Consignment Sales!

One of the other things I really want to do a better job of is managing our finances and making every dollar stretch further. Who doesn't need to do that?!?

One way to do that is consignment sales! I spent yesterday combing through some consignment sales and was really happy to get some clothes in preparation of our upcoming Bundle of Joy and knocked TWO kids off my Christmas shopping list for $5 each!!! That was exciting. 

If you are looking for consignment sales near you check our www.thebargainwatcher.com. They have a really good listing of sales in several states and you can search by date, county, or state.

Here are some tips for shopping consignment sales:
- Bring bags to hold your stuff as you look around or make sure there is plenty of room in your stroller to pile things
- Bring cash - although much more common now, not all sales take cards. Taking cash will also keep you from gong overboard buying things just because they are $1.
- Plan your route. There are usually several sales going on in a particular weekend. Use Google or Yahoo maps to plot where they are and plan out your day for maximum efficiency. Be sure to pay attention to opening/closing times of the various sales and any special rules, such as no strollers or only umbrella strollers or things like that
- If you are looking for a particular large and/or in-demand item consider volunteering for the sale. Most sales have a presale for consigners and volunteers. This can increase your chances of getting ahold of that particular item if it is in high demand.
- Use the day as a social outing, too - especially if you have to take the kids! Multiple moms make managing the kids a lot easier as you can trade off trips to the bathroom, watch each others' kids while checking out, etc.
- Have fun! If you don't get everything you were looking for, don't stress out! Just look at all the amazing deals you did get and remember that even if you have to pay retail for one thing, you didn't on four or five others.