Getting Cheap Baby Gear Post #1

While out shopping at yard sales and thrift stores, Benedick and I often see amazing baby furniture for very cheap. This always brings up the conversation of how much our future little ones will cost us. Of course, we will want to give our children everything. But for us, "everything" includes a house to grow up in, a college education, and good financial sense. So splurging on the years they won't even remember is something we're not willing to do.

I once saw a tv program on how to avoid spending $10,000 preparing for baby. Wait. What? 10k prepping for baby? Looking online, I see that that number isn't so far out of line for many families. The show's main advice was less is more. Skip the changing table and the nice stroller. You really only need a few outfits of each size. Ok, that's probably good advice. But what about those of us who feel the urge to nest? If we have room for all the gadgets and gizmos, and if they will make life easier, why can't we have them?

I told Benedick that when the time for nursery decorating came, I would try to do it all for $1000. I have no idea why I came up with that number, but it sounded good in my head. The oldest in a large family, he very clearly doubted I could do it. So for the last 2 weeks, I've been taking note of anything baby related I found for free on craigslist. I didn't go out of my way to look for any of these items. I just saved anything I found on my normal checks of the free page.

In addition to many carseats (which should never be purchased used), I found several ads for unused diapers and unopened formula and baby food. Here are the pictures of what I found for free, all within a  30-40 minute drive, in 2 weeks. 

Dressers: There are always listings for free dressers, in a variety of conditions. I plan on using one as a changing table/storage combo. I found this one on the first day of my project. It would be perfect, and wouldn't need any work AT ALL. 

Strollers: Tons and tons of strollers. Some were obviously stock photos, some ads had no pictures. From easy-to-fold to jogging, I was impressed with the number of strollers for FREE.

Cribs: Now this is when you have to check for recalls, but I did find a few cribs.

High Chairs: As long as it's in decent shape, I see no reason not to get one of these for free. They're made to be washed down regularly, so you can give it a good scrubbing before your baby uses it.

 Toys & Play Mats: Toys are ALWAYS showing up free. Your baby is too young to beg for something on a commercial, so why buy everything brand new?

Blankets & Sheets: Who do we decorate nurseries for? The baby or the parents? As much as you really want the crib sheets that match the curtains and mobile, do you really need them? And are you going to buy two sets to swap when you do laundry?

A few other things: Again, these are all things I happened to see while browsing the free section. I didn't search for these. AND these are only the items that had pictures. 

Potty seat. 

Walker

Cute lamb seat 

Unopened Formula

I see a lot of rockers. I saved this one
because I had an aunt who used a glider
like this and LOVED it! 

So what would all this cost? If I got all this for free instead of buying it, how much of that average $10,000 would I save? I'm checking prices on the Babies R Us & Toys R Us website, and going with the cheapest, most basic product. 

Changing Table(I'm counting this, since it needed no additional work): ON SALE! $89.99 

Folding Stroller: ON SALE! $12.98

Jogging Stroller (DH loves to run, so this will be a must for us): ON SALE!  $79.98

Swing(you can see one in the stroller pics): $69.99

Crib: ON SALE $149.99

High Chair: $42.99 

Bumbo Seat: $44.99 

Pool: ON SALE! $7.99 

Playmat: $24.99 (and it only has a one star rating) 

Jungle Gym: ON SALE! $84.99

Basketball Hoop: ON SALE!(almost 50% off) $29.99 

Crib Liner: $29.99

Blankets: ON SALE! 4 pack- $9.98

2 Crib Sheets: ON SALE! (almost 50% off) $11.96 

Potty Seat: $9.99 

Walker w/ toys: ON SALE! $29.58

Animal Chair: ON SALE! 75% off (and a tv character) $20.98 

Glider: ON SALE! (and only one star rating) $159.99

2 cans of Formula:  ON SALE! $23.98

So, even shopping sales, and getting the cheapest item, that's a total savings of $935.32(plus tax) No, you certainly don't NEED all of these things. But you really can't beat free! 

I'm going to keep my eye out for other free baby things, but I think my next project will be to look for things that could be re-purposed for the nursery. I know we have a great vintage bookshelf that will make its way there, but what else can I find? 

-DearLadyDisdain

You have no reason; I do it freely.

Do A Good Deed

I'm going to set a goal for myself now, to do at least one nice thing for someone every day. Now, I've thought about this before, but I always think "I don't even leave the house EVERY day. And what if I can't think of anything nice to do?"

But now I'm writing it down. online. I want to try to do something nice for someone every day. It can be as simple as smiling at someone, holding a door open for someone, or waiting patiently while the cashier tries to figure out the new computer system (this happened today).

The past few days, I've been organizing a lot, which means I'm at the computer, or in the living room, so I put on a show sometimes for noise. I found a playlist of The Ellen DeGeneres Show giveaways. I think watching that is a big reason I decided to commit to doing something nice everyday. I usually try to, but there's something more final about making it a "goal"

I'll try to share any interesting stories that come up, and any easy ways to make someone's day I discover. I'm not making it a condition, but I want to try to think of different nice things to do.



Today's Nice Deed that I'm going to do again and again.

I left this on the hooks of our mailbox today. The note says "It's hot outside! Have this water & stay cool. P.S. Thanks for the treats everyday! Our dog now loves all mail carriers!"

