Thrift Store Scores - The Mommy/Daughter Date Edition

Thank you Queen Bee Coupons for posting about Value Village's 50% off sale on Presidents day!

Since the man of the house was home from work earlier than usual on Monday due to the holiday I decided to ask Ashlyn, my just-turned-11-year-old daughter, if she wanted to ride along for a little thrift store hunting.  She agreed to go and grabbed her purse containing her birthday money and off on our mommy/daughter adventure we went!

First stop was the local Starbucks for a much needed 3pm-ish pick me up.  I used my Starbucks gold card birthday reward for a free drink and paid $2.95 out of pocket for Ashlyn's chocolately chip frappe.

Then off we went to Vancouver.  Slowly. I forgot what a pain it is to deal with after work traffic.  One fun thing I discovered on our crawl towards I-205 was using Siri to send text messages.  We also noticed some fun graffiti with the message "Excuse me world, I know you're busy but I wanted to say you are loved" Ash tried to snap a picture, but the words weren't quite large/dark enough to see.

We finally arrived at Value Village and I put Ashlyn to work searching out clothes in her size.  She's not really in need of much clothing wise, but she is getting to the point where she would rather pick things out for herself than have me shop for her and I can accept that.  She ended up with 5 or 6 tops that we narrowed down to these three:

Top left: Longsleeve from Justice (her new favorite store, crazy expensive in my opinion!) I was happy to pay $3.50.  Top right:  xhilaration brand short sleeve, $2. Bottom: 3/4 sleeve short sweater that she is excited to wear over her zebra print cami, $2.

I paid for her clothing selections and she found a new book and a softball that she purchased with her own money.  Neither of those items were half price, but we talk a lot about the value of buying good quality items secondhand and I think she is beginning to understand this concept more and more each time she accompanies me on these treasure hunts and THAT, to me, is priceless :)

I found a few maternity items for myself, because who really wants to pay full price for something that will only be worn for a few months?  The best thing about these purchases is it will be easy to sell these online when I am finished with them and make back the money I paid or more.

Liz Lange shirt for $2.50, Liz Lange jean skirt for $2.00 and a pair of new with tags bermuda length khaki shorts for $2.50.

Our last, but not least, finds at Value Village half off prices were my favorite:

I heart Dad Oshkosh tee $2 (perfect for father's day, right?), Hanna Andersson 2pc pjs $1 (super score!), Old Navy muscle tank for my blonde boy who desperately wants to play tball in the spring $1.50, Gap swim trunks in the coolest nautical/sailor print $3, Thinsulate snow mittens $1, and a pink Gap onesie that says BYOB Bring your own bottle for .50 cents (we'll keep this if we have the girly sort of baby in June or toss in the consignment pile if our baby ends up being of the boy variety.)

We left Value Village and it wasn't too late yet so we checked with Siri to find the closest Goodwill because I know there are a few in Vancouver.  It just so happened that we were 0.3 miles away so we decided to head there for just a little more browsing before calling it a night and I'm sure glad we did because these are the treasures we found there:

Two new in packaging Taggie blanket clips for 99 cents each.  I will probably keep one for our newbie and use the other in a baby shower gift or add to my consignment sale inventory.  One pair of Gymboree cargo shorts for $2.99, and two pairs of excellent condition Stride Rite shoes in wide sizes for $1.50 each (they were marked $2.99 but happened to be the half off color!)  I am undecided on the shoes.  We may hold on to these until we find out the gender of our baby... we'll need wides if this one takes after it's bigger, redheaded brother... or I may list them on ebay, probably in the neighborhood of $10-12 each pair.  Not pictured are a usb mouse & keyboard for $3.99 each that we needed for our new kid's desktop computer set up.

Ashlyn found another book and a Nerf gun while we were at this location.

We worked up quite the appetite with our evening of shopping and hit up Subway for dinner before heading home.  It was a great time spent with my daughter, and I really do hope that having these experiences with her now will carry over into positive spending and saving habits as she gets older. 

Thrift Store Scores - Ikea couch & bonus!

Thrift store shopping (aka, treasure hunting) is one of my favorite things to do.  It actually fulfills quite a few of my passions; shopping, shopping at a discount, and reselling for profit.  I have been an on and off ebay seller for quite a few years, and have been involved in the children consignment sale scene for a year or two as well.  Having multiple kids and living on a fairly tight budget has made me much more aware of quality brands that will last and I am frequently able to find items used that will last through a child or two and still be able to sell at consignment when we are done with them.  Very rarely do I buy brand new kid clothes from the store, and when I do its always when there are sales/free shipping offers or other rewards involved. 

