Spring Time = Sale Time

The other Atlanta moms have been telling me about these consignment sales around town. They’re mostly in churches and they have lots of quality used stuff for babies. As we’ve been shopping for baby gear, Frank keeps asking, “When are all those consignment sales everybody talks about?” I had to explain to him that they were seasonal so they only happen in the fall and the spring. Since it was winter we were out of luck.

But he was still super eager. One weekend in February it was a little warm and Frank said, “Will they have a consignment sale now?”

“It’s not like it just gets warm and they set up shop! They have these dates planned far in advance,” I told him.

But last weekend there was one by our house. You really can’t just wander in there. You’ve got to have a plan. And a basket. I thought they meant like a cute wicker basket but apparently they meant laundry baskets.

And you have to understand the rules. Wednesday night they had a preview sale which is only for people who volunteer for at least three hours (not me). Then on Thursday night it opened to the public. It went on all day Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday was half price day.

You have to decide if you’re going to go at the beginning or at the end. There’s really no point in going on Saturday because it’s way too crowded, all the good stuff is gone and all the bad stuff will be half price the next day anyway.

I decided to go the first night that was open to the public. Frank even went with me! We didn't know what to expect. We thought it might be in a big tent so we bundled up. It was actually in a storefront though. And when I saw that everyone had laundry baskets, I left my wicker basket in the car.

When we walked in it was mommy madness. They were piling clothes into laundry baskets like they were going out of style (which, by the way, they were). They were stocking up on toys, gear, books and bedroom furniture.

There were pregnant bellies everywhere and I told Frank, “It’s Shlumpadinkaville in here!” And this was a pretty fancy one. There was one particular Shlumpadinka who I really wanted to send in to Oprah. She was pushing around this bright pink-flowered bassinet with lots of purchases in it. It was like she had won a contest where she had 30 seconds to grab stuff in a store and she had cleverly used the bassinet to haul it all.

Someone said to her, “Oh, you must be having a girl!” And Shlump said, “No, we don’t know what we’re having. We’re not really into things being gender specific.”

I said a silent prayer that she would have a girl so a poor little boy wouldn’t have to be photographed in that bassinet. But then I thought of the unfortunate little girl’s shlump hair and decided I should just leave it up to God's will.

Despite having to push through the Shlumpadinkas and do a lot of digging, we scored some pretty good stuff. What did we get? A jogging stroller! Frank spent a lot of time out front with the volunteers, learning about the strollers. He was BFF with them by the time we left.

That was our biggest find and actually the only one I’m going to tell you about. You see, I’ve decided that if you see some of my purchases and compliment me or BS on them, I’m going to lie and act like I paid full price. Well, I won’t lie. I’ll just say, “Thanks” and not add that I got them at a consignment sale.

But I did work hard for them. I had to wait in line for twenty minutes! And when we finally were trying to leave, that major Shlumpadinka tried to befriend me! (I did look a little shlumpy, having coming straight from spin class so I can’t blame her for thinking I was one of her own.)

“These things are great!” she said, “I sell stuff here too and I always end up breaking even!”

Yikes. I hope the stuff I bought wasn’t hers, I thought, ready to get outta there.

Frank, on the other hand, was pumped up about more consignment sales. We heard some people in line talk about another one going on this weekend. The lady said, “I don’t know if it’s good but there are a lot of rich people in that area!”

Frank hit that one on Saturday (without me)!

So now that it’s basically springtime in the south, this is where you’ll find us (or at least Frank) each weekend, digging through other people’s stuff. But BS will not be sleeping in a pink-flowered bassinet--even if it IS 50% off.