Baby stuff on a budget

It's a relatively well-known fact that I am not the type of person that regularly frequents garage sales and thrift stores. Because let's face it, I like buying new, even if that means spending more money. But now that we've finished the Dave Ramsey course, I'm finding myself buying a lot less new stuff, and going more to garage sales and thrift stores. Not that I enjoy it all that much, but I do like the deals I get when I come across something I like. This past weekend especially, when DH & I stopped by a few garage sales.

The first one, aptly named the "Spoiled Kids Garage Sale", we picked up a handful of baby boy outfits, a baby-proofing kit and a bag with 10 Avent bottles with extra nipples in the different sizes. And the bottle bag was especially awesome because Avent is the brand I was looking to use should we have the need for bottles. We got there towards the end, so it was pretty picked over already, which was a little disappointing since they supposedly had some pack n plays and other stuff I was looking to get. We spent $8 total.

The second one, we accidentally came across while looking for another, and was the one we got the best deals at, so I'm glad DH turned one street too early. This one had tons of baby boy clothes, all very well taken care of, and super cheap prices (like, 10 cents & 25 cents). We got 3 bag fulls of clothes, and the best part is that the majority of things we picked up are easily things I would put a girl in. But the only down side I realized once I washed the clothes, is that most of the things we bought are for 6-12 months, and even some going up to 18 months. So our newborn-6 month drawer is looking a little bare, while the 6-12 month drawers (yes, drawers) are full. Anyway, we also got a box of cabinet stops, 5 t-shirts for DH, a fleece jacket for me, and a vibrating bouncer chair for the baby (for $1). We spent a grand total of $12.

The third one, we bought a teether, a set of plastic keys and a super cute monster hand puppet set with 2 books to go along. We spent $2.50.

The fourth & final one, we bought a handful of girls clothes. We already have quite a bit of girlie clothes, so we didn't buy too much, but what we did get is really cute. We spent $3.

So all told, we spent $25.50. Score! And BTW, no, the picture I put at the top is not what I bought. I stole it off the internet. I'm bad like that.

But I did have to put my foot down at a garage sale where we didn't buy anything. They had a toddler car seat for $5 that DH really wanted to buy. It expires in 2013, and since we'll need one eventually, DH was all for buying it. The thing is, this car seat looked the worse for wear, so I had doubts about whether it'd be safe or not. I said no. He thought it'd be fine once we cleaned it up, but I still got major red flags. So I finally got all practical and told him that by the time our baby was big enough to be able to use it, it would be expired, which it likely will be. He saw the light then, thank God. Just wish he took the safety factor of car seats more seriously. I'm all for saving money and whatnot, but not at the expense of our baby's safety.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about the lack of smaller clothing yet. Afterall, the garage sale season is just starting. Now I just have to keep an eye out for upcoming garage sales that mention baby clothes.