Works For Me Wednesday: Consignment Sale Organization

I went to my first consignment sale by accident when I was pregnant with The Wook....I fell in love!

I now love buying and selling at consignment sales in my area. Especially in these economic times. Selling at consignment sales can get hairy and hectic if you do not have an organized system in place. This is the system that works for me. It may not work for you but hopefully it will help you get started or create a system that does work!

My main goal is to sell enough at the sales to pay for what I buy. Basically swapping clothes.

One of my big challenges is keeping The Wook's clothes organized.
*what he wears
*what he has outgrown
*what I want to keep for future babies
*what I want to sell

I keep all clothes he is currently wearing hung up or in his dresser drawers.

I keep a large tub in the bottom of his closet to throw clothes in as I realize he has outgrown them.

At the end of the season I sit down and go through the clothes and organize them in the following piles.

Pile One: We store the keep for future babies clothes in the attic. I label this in another tub, box, or bag. There is an area up there for nothing but baby stuff we want to keep.

Pile Two: I store clothes I want to sell in a Consignment Tub that I keep in our Master Bedroom Closet. The clothes I am selling this year are his clothes from last summer. So we are always a season behind.

Inside the Consignment Tub I also keep the following:
*tagging instructions for sales I participate in
*sharpie markers
*cheap store hangers we get when we buy new clothes.
*index cards for tagging, or cardstock for computerized tags
*various sizes of ziploc bags
*safety pins

This year we are selling last year's spring/summer clothes. Throughout the fall, as I had time, I sat down and hung up the consignment clothes, checked them for stains, snapped all snaps/zippers etc. This way all I have to do is tag them before the sales in the spring.

So far The Wook is set for clothes for the spring and summer, thanks to earlier sales. I will be selling at the last sale of the season this week and finally have everything ready.

Are you interested in consignment sales? If so, start pulling those clothes as your children outgrow them. It is a great way to basically swap your child's outgrown clothes that are in good condition for new ones that are in good condition. It has saved us money and I love seeing Wook wear the "new to us" outfits!

Happy Consigning!!! Feel free to comment with questions or suggestions of your own!

Wookie Wednesday

I know it's been a couple of weeks since Wookie's birthday but here are some pics from the exciting day!


These were his homemade cakes. I got the idea from here.



This cake didn't stay cute long...

It didn't take much encouragement to get him to play in it!

How To Recycle Diapers

Ok so I don't recommend this to anyone!

Sometimes in Blogland we run across those mommies who like to portray themselves as perfect. If you are looking for one of those mommies here...move along.

I want to share with you what happened to me yesterday. Yesterday it was not funny. Today I can laugh about it. Sorry Robin for boring you with this story twice.

Wook has not been feeling well. I called our fabulous pediatrician's office and they gave me a very small time window for getting ready and making it on time.

We left without shoes. And another very important article of baby clothing.

We made it on time. We checked in. I smelled something terribly foul.

My sickly child had a sickly poop.

I took him out to the van to change the poop in order to spare the other sickly children in the waiting room from gagging.

When I got out to the van, I looked in the diaper bag and realized I had no diapers with me.

No problem because being the mostly organized Mommy that I am, we keep a basket with much needed items in the van, including 8-10 diapers.

But what happens when you forget to restock your back-up basket?

I went into immediate panic!!!!!!!

I know what some of you not so perfect mommies are thinking....

Jess..."Dump the poop patty and move on." But it was goopy poop!

I was frantic. And I knew they were going to check his temp rectally because it was so high. And I wouldn't get past the desk with the smell.

That's when I recycled my first diaper.

There was one diaper wrapped in itself in a perfect little tight diaper square, it had rolled under the seat (or I had just left it there for who knows how long).

Before I opened it I prayed. I did. I stopped to take the time to pray.

"Lord, please? I won't ask for anything for a long time. Please don't let there be poop in this used diaper. Please let it just be wet and crusty."

I opened it. I was an oldie but a goodie. A little wet, a little yellowed. It would do.

I then happily diapered my child with that recycled diaper. I was so relieved that I didn't apologize to him until later.

Yeah, we left with 2 ear infections, but I was proud of myself for being so crafty, and I did a little to help the environment too!

So to all you not perfect mommies...don't beat yourself up when you look in your vehicle and there are a few used diapers tossed around. What if you might need them one day?

There are so many times I catch myself complaining.