Finding half off deals at the thrift stores is even more exciting!  I love the ability to find things we can use in our home, and knowing what I can buy at a fraction of the retail price and sell to offset the cost of the thrift store scores we keep. 

This recent trip to our local Salvation Army during their half off customer appreciation sale has been one of my best trips yet!

As an avid fan of everything Ikea, I noticed this little couch right away and was happy to see the $75 price tag that equaled $37.50 with the 50% off sale.  I carefully inspected the couch for stains, structural issues and yes, I did the sniff test too because no one wants to take home a stinky piece of furniture.  The couch is in great condition, I wonder if maybe it was a floor model at the store, or just something the owner decided wasn't going to work out for them because it sure doesn't seem used to me.  When we relocated from northern California to the Portland, Oregon area we ended up renting a home that has a front room and a family room/den.  The extra space is great, but we haven't had furniture to fill both rooms.  Its nice now to have a comfy little seating area in our front room turned play room AND it is a pull out style that can double as a place to put an overnight guest.  (My mom recently visited for the weekend and apparently its comfortable enough for an adult to sleep on!)

Of course, when I got it home I was excited to find the retail value so off to www.ikea.com I went and this is what I found:  http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70087108/  Under no circumstances would I have ever paid $169, but for $37.50 I am thrilled! 

But wait.... there's more!

I also noticed this pair of shoes:

Cool, huh?!  They were Vans and possibly a size that would fit my older son so for $3 (half off the marked price of $5.99) I grabbed them up knowing that if they didn't work out for him, they would be a great resale item.  Again, I searched to find the resale value and found that they were only available at the store Journeys and had a retail value of $41.99! http://www.journeys.com/kidz/product.aspx?id=241289&c=1508

When I determined that they weren't going to work out for my son I posted them for sale on ebay with a buy it now price of $30 and offered free shipping.  After shipping costs, paypal fees, ebay fees and figuring in my initial "investment" I ended up with a $16.32 profit on the shoes.  (man, those fees add up!)  I like to think that after this was all said and done my cute little couch only cost $21.18 out of pocket.  I love these types of shopping trips.  Its a hobby, its a passion and sometimes its even a small income.

Grocery Challenge - Menu Update

As an extension of yesterday's check-in, I'll pick up where we left off with our menu over the past week or so.  We have deviated from the plan a bit, which is why I do menu planning the way I do -- to allow for flexibility!

{Wednesday}
B:  Muffins, yogurt, cereal
L:  PBJ for Dan, ham & cheese for Bob, and a lunchables type pack for Ash & Eli with chips and juice.
S:  Animal crackers from the bread store -- free!
D:  Breakfast for dinner - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, cheese, english muffins and chocolate milk
Late night snack:  Cinnamon bread toast, cucumbers & ranch for Bob

{Thursday}
B:  Cereal (yogurt for Elijah)
L:  Ham & cheese sandwiches with strawberries & popcorn
S:  Grapes
D:  Chicken lettuce wraps, potstickers & crispy zucchini fries
S:  Cinnamon toast

{Friday}
B:  Cinnamon toast & cereal for the kids, plus a yogurt for Elijah.  Hard boiled eggs for Bob.
L:  Mac & cheese, strawberries & chips for kids.  Strawberry/banana smoothie for me.
S:  Marshmallows, chocolate chip cookies from the store for free.
D:  BBQ pizzas - one pepperoni and one zucchini basil.

{Saturday}
B:  Cereal (and grapes for Elijah)
L:  Left over zucchini pizza for D & E, peanut butter sandwich for Ashlyn with snack mix
     Egg & ham sandwiches (Bob and I)
S:  Grapes & apple slices
D:  Beef & broccoli with rice (used the asian salad dressing as a marinade, out of teriyaki/soy)
S:  Bob - macaroni & milk (his weird occasional snack/lunch)
     Carrot/zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting

{Sunday}
B:  Cereal & toast for kids, breakfast in bed for me!  Egg, toast, ham & cake.
L:  Picnic!  PBJs, cantalope, pretzel thins, water & juice boxes
S:  Ice cream ($11)
D:  Chili (went with chili in the crock pot instead of the mexi pasta meal I was going to try)
S:  Cake

{Monday}
B:  Cereal (seriously.... it never gets old)
L:  Cheese slices, pepperoni, pickles & chips
      Ham & cheese for Bob, last english muffin and breakfast leftovers for me.
S:  Marshmallows
D:  Chicken pasta bake, mozzarella cheese & green beans (another deviation from our menu plan, but we had all the ingredients to throw together and the kids all had seconds and Dannon even had THIRDS!)
S:  Finished off the carrot/zucchini cake.

