Sunday, July 15, 2012

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Well, for type A, OCD, ADD people like me that is. It's consignment time baby!

I, for one, love that time of the year where I can finally unpack those bins of outgrown, barely worn clothes and slap tags on them. Where I can bribe my kids with visions of new toys if they will just release their death grip on a toy that 20 minutes prior they had not touched in 6 months. Where I can see the vision that my husband "might" be able to park in the garage again (but alas, this usually lasts about 14 days until I start cleaning out the next batch of consignment items). Where I am already making bets with anyone that will listen of what I hope my check will be.

Yes, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

As many of you know, I've been a participant of some kind in consignment sales for the last 12 years. I started out as a shopper, then a consignor, then a volunteer, then an owner and now I'm back to just volunteer/consignor, but man, oh man, I love it. I love that my kids can look amazing for a fraction of retail. I love that the people I meet at these little events have become some of my dearest friends. I love that I am literally making money on many of my kids old items.

I decided to write today's blog to inspire those of you that have never even come close to relating to the first few paragraphs I just wrote. You may be someone who just had a baby that still thinks that buying new is the only way to go. You may be someone who currently just donates all your kid's old stuff to local charities and not thinking another thing about it. You also be someone who has 9 billion tubs of your kids outgrown stuff in the attic, garage, etc. and the thought of even opening pandora's box is enough to make you want to suck down a migraine pill.

Let's face it: participating in a consignment sale is a ton of work. Yep, I said it. Everyone glorifies it like it's the easiest thing in the world, but it's not. The hard work is the reason that many moms choose to dump their like new Gymboree in boxes priced for $.25 each at garage sales. It's also the same reason that they dump off trash bag after trash bag of their kids items to charities. Who has time for all that work? Well, I've made time because I've figured out a few things, the most important being:

When I consign, I no longer have to budget for kids items. I just use the money I've made to buy the next season of goodies.

Now, some of you reading that will think, "that's just not possible" but I'm here to tell you IT IS! Not only is it possible, but many times, I end up not spending as much as I just made; therefore, I walk away with a new wardrobe for my kids and MONEY to buy other stuff that the precious darlings will NEED ;)

To help you get started, I will be blogging over the next 24 hours on ways to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed and turn that feeling into motivation. If you will follow the next few posts step by step, not only will you declutter your home, you will also find that you will have a nice little check in your mailbox in about 6 weeks :) So, stop procrastinating and commit to making some money and diving into the consignment world!