then I just start going.  Often you find during City wides many people do not place their listings but still have sales, so if I get to an address I often check nearby houses for sales.  If house has a lot of children's stuff, chances are so will the neighbors, since neighborhoods tend have similar family structures.

    Last weekend I went with my Mom and my 3yr old son to a big city wide, I had everything mapped out and ready to go, and was pretty disappointed, the sales were listed well and in order on the map but the information was not all that good.  The first one we went to said boys clothes to size 6 and when we got there they had 4 pair of shorts and 2 t-shirts.  We found multiple places that the listings were a little misguiding, but that is all part of the sales.

   That being said we did not come home empty handed by any means, My Mom purchased Braxton a Spiderman bike (15 in) with training wheels for $15, and I purchased him a Lego table, with Marker board, chalk board and matchbox road path and storage for $10.  We both picked him up a few small toys, a few clothes, some books and pajamas.  Mom also bought him a Leap Pad with 5 games for $15.  All in all I think we spent around $75-$85 dollars and had quite a few things when we got home.  We even got him a Home Depot work bench for FREE! it is already out in my Dads wood shop so he can help Grandpa.  I have to admit it wasn't one of the best days of rummage Sales (Huge Thunderstorm shut many down early) but I did get some pretty good deals.

  I plan to try again in two weeks if all goes well, and see if I can do any better.

Side Note from a rummage sale addict......I don't care if the Jeans say Gap, Ambercrombie, or Deisel, I will not pay you $2 or more for jeans that have holes in the knees.  My 3 yr old does a great job of putting them there on his own I would hate to ruin his fun.

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.

Store Brand vs National

So I went to the dreaded Wal-Mart the other day and I had some coupons handy and so I began to look around and try to decide what was essential and what wasn't, and while I was wandering aimlessly I began to contemplate store brand vs national. 

I had some coupons for Barilla Pasta and with the coupn it was actually cheaper than the store brand.  I have noticed that a lot more lately that with coupons they are cheaper.  That never really used to be the case, so I am wondering if the National brands are lowering their prices to compete or if the store brands are raising theirs because they think have us outsmarted.  Now I am all for store Brands when cheaper, Target Diapers saved me Hundreds of dollars in 2 1/2 yrs, and frozen Peas are frozen peas, and when I started this Blog I encouraged people to use store brands to save money, now I just advise you too clipall the coupns and compare closely.

Wow What a Shopping trip

Ok so I did something today that I personally have never done before and I am so proud of myself!  I got something for Free by using coupons.  My local grocery store is not a great palce to use coupons becasue their products are usually high priced and it's a tiny town so they don't have much competion.  They also don't double coupons so it is normally impossible to get things free...But today I did it.  I had a coupon for $1.00 off Crest toothpaste, and the flyer for the store had a coupon for Crest toothpaste for $.99,( It is Normally $2.39) so I actually made a penny...even though I'm pretty sure they didn't give me that penny.  I also had a coupon for a gallon of Milk for $.99 (normally $3.49) the store also had Yellow onions in a 2lb bag for $1.49 and grapes for $1.99lb both with the use of the store club card, so I picked a bag of each of those and a small red onion that was priced at $.99 lb so after all the coupons, and club discounts my $12.00 total dropped to $6.35.   DID I MENTION THE  TOOTHPASTE WAS FREE!!!

Recipes

I have been a little MIA lately with all the holidays and crazy schedule that a stay at home mom keeps.

      One thing I decided was after the 1st of the year I was going to try to cook something new at least 3 days a week (something I don't cook often anyway) and to eat healthier.  So I have been a calorie counting , cooking fool for the last 3 weeks.  It has taken away 10 lbs and given me the chance to explore new menu options I may not have in the past. 

      Well one food I alwas ave a lot of in my house is Pork, I Love it and it is a very versitle meat that yo can so a lot with, and aside from Bacon it really isn't very high in calories, of coarse that assuming you aren't frying it in butter.

     I thought today I'd share one of my favorite pork chop recipes: Apple baked pork chops
Pre heat oven to 375
4 medium pork chops, bone in or out.
2 medium apples any kind will do, but ones for baking are better
1 medium yellow onion
1 tsp dried rosemary or 2 sprigs of fresh
1 tbls extra virgin olive oil You can use butter if you like
1/4 cup red wine, not dry wine though

Heat the oil in a large oven proof skillet, if available, and sautee the oinion and aples until all are carmalized
take them out and set them aside.
In the same skillet add the porkchops and brown on both sides or about 3 min per side.
When they are brown on both sided remove chops and add wine then scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen everything then add the chops, apples and onions back into the pan.
Add the rosemary on top of the chops and put into preheated oven for 30 min.

If you don't have an oven safe skillet you can transfer all ingredients to any oven safe dish, however make sure the dish was in the oven during preheating so it isn't cold when you add the ingredients.

you can add any side dish you like, i prefer baby red potatoes, with garlic and dill it is a surprising easy meal to cook and depending on the meat prices in your area it is a reletively inexpensive meal too.

break down of cost
Pork (on sale) $2.49 a lb Average chop is about 4 oz so 4 chops is 1 lb so $2.49
Apples (on sale) $0.99 for a 3 lb bag 2 apples about 1/2 a lb so $0.15 for appls
Onion $0.99 for a 1lb bag 1 onion is about $.010

For $2.75 cents you have pork chops for 4!!