The fridge/freezer/pantry is down to pretty slim pickins and we've got a few days to go until payday.  I had planned on doing another breakfast for dinner meal, but we've eaten eggs along the way and I don't think there are enough left for a meal for all of us.  Trust me, I'm not complaining.  I got breakfast in bed out of the deal!  I may do hardboiled eggs with the remainders and possibly potato salad or egg salad sandwiches.  We definitely have enough of the chicken pasta bake leftover for lunch, so sandwiches for dinner one evening are a definite possibility.

Another good by-product of this challenge is that not having a TON of food choices in the house is helping us to really use what we have without making much waste or throwing things out.  I like that!

Stay tuned for at least one more post on this grocery challenge subject, I'll do a wrap up/recap on Friday or shortly thereafter.

{Another} Grocery Challenge Check-In

So.... As we have progressed through the first week of this challenge I have made a few discoveries:

A)  I focused A LOT more on dinners and not quite enough on breakfast, lunch and snacks.
B)  I am going to be well over my $100 goal, even though I feel like we've made good use out of our purchases and continue to be smart about what we're buying.
C)  I am caught in a vicious cycle!  It is good for our well-being to get out of the house each day, but I have a tendency to spend money when we're out.  Our daily "field trips" need to be more about going to the park/library/free events and less about using that time to run to the store... BUT... going to the park with three kids by myself isn't always good for MY well-being (or more specifically, my patience and sanity) ... AND ... when you take kids into the store after lunch you can bribe them with free cookies from the bakery.  (Kids like cookies and my budget likes free snacks!)  Finding a balance that works for us is a never ending challenge!

I am trying to focus on what I am learning as I complete this challenge, and not feel like I have failed because I have gone over my grocery budget goal.  This process is giving me a clear picture of what we consume regularily, example:  We drink this many gallons of milk over this time period.  Same with loaves of bread, boxes of cereal, etc.  When I have a better idea of how long these products last for our normal consumption, I have a better idea of what our final grocery budget will end up being, and how much to stock up on to get us through each pay period. I hope to build enough of a stockpile to meet our needs between sale cycles without spending a lot of money out of pocket while we are continuing to pay off some debts and find an even keel, financially speaking.

Here is the breakdown on the additional trips to the store we have made over the course of the last week:

{7/24 Franz Bakery Outlet: $5.50 & Safeway: $6.31}

Bakery Outlet:

Two loaves of whole wheat white bread - $2.00

1 package english muffins - $1.00

1 loaf cinnamon bread - $2.50

(not pictured 3 small snack sized bags of animal cookies given to the kids for free!)

Safeway:

2 ltr 7UP Ten - $0.54 (+ .05 Oregon bottle deposit)

2 ltr A&W Ten - $0.54 (+ dep)  These were on sale with my Just For U specials but they were a CA deal and not an OR deal.  I was confused so the cashier took $1.25 off the normal price of $1.99.  My special offer would have made them 75 cents each.  Sometimes you are on the winning side of a price difference, and sometimes you're on the losing side.  In my opinion, when its just a few cents one way or another its not worth it to go in to the customer service desk.  

Coffee creamer - $2.54 (used a 75 cent manu coupon)

Gallon of milk - $2.59

{7/25 Target - $16.40 - $10 swagbucks gift card = $6.40 OOP}

 

Popcorn from the snack bar - $1.43 (used a 10% off savings from the Cartwheel app)

Baby carrots - $0.69 (used a $1 off mobile coupon)

Strawberries - $0.89 (used 5% savings from cartwheel app & $1 off mobile coupon)

1 box elbow noodles & 2 jars of sauce - $1.00 for all 3! (used $1 off mobile coupon wyb one sauce & one pasta, pasta had a peelie coupon for $1 off wyb two sauces.)

Tension rod for shower curtain - $12.39

I cashed in swagbucks for a $10 egiftcard to Target that I was able to load onto my phone.  Stay tuned for more info on Swagbucks!

