Master list

When scoping out big-ticket items at a garage sale, it helps to have some sort of a running list of things you need. On our list, we had dressers, a kids bike and a salad spinner.

So yesterday when we happened upon dressers for our two girls, we hadn't actively looked for probably about a year. But there it was. A three-piece set popped up out of nowhere for $80 (after my husband talked the seller down $20) and it only took us three car trips to haul that bad boy home.

The result, we have pretty decent dressers for both girls. It's not the steal we got last year when we bought our oldest daughter's big-girl bed, or the deal in the classifieds for our tiled dining room table, but it's still a great deal and it's totally recycled.

Reusable awesomeness

I just want to say, those Parmesan cheese containers in the cooler section (like Kraft or off-brand cheese that's totally not the good stuff but that is much cheaper than the good stuff and you know you kind of love it) make great snack containers.

They have cool lids. A wide section for crackers. A shaker section for raisins. The lids screw on which means less spillage. They're a great size.

I haven't done this yet, but I'm thinking of letting the girls paint one. Giving them ownership of this handy-yet-disposable item might (fingers crossed) make it less likely they'll leave it behind.