Sweat Equity

Whew! The big kids' clothing sale is over. I thought I was tired Thursday night, but that was nothing compared to Saturday.

This year I helped worked at the sale so I could bring home 100% of my sales instead of 80%. My shift started at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, but I left the house at 6:15 so I could help a triplet-dad-to-be shop early at 7 a.m. My shift was 10:30 to finish, and finish was a loooong ways from 10:30 a.m.

The sale ended at noon, but then the volunteers had to sort through all the clothes that were left and organize them by seller number so consigners could pick them up. There were 171 consigners and not nearly enough volunteers. It took three hours to get everything off the racks and sorted into piles.

And that was just the clothes. Another group of volunteers sorted through all the toys and equipment.

When that was done we had to disassemble the racks and tables, load them on trucks, bag up the donations and load those and generally make it look like we'd never been there. It was a TON of work.

After sorting through thousands of items of clothes I came home never wanting to look at another piece of children's clothing again. Unfortunately, since I live with a number of small children who don't do laundry yet (slackers!) I have had to look at and handle a lot of kids' clothes in the past 24 hours.

I figure I sold about 75% of what I took to the sale. I am very happy with that. And Jeff and I got some great bargains on toys and a few clothes. The boys didn't need much thanks to hand-me-downs. I have to wait a couple weeks for my check, and since we didn't spend much I'm hoping to make a little money this time around.

Although breaking even wouldn't be bad either.

I haven't decided yet if getting an additional 20% is really worth all that time and effort. I'll decide that when I get my check!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

My Second Career: Retail Management

I'd love to tell you that it's all the fun we've been having that's been keeping me from posting lately. Sadly, that's not true.

Yes, I did enjoy a few hours away with some fellow triplet mommies on Sunday. And we managed to successfully navigate Amelia's first Sunday school class, the nursery for the boys (Sam only cried half the time this time around), and church for Jeff, Amelia and me. But much of the rest of the weekend and last week and this week had revolved around the kids' clothes.

I had no idea how much time managing my kids' clothes was going to take!

There's a local kids' stuff sale coming up, and I'm selling so we don't wind up buried in piles of children's clothes, so that's been my motivation.

First I went through drawers and closets to weed out what no longer fits. Then the boys had a little style show so I could see if their snow pants and winter coats from last year still fit. Alex wanted to keep his snow pants on. Whatever. It was 75 degrees in the house, but he was happy. Sweaty, but happy.

Then I went through bins and Spacebags of clothes in the next sizes up that I had sorted and stored previously.

Then I pulled out things that I set aside in the spring to sell at the fall sale because they are seasonal.

Then there's all the hanging, tagging, sorting by size, pricing... My living room looks like Wal-Mart right now, minus all of the odd people.

But I had a great sale when I did this in the spring. Because the kids don't need much in the way of clothes this time around I'm hoping to make a little money instead of just breaking even. Jeff and I will be looking for birthday and Christmas presents though, so that might offset the earnings a bit.

Surely managing the closets of four little people who are outgrowing things at an alarming rate gives me some kind of skill to add to my resume, right?

The sale is this Saturday, so if you need me before then just look under the nearest pile of clothes.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Just Call Me "Clearance"

It's Friday and I'll be heading out at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow to go to a huge multiples group sale, where I hope to find some great bargains on clothes for the kids. Otherwise there will be a lot of running around naked going on here this summer.

Oh, who am I kidding? Since Alex has learned how to take off his diaper and happily helps his brothers with theirs, there's already lots of running around naked going on here. It's just not intentional...at least not MY intention.

I'm not thrilled about getting up so early, but I do love a bargain. And when you're dressing four kids who are shooting up at an astronomical rate, bargains are a necessity.

Last year I got a baby swing for our swingset (You can watch Sam enjoying it immensely), two push toys (Remember the video of the boys running down the driveway with those?) and a summer's worth of clothes for the boys for about $80. I'm hoping to make out as well again this year. I'm also selling some of the clothes we've outgrown, so hopefully I can make more than I spend.

That would make my hubby a very happy guy.

Good night all!

© Trippin' Mama 2010

Bargain Hunt

Today I went to a local children's resale store for their "bag sale." Everything you could stuff in one bag for $15. I bought two bags, which included three nice lightweight spring jackets. I really tried to get it all in one bag, but with the jackets, there was just too much.

The day's haul.

I saved $143, so it was still a great bargain. My total cost was about $1 per item. That made the 20 minutes I stood in line in the freezing cold waiting for the store to open totally worth it.

My success was due, in part, to the fact that I went to the store just before closing last night and scoped out the sale racks. I may have even put a few things together on the racks to make it easier to get what I wanted. Survival of the fittest, baby...

The bargains continued when I bought three brand new winter jackets for next year on clearance. I got three on sale for less than the regular price of one. And one even came with snow pants.

I've always loved to get something on sale. Now it's just more necessary!