Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Thrifty Momma

When I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited to shop, shop, shop!  I couldn't leave Target without at least buying one thing for baby.  I didn't know if E was a boy or girl so I had to buy gender neutral things.  That was probably a good thing.  If I knew the gender of the baby, I’m sure I would have went overboard with pinks or blues.  The thought never occurred to me to check out thrift stores or second hand places.  I never shopped at Goodwill or stopped by garage sales before, why would I start now?  Because kids are expensive, that’s why.  I also didn't realize how quickly babies grew.  E is only 16 months old and I already have four big totes full of clothes he’s outgrown.  I found I can find toys at garage sales and thrift stores so much cheaper as well.  We bought E a water table for his birthday that was on sale for $30.  As I've started to shop around for second hand items, I've found tons of water tables ranging from $8 - $12. 

Now I’m all about the bargain hunting.  I love looking through Goodwill, Once Upon a Child, and stopping at random garage sales.  I've found some great things for just a few dollars.  I haven’t totally converted to only buying second hand stuff.  I still love looking at all the clothes when I go to Target and am still guilty of buying a cute shirt for E every now and then.  But at the rate E grows out of his clothes and out grows his toys, the more things used I can get, the better.   Some of my great finds are:

Jungle Gym with slide - $10 at garage sale

Nike and Stride Rite Shoes - $3 each at Goodwill

Winter coat - $15 at Once Upon a Child

Snow pants - $4 at Once Upon a Child

Books - $.25 to $.50 at garage sale

Pajamas - $3.50 each at Once Upon a Child







Friday, October 4, 2013

Life Lately

Wow, blogging has really taken a backseat lately.  I've got several half written posts but for some reason the gumption to finish them hasn't been there.  It will come, I know it will.  But for now, here's life lately with the Gesellchen Family:

Mike and Evan have been spending Sunday afternoons at our good friend O'Malley's man-cave for football.  It works out pretty well because I can catch up on sleep from working the night before and I don't feel guilty about not seeing E.  

We jumped on the Breaking Bad bandwagon, we just finished Season 1 (pretty late to the party, I know).  I'm cheap and borrow the DVDs from the library but I'm getting antsy waiting for Season 2 so I might just spring for it on Amazon Prime at $1.99 an episode.  Did I mention I was cheap?

We made one last trip up North for the summer to help Mike's family on the farm house and see E's great-grandma.  

E asserted his independence and decided he no longer needed a high-chair.  One day he just refused to go in there.  So we took the hint and got his booster seat ready to go.




Mike's been getting some fishing in.  Unfortunately, this picture is the one and only fish he caught on his last trip.



Mike's helping put a fence in at at his sister's house.  E stopped over to help too.



We're also starting a remodeling project at our house, we're finishing our basement.  I'm very excited to get this done because it will add so much more space to our house.  We're still in the early stages, we're hoping to actually get boards up in the next 2 weeks!

The pics below are some old ones from a late summer visit to my mom and dad's.  They were just too cute to not post. 
E decided to re-pot Grandma's flower.

Cooling off in the pool.

Picking zucchini.  

Helping Grandpa dig potatoes. 

Feeding the goats.