It's that time of year again...

March Madness!! (ok, so we're into the basketball March Madness around our house too. Especially since our UK Wildcats are ranked #1 in the country right now!!! Go CATS!!!) But I'm talking about a different kind of March Madness. I'm talking about the consignment sales that run through the month of March around here! Every single weekend of March there are different (and up to 3) consignment sales at different churchs, community centers or clubhouses.  If you've been around my blog for any length of time, you know that consignment sales are where absolutely all (unless they are gifts or we need a specific outfit for an occasion) of Adalyn's clothes come from. And yes, I only buy name brand and yes, I only buy clothes that look unused. Almost all of Adalyn's toys (even the toys we gave her for her 1st birthday) are from sales!

This weekend is the BIG sale. Last year there were over 40,000 sale items at this sale. Jonathan's mom likes to call it a garage sale. I don't think she gets the idea of what these sales are, but I would imagine unless you actually saw with your own eyes, you can't really imagine what these sales are like.  The items even have bar codes on the tickets so checking out is like checking out at a store!  Since we have another bun in the oven and this bun will need a whole new set of clothes (since pink just isn't going  to fly on my boy) we have our work cut out for us.

I have to say that I have an amazing husband.  For the fall sale in August, I didn't need much gear or many toys. I just needed winter clothes for Adalyn. I worked the sale (with a ton of other girls I know) so I could get in for early shopping. The problem? Only volunteers can get in for early shopping. I couldn't bring Jonathan (aka my extra arms/hands to hold stuff and also the second half of my brain when making quick decisions on pricier items than clothes), so this sale since I knew we need an entire list of items I coerced him into volunteering with me so he could shop with me.

Last night we worked our 3 hour volunteer shift (7-10pm) which had us out way past our bedtime (thankfully Adalyn was in bed at her bedtime thanks to our awesome babysitter) and we were beyond exhausted but it was so worth it.  At 7pm sellers started bringing in their goods. I stayed at the check in counters and organized clothes into sizes for runners to take them to the appropriate room/racks. Jonathan was a runner. They appreciate husbands because people bring big gear and furniture and they need muscles. They were just in luck since my hubby is strong! We stayed busy and it's fun to see everything coming in the door. It was insane to look around after only 3 hours to see the clothes room looking full, the large equipment room looking pretty full and the nursery item tables full. That was 3 hours. The sellers started drop off again this morning at 6am and will drop off all day today. It gets me excited to imagine all the stuff that will come in in that amount of time.

As a worker we get to shop tonight with all the other workers before the sale opens to the public tomorrow morning. This is HUGE. Not only do we get first picks of everything, we get to shop in a significantly less stressful situation since there will not be the crowd that there is when it opens to the public.  We then get to shop again Friday night. Saturday morning most items sell for half off (depending on whether the different sellers choose for their items to be half off), so Friday night all workers get to shop half off before it's open to the public on Saturday morning! So, yes we will be going back on Friday night because a lot of clothes are worth the extra half off!

Maybe I'm a dork, but I get a crazy rush from knowing what we need and the idea that we could get stuff for dirt cheep. Jonathan was working in the big equipment room most of the evening so he was able to peruse the different items that we are looking for. He found multiple Britax convertible car seats for I believe $50-ish (wha?? that is insane!) We need a new car seat for his car for Adalyn so we can let the baby use the Chicco infant car seat that she currently uses in his car. Can I please remind you that Britax car seats new start at $250! We also need another base for our Chicco infant car seat. New they are $80. Priced at the sale for $15. We need a double stroller so we're looking at the sit and stand because they seem to be the best option for the kids ages and still relatively light weight. New they are $170. At the sale they are priced around $50. You all! This is the kind of stuff that doesn't get much wear and tear on it so why not buy used for crazy cheap? Our sitter says Adalyn needs a Cozy Coup since she loves playing outdoors with it at her house. New they are $60. Sale price $20!

We have actually typed up a list of items (other than the obvious clothes) that we need to buy at the sale. Jonathan and I have already agreed to the most important items and which item each of us will be making a dash for first. I believe it will be like Supermarket Sweep (except without the cart...we can bring laundry baskets for our goods) tonight. We have never needed this much stuff at a sale so it will be interesting. Here's to some good shopping and some serious good deals tonight!!

And yes, I realize I just wrote an entire post about my excitement for shopping. Wow.