{7/26 Safeway: $14.05}

Chocolate Cheerios - $1.17 (on sale 3/$5 used $1/2 coupon)
Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch - $1.17 (same as above)
Safeway sugar - $2.34
Jif peanut butter - $2.99
Paper towels - $0.79
Gallon of milk - $2.59
Pizza dough from deli area - 2/$3.00

 

 The boys enjoying more free cookies!  

{7/28 Fred Meyer: $11.97}

Nearly out of milk again, I wonder if we are allowed to raise cows in this county...

Fred Meyer half gallons milk/oj - $5 on sale 4/$5 with FM store coupon

Coffee creamer - $2.50 (used FM store coupon)

2 Tillamook yogurts - $0.60 cents each (used a B1G1 free printable = 30 cents each)

Small block of sharp cheddar - $1.88

Colgate toothpaste - Free with ecoupon loaded to card

Store brand nasal spray (for my honey with sinus issues) - $1.99

These little side trips to the stores have brought our grand total so far to right around $140 and I anticipate that there will probably be one more trip this week for incidentals.  We're on the home stretch!  If I can stick to $75-100 per week on groceries and household needs for the 5 of us I'll definitely be a happy mama!

Grocery Challenge Check-in & Couponing tips/reminders

*First I feel compelled to mention that it is 8:29am on Wednesday morning and not only did the wonderful man in my life bring me my favorite coffee from Starbucks this morning before he left for work (Thanks for the gift card, Mom!) but I was able to take a shower AND the kiddos are all still asleep!  This is unheard of!  I'm sure I just jinxed this all by writing the words and they will be awake and needy in minutes, but for now I am enjoying the quiet time with my coffee and thoughts. 

Last night I had the pleasure of "attending" a couponing web class hosted by Angela of Frugal Living NW.  My motivation for participating in the class was the special offer for the Sunday Oregonian subscription, but she mentioned some basic couponing tips that are great reminders for couponers of all experience levels.

The first thing she said that stuck out to me was, "Don't let a coupon burn a hole in your pocket!" It is easy to think, "oh, I have this coupon so I need to use it."  Not true. Coupons are only saving you money if A) the coupon is for an item that you need or use regularly and B) using the coupon will make the item less than the full price of the store brand/generic.  The best time to use a coupon is when it matches up with a store sale on the item, don't be afraid to save them until that point. 

She also touched on store sale cycles and buying enough during the sale to last your family until the item goes on sale again (store sales cycle every 3-6 months depending on the item).  When you stock up at rock bottom prices during a sale you give yourself the ability in the future to "shop" from yourself instead of running to the store and possibly paying full price for that item you need.  (and how often do you really go into the grocery store and walk out with that one thing you need to complete your recipe and not one of these and one of those and oh, that too?)

The last tip/reminder I wrote down was to be strategic about stockpiling.  Stockpiling doesn't have to be crazy.  Its about having items on hand that you need and use regularly.  If your storage space is limited, only keep on hand the best deals that don't come around as often as others.  It doesn't make sense to keep piles and piles of pasta and toothpaste on hand when those sales are available frequently, instead use your space wisely for more costly items like detergents and other household products you use daily.

I'm super thrilled for my Oregonian subscription to start!  I paid $39.98 to have two Sunday papers delivered for an entire year!  If I did the math right, that breaks down to about 38 cents per paper.  The Sunday Oregonian is $2 if purchased at the store.  That would add up to over $200 over the course of the year!  Our finances are tight right now, but to me, this offer was worth shuffling some money around to cover the up front cost of the subscription in order to see the savings for an entire year. 

As far as our grocery challenge goes, I think we're doing well!  Here are the details of our meals & snacks over the last few days.  What I hope to establish by tracking this and sharing with you is that a tight grocery budget doesn't have to mean pasta or beans every day.  When you shop and plan your meals around what is on sale its possible to maintain variety.

{Sunday}
B: cereal (you'll notice we eat a lot of cereal!  My 4 year old son, Dannon, prefers to mix as many open boxes of cereal that we have into one bowl every morning.  The last few days that has meant Kellog's chocolate krave, cocoa pebbles, vanilla chex and hershey's cookies & creme.  I buy whatever cereal I know they will eat and I can get for $1.50 or less per box.  Right now its all the good stuff, sometimes its healthier options and they gobble those down too.)
L: PBJ sandwiches (made with my dad's homemade raspberry jam!) with chips/spicy snack mix.
D:  Grilled pork chops & potato wedges
(forgot to track the snacks on Sunday)

{Monday}
B: Cinnamon rolls & cereal
S: Apple slices
L: PBJ, chips/spicy snack mix/fruit snacks & juice
S:  Pickles & snack mix
D: Steak fajitas

{Tuesday}
B:Muffins & cereal (& hard boiled eggs for Bob)
L: PBJ for Dan, P for Eli, Ham & Cheese for Ash, chips, grapes & juice
S: Peanut butter crackers & marshmallows (things I found in the pantry)
D:  Grilled chicken salad with carrots, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cheese & crutons

Grocery Challenge: aka moving is expensive and we still need to eat!

