Garage Sale Tales

Dad and Ben desperately wanted to be in the neighborhood garage sale this year.  Dad had some larger items to sell and Ben just wanted to experience the sale and earn "lots of money"!  Ben learned a lot from this experience.  One of the unfortunate things he learned was that toys don't earn as much cash as Dad's tools and equipment.  On the bright side, he learned some social interactions that he has never had before.  Mom had run some errands and when she was back Ben was ready to do some of his own shopping.  He asked Mom if there was any way we could take coupons with us.  Mom explained that these items were already on sale and that there were no coupons that applied to a garage sale.  Leaving Dad to hold down the fort, Ben and Mom set off to shop.  At the first house, Ben didn't even leave the sidewalk.  "Nope! No kid stuff.   Let's go."  At the second house there was no noticeable kid stuff but Ben saw a giant cardboard box that he couldn't see into.  He went closer and said hello to the man running the sale.  Then he saw there were lots and lots of golf balls in the box.  Mom thought it would be time to head to the next house, but instead Ben says, "How much would you like for your golf balls?"  The man smiled and Mom shook uncontrollably from laughing.  The man answered him that the entire box would be $10.  Ben knew he didn't have $10 to spend and his face dropped.  He looked at the man and asked, "Will you sell just one?  I only want one."  The man smiled and gave him a "deal" - he told Ben he could just have it if he only wanted one.  Ben beamed and thanked the man and then turned to Mom and said "See I told you they take coupons!"

Costumes and Rehearsals

When the costumes arrived at school for E's recital, it might as well have been Christmas.  It was all the talk amongst the girls and Elizabeth went into great detail about how they tried them on and the teacher fluffed each of their skirts.  She didn't want anyone to see the costumes however as they were a surprise.  So Mom carried them home looking the other way and waited till E was in bed to lay them out and drool over them herself.  This was E's first year to dance and preparing for recital was new to us.  Elizabeth had several rehearsals at the studio and the stage where the recital would be.  She went for about 3-4 hours each time and was there with the big girls "on her own".  Mom wasn't allowed to stay for the practices and it turned out really well for everyone.  She was very brave and helped take care of the girls that were even smaller than her. 

E took pictures in her costumes before the recital and it was the only time that Mom was allowed to see the costumes.  We were going to do her hair in braids as a practice run for recital but decided not to hide her pretty curls for pictures.  It was a good choice - she looked beautiful!  Little Ms. Independent would allow Mom in the dressing room to help her get dressed, but would not let her come into the picture area.  She wanted to go with only Ms. Jane and do it by herself - no one watching!  That was hard for Mom, but she let E go solo anyway.  Turns out that she did great on her own and was proud of her independence.


 

Couponing

Ben has recently taken up interest in couponing. It all started when he caught Mom watching "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. His rest time was over and Mom was watching some quality TV.  Mom tried to turn it off or change it to a kid show, but Ben said he wanted to keep watching.  They were in the middle of ringing up a giant sale and totaling up all of the coupons.  The register was beeping and Ben's eyes lit up.  "How do they do that?  How do they get everything for free?"  Ben was hooked.  He asked Mom to set up the DVR so he could learn the ways of couponing.  He found an episode where it was a "coupon kid" and the boy had started couponing for his family.  He KNEW that is what he was destined to do.  Mom suggested some ground rules as we are not cut out to be a strict couponing family.  Ben wanted to not buy anything unless it was practically free.  That wasn't going to work for our lifestyle and the small amount of time that Ben wanted to spend on this venture.  And Mom also said that we would never dumpster dive for newspapers/ads.  Ben had seen an episode where the mom took the family and retrieved extra papers out of a dumpster for the coupons.

It has been entertaining though.  Ben also discovered sales and now knows which day we get ads in the mail.  He is so number driven that he has really taken to the "game" of totaling up his savings.  When Mom uses a discount card on top of coupons - watch out!  Ben becomes a super nerd and will cheer at the register!