Since the beginning of this new year, we have frequently found ourselves...

waiting in the doctor's office sick room
waiting in the doctor's office exam room
waiting for a prescription to be filled
waiting to hear back from the insurance company

I could go on....but I would just be complaining again.

I started to get sick of waiting. Then I got that feeling. You know the one. God speaking to me, convicting me of my stupid unwarranted complaining.

Then I bowed my head and I thanked my Lord and Savior that my child lives in a country where medication is so easily available. I thanked Him that I had a doctor's office to visit, that it wasn't made out of mud and sticks, and that my son would receive medication quickly. I thanked Him that I wouldn't have to worry about him dying from a mosquito bite. I thanked Him that we had insurance and that the medication we would buy for him would not keep us from eating or paying or mortgage this month. I prayed for the many who right here in the U.S. go without health insurance.

I thanked Him for vaccinations that would keep my child from living with Post-Polio like my Granddaddy does.

I suddenly didn't mind waiting so much.

Easy Peasy Cinnamon Buns

Some Sunday mornings we have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Well we were out of the store bought kind so I decided to get creative with a roll of pizza dough! My hubby said they reminded him of Cinnabons!


Here is my recipe for Easy Peasy Cinnamon Buns.

-Unroll one roll of refrigerated pizza dough on your cutting board.
-Sprinkle the entire crust with cinnamon (covering the dough) and top with several tablespoons of sugar.
-Cut thin pats of butter or margarine and lay over dough.
-Roll up the entire dough. You may have to rearrange the pats of butter.
-Slice the roll into about 8 buns.
-Lay in an ungreased pan and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
-Top with cream cheese icing. (I used the tub kind!)

A Cleaning Lady's Perspective

So some of you know that I clean a few homes to make some extra money. Let's call me The Cleaning Lady.

As some of you also know...I love to organize. That does not mean that I am always am organized but I love the act of looking at a space before, purging, organizing, finding new homes for things, and then basking in the after.

That's why I was so glad I caught Oprah with Peter Walsh yesterday for the "Clean Up Your Messy House Tour". Plus they were at Georgia Tech, the hubby's alma mater.

Let's just say that since then I have been looking at my SURFACES differently.

I always seem to concentrate on drawers and cabinets and closets. Nice. But who sees them? I now want to focus on using storage for storage and leaving surfaces clearer. This definitely cuts down on clutter and gives the room a larger feel. As some of you have seen from the Tour of My Home post, we have a very very open floor plan. I need clear surfaces!!!!!!!!

Ok, so back to the point of this. Let me give it to you from The Cleaning Lady's perspective. My least favorite thing to do when cleaning someones home is moving all those little knick knacks! UHHHHHH!!!!!

One of my pals/clients has the most enjoyable home to clean....Janet!
Janet has triplets in the first grade, a husband who works out of town a lot, and she works full time. Its not like she spends lots of time organizing and tiddying up. BUT her home is always clutter free! And no she doesn't stay up all night the night before straightening up.

What do I love about her home?
She only has a few decorative things out and most things that are out serve a purpose.
The surfaces in her home are relatively clear and therefore easy to clean.

So I know what you are thinking. "I don't have anyone clean my house!" but you clean your house. Take it from me. Wouldn't you want to make it easier on yourself?

Try clearing some clutter.
Clearing some surfaces.
Donating/Selling/Trashing some things that serve no purpose or have no sentimental value.

Then clean your home and see how much easier it feels. I am starting in the kitchen!

7 Things That Make me Diaproportionately Happy

So thanks to Heather I am jumping in and passing on this meme.

Can I only pick seven? Here they are in no particular order...

1. Waking up Wooks in the morning. He gets this adorable look on his face like "Five more minutes Mommy?" and he stretches forever.

2. The beach. We went every summer growing up. Making drip castles, catching little crabs, riding waves, bologna sandwiches for lunch, making friends. I still feel 7 when I stand near the ocean.

3. When my hubby gets up with me in the middle of the night to take care of the Wookie. Even though he sleeps on the couch while I get him back to sleep...it feels good having someone there with you when you are propping your eyelids open.

4. Bargain Shopping.

5. Cooking with my Mama. She always took the time to teach me to cook when I was growing up and I still love being in the kitchen with her.

6. The Aaron Shust song..."My Savior lives, my Savior loves, my Saviors always there for me. My God He was, My God He is, My God He's always gonna be. Tear fill my eyes every time I hear it.

7. My walks and talks with Robin. I feel like I can be so transparent with her. She makes me want to be a better me.