Since my poor, poor blog is often neglected, I haven't written a recent update.  Here is the big news:

WE MOVED! 

Moving is a chaotic process, and we definitely experienced our share of chaos, but we are now happy residents of Troutdale, Oregon.  The best things so far about Oregon?  We are just a 3 hour drive away from my parents, the temperatures are significantly cooler than Northern California (we're talking 20-25 degrees cooler!), I don't have to pump my own gas AND we're within a pretty close radius of quite a few shopping options!

Now let me tell you the downside of moving to Oregon:  The act of moving is expensive.  We went with a 26 foot Penske moving truck and let me tell you, we used every INCH of that truck!  Gigantic moving trucks are not cheap, nor is the diesel for a 465 mile trip.   Rents are also higher in this area than what we were blessed with in Red Bluff.  $365 more a month to be exact, but thankfully we found a great (big) home that will meet and exceed the needs of our family for the next few years until we are able to purchase our own.  

Oh, and if the moving expenses weren't enough... the registration on our van expires this month so we're forced to deal with getting the registration transferred and dealt with a lot quicker than we may have done otherwise. 

Bob will be getting a cost of living increase, which will definitely help with our higher housing costs but I needed to find a way to decrease some of our other expenses, especially in the here and now while we try to get back on track with our finances and budget.  Enter my facebook status post from last night:  

The Challenge: Stick to a $50/week grocery budget until our finances level out again after all of our moving expenses. I'm scouring the weekly ads. Hopefully between Fred Meyer, Albertsons, Safeway & Target I can feed my family decent food AND stick to a bare bones budget! Stand by for updates :)

And now for the updates! 

I started this challenge by checking out the online weekly ads for the nearby stores and came up with a list of dinner ideas based on what I was finding on sale.  This is what we will be having for dinner over the next 12 days, I don't assign a meal to a day.  I have found it works best for our family to have all of the ingredients on hand for a number of meals and then we can pick and choose off the list each day depending on what we have a hankerin' for.

Dinners:

Mexi pasta (pinterest recipe)

General Tso Chicken, rice & zucchini

Breakfast for dinner x2

Dinner salad

BBQ pizza - zucchini pesto for us, pepperoni for the kids

Grilled meat & potatoes

Beef, broccoli & rice

Fajitas

Soup & bread

Lettuce wraps & potstickers

Sandwiches/leftovers

You may notice a few meals like "grilled meat" and "fajitas" that didn't actually specify which type of meat.  I left it that way on purpose so I could build those meals around the proteins I would find on sale at the store and not be locked in to a specific main ingredient.

The shopping results:

{Target:  Food total $16.14, broom $7.99}

Broom & dust pan - $7.99

2 Cucumbers - $0.38 (used $1/$1 or more vegetable purchase Target Mobile Coupon)

Small jar Classico Pesto - $2.00

Market Pantry Bread - $0.22 (used $1 off sandwich bread TMC)

Market Pantry Canola Oil - $2.14 (Clearance priced $3.14 & $1 off $2+ MP item TMC)

Snack Pack Pudding - $0.71 (clearance price)

Cantalope - $0.99 (used $1/$1 or more fresh fruit TMC)

Ground beef - $2.69 (used $1 off fresh meat TMC)

Rhodes rolls - $1.29 (used $1 off frozen food item TMC)

Up & Up freezer bags - $2.49 (used $1 off $3+ Up & Up TMC)

Foster Farms chicken breasts - $3.38 (clearance priced)

{Fred Meyer:  $30.34}

Tortillas - $1.49

Margarine Tub - $2.63 (used .35 cent off manufacture coupon)

Grapes - $2.35 (on sale for 98 cents/lb)

Broccoli - $0.88 (on sale for 88 cents/lb)

Chips - $2.00 (on sale with FM store coupon)

1 can corn - $0.50 (on sale with FM store coupon)

1 can green beans - $0.50 (on sale with FM store coupon)

Salsa - $1.79

Pepperoni - $3.00

Bacon - $3.99 (on sale with FM store coupon)

