I've been looking everywhere for the tray
that goes on a Bumbo chair
. By everywhere, of course, I mean everywhere but stores that sell them new for full price. ;-) I got the chair years back for Sammy at a garage sale for a couple bucks. This lady was selling a whole chair AND tray
in the original box for $5. I asked and she was willing to sell me just the tray for $2. Score! The tray plus chair goes for about $50 bucks new. I would have bought the whole set but didn't want a pink chair for Toby. It's bad enough that he has this purple one...
carrier...the kind you put your kid in to carry them around on your back. We have a much older one I got when Sammy was little for $7. THAT was a steal...and I got this much newer model, WITH a bag accessory that zips on the back for $3. Yes, you read it right, THREE dollars. The cheapest I've seen these for at sales, this new and in this great condition, is $75-$100. They start at about $200 new
. Below you can see the one I just got, and a picture of my hubby lugging Sammy through the north shores of Minnesota a couple years ago...
I also found this bag...no idea how much it is new. But, it was brand new with tags on it for $1. The base is insulated so you can pack your lunch in it. The top half can zip completely off if you want to separate it. The whole thing has backpack straps on it, and there's another smaller bag with it. I used it today to haul our picnic lunch and all the swim gear to our local splash pad for play group. Worked great!
I picked up this book today for $1 called "365 Days of Creative Play
." I'm sure it's an old edition, but it is full of simple creative ideas and activities for your kids...one for every day of the year to be exact. Next time we need to keep busy on a rainy (or snowy) day, I'll be pulling this book out! 
This was actually a thrift store find, but I was pretty stoked about it! I got Sammy a couple nice Automoblox cars for his first birthday, so I knew what these were (below), but I found these mini Automoblox
in a baggie in pieces at the thrift store for $1.99. They run about $10 each new. The larger ones are around $25-$35. They are very well made toys, and the wood blocks come apart so you can build your own vehicles. Super fun. 
Last but not least, another nice Melissa and Doug wood toy
. This is a set of shapes, and you lay the pieces on the boards to match up with the 10 designs included. I think it was a buck or two...they run about $14 new.
That's all the bragging I will do for now. I will go ahead and spare you the photos of me on my belly of the original '80's slip-n-slide I got for 50 cents last week! (I always wanted one of those! Oh yeah, and Sammy had fun with it too!)
Happy bargain hunting, friends!
I want to go to garage sales with you. Do you have any tips on how to scope them out?
ReplyDeleteI hear that a lot...I think I need to start arranging tours! :-D I used to spend Wednesday nights sifting through garage sale ads on CraigsList and my local newspaper's classifieds, then would Mapquest the ones that sounded promising, send the addresses to my gps, and go from there. Now I really like using an iPhone app called "iGarage Sale," which pulls the local sales from CraigsList and pins them down on a map for me. It's my favorite new tool! But, definitely check your local ads. I only go on the day they start too, to avoid sales that are picked over. Thursday is when most seem to start in my area, but sometimes I'll try Friday too...but only the ones that start the day I'm out looking. I do plan on doing a whole post on how to find the good ones too! Thanks for asking, now I want to write about that! :-)
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