Giant jar of pickles - $3.44 (used .55 cent hang tag coupon)

3 Tree Top Juices - $5.00 (FM store coupon 3/$5)

10 lb bag of potatoes - $1.98

4pk Cranberry Orange muffins - $1.79 (clearance priced impulse purchase)

  * Also used a $1 off future purchase catalina coupon from a previous shopping trip

{Albertsons:  Food Total $45.75, Kid vitamins $5.99}

Croutons - $1.29

Water chestnuts - $0.99

Salad dressing - $2.99

Milk - $2.89

Shredded Mozzarella - $3.99

2 Dozen eggs - $0.79 each

Kid vitamins - $5.99

Potstickers - $2.99

Family pack Oscar Meyer lunchmeat - $5.99

3 bell peppers - $3.00

4pk bakery cinnamon rolls - $1.00 (another impulse purchase, maybe desert tonight!)

MEAT:

2.82 lbs of boneless pork chops 2 packages, BOGO sale - $9.93 (Grilled Meat!)

2.27 lbs of bottom round steak 2 packages, BOGO sale -  $9.11 (to be used for Fajitas, soup and beef & broccoli)

We did have a few grocery items on hand already that I figured into our meal plan and didn't need to purchase and my parents sent us home with a big bag of lettuce and zucchini from their garden.  Overall, I'm really happy with my plan and my shopping results.  I don't think we will ALWAYS stick to a grocery budget that is this bare bones (notice no beer, soda or lots of snacking options), but its awesome to know that we can do it and still eat the types of meals we prefer to eat with a decent variety!

EDIT: (adding my facebook status update to explain my change from $50/week to $100/2 weeks and how I will end up a little over my challenge budget and I'm ok with that!)

I <3 Target mobile coupons! I'm back from my morning of grocery shopping, I took pictures of my purchases from each store and I'm thinking I'll go into detail with a blog post (my poor neglected blog) Anyway, the overall update is that I decided to shoot for $100 over the next two weeks, shopping for our needs on a $50/week budget would have been too limiting because I like to buy value packages of meat, etc. I went to Target, Fred Meyer & Albertsons and spent a total of $92.23 on food items (plus another $7.99 for a much needed broom/dust pan and $5.99 for a 150ct bottle of kid vitamins so we can stop giving them gummy bears, lol!) I will end up slightly over my goal of $100/2 weeks because I know we will need to get a few more gallons of milk, fresh fruit and I've planned on bbq pizzas next weekend and I'll buy the dough from Safeway 2/$3. Might end up closer to $125... but if I can feed our family of 5 breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks for the next 12 days on that amount I'd say that is a huge success!

Clutter Re-Cap!

I did it!  I joined a month long challenge and I followed through (quite successfully, I might add!)  Can you tell that I'm giving myself a pat on the back?  If you've read any number of my blog posts or know me in real life, you know that I tend to be follow-through-challenged.  I always have these great ideas and the best of intentions, and then somewhere after the first few days the motivation escapes me and I quit.  I'm not proud of that, its something that I'm slowly working on changing, and I am proud of myself for this accomplishment!

The Clutter Challenge was to get rid of 7 or more things every day in the month of May.  Some days I found more than 7 items, some days I wrote "7 Things" on my to-do list, only to end up writing "14 Things" on the next day's list.  I wish I would have kept a running tally to see exactly how much I purged from the house!  There were a few things that got sold online along the way, some things that went straight to the trash or recycle and a giant pile that made it's way into the garage for our upcoming moving sale.

One thing I learned from this challenge is that not only do I have a habit of holding on to things for those "what if's" that I think up, but also that it does help to sometimes walk away for a bit and then approach things again later with a fresh outlook.  Two big rubbermaid tubs of things that didn't sell at the consignment sale were sitting right next to our front door for most of the month of May.  I emptied them out this morning and told myself that I would only keep the best items for the fall consignment sale, and only what I could fit into one of the tubs.... everything else would be garage sale bound.  When I looked through those two tubs a few weeks ago, in my mind I wanted to keep everything for the next consignment sale.  This morning, with renewed motivation, I kept only a quarter of the items.  Yes, consignment sales draw much better prices than yardsales, but it also would require moving and storing more than is really necessary. 

At this point, I have completed the challenge, but I plan on continuing to keep an open mind about "stuff" and try my best to only keep the things that are used often or loved much.  After all, everything we own needs to fit in a moving truck in a few weeks!