I wanted to put that last bit on because I wasn't sure if our mail carrier would know it was for her. That would the opposite of an act of kindness. More of an act of taunting. Here's this ice cold water, but it may or may not be for you so don't take it.
Our mail lady is awesome. She met Doctor Who (our dog) one day when he and DH were coming home from a walk. Since then, she leaves 2 treats on the mailbox. One day I found a treat on the box, but no mail inside. Doctor now hears her coming up the street and waits by the front door so I will get up and give him his snack.
When it first started getting warm, I asked DH if he thought it would be weird to leave a bottle of water out for whoever delivered our mail (for awhile we had a different person every day) He said not at all, and that his dad (who delivered packages) would mention how much he appreciated when people would give him water on a hot day. So, I bought a pack of water for $3.

Today was the first day it actually was hot, so I put a bottle in the freezer when I woke up. When I left for the day, I put it outside. It was still cold when our mail came around 2:30. We also don't use these drink mixes anymore, so I taped one to the note too.

I was home when the mail got delivered today, and I heard a man's voice muttering (I think reading the note) then "oh really? cool" I waited a few minutes before getting the mail, since our normal lady is done with the neighbor's and far up the street by then. When I peaked out, the man waved from the neighbor's porch. (Which I think means he took a minute to have a drink, which is great) He said thank you, and that our normal lady was out today, but he would tell her about the note. He looked like he was in his 60's and very sweaty. His smile totally made my day. But hey, wasn't this supposed to be about doing something nice for someone else?  I am definitely doing this every day. I might even do it on the not very hot days. Who says you can only be thirsty if it's hot out? By the end of Fall it might cost me, what $15? Maybe $20 if I buy drink mixes too. For me, that's a fair deal to make someone else's day just a tiny bit better.

Now how many days can I count this as my good deed before thinking of something else too? Hmmm 


-DearLadyDisdain
A kind overflow of kindness: there are no faces
truer than those that are so washed. How much
better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!

Steampunk!

Or more accurately.
Proof that you can make a cheap steampunk costume that still looks great.


Earlier this year, DH and I decided to go to a fan con that was 3 hours away. Yikes! His cousins had a booth there, and we thought it would be great to see them and go to our first con. We decided to make steampunk costumes.

Other than a quick Halloween costume, I haven't had much experience in costume making. And I haven't tried to use my sewing machine yet. And besides making a steampunk inspired sketchbook for a friend's son, I had no experience in the steampunk world either.

With some ingenuity and a couple trips to the thrift store, I made both our costumes for around $30.

This is not a normal "how to" tutorial. You can't make the exact same costumes for the same price. But in true steampunk fashion, you have to be inventive. This is just how I used what we had and made it work. You don't even have to order gears online. You can use what you have and what you find.

Here's what we used that we already owned:
(Some of these I planned on using, some were last minute solutions)
Pocket Watch- one of DH's grandfather's
Vest & Tank
White collared shirts
Slacks
Shoes (DH actually bought some for the costume, but they didn't fit right)
Old and broken jewelry that my mom had given me awhile ago
Bra (yep, this got a lot of laughs, I used the straps for DH's goggles)
Purse (one that the dog had eaten)
Spray Paint
Soda Bottle
Compass
Hot Glue
Needle & Thread

Here's what we bought, mostly from the thrift store:
Leather Jacket-$6
Old Clock-$2
Hats-$8
Sunglasses-$6
Eye Shadow-$1 from the dollar store
Belt- $3
Misc Toys that we hoped had some gears- $4
Apron-$3

Technically I also bought Velcro dots for $8 from Walmart. That was because I waited until the last minute and didn't have time to sew things. I hated how they worked, and they have been replaced with hot glue.

We got some encouraging feedback from people at the con. While some of them had been doing it for years, and put a lot of money, time and talent into their costumes, they still liked what we had done. It's the thought you put into that shows.

Here's what we started with:

We wound up not using the binoculars, but this was the look I first imagined when we started the costumes.
The hat cost $4 and was actually for a woman. The sunglasses cost under $2 and were actually baseballs.



The most comments I got were about DH's hat.

We were going for a bowler hat, and I think this wound up looking pretty close.
There's the last minute bra straps that I added to his goggles (don't worry, it was on its way to the garbage anyway). The leather strap around it is from my dog-eaten purse. The thing people really liked was the gold details on the side. The bases were from a belt I bought for $3. On top, I glued some springs and nuts I found in the bottom of the toolbox. I spray painted a few plastic gears and car wheels and added those too. Then I just hot glued everything to the hat.
DH also teased out his hair, and I painted on grey eye shadow on his face to look like soot.



I also put some old jewelry to good use.

I broke up a chain into segments, added some painted plastic gears, and stuck them onto the brooch from my mom. I also took a small heart locket from my mom and added an old, cheap, beat-up chain.

I wanted my 'persona' to be a tinkerer. With short hair, pants, and soot on my face, I thought a little feminine touch to my hat would be nice. 

Here's DH. The apron actually had something like "kiss the cook" on the front. So he wore it backwards. You could still see the writing a little, so I cut the pocket off the leather jacket and sewed it to the front. Since I can't sew that well,  it wound up not centered.  So, I added another little strip to the side. One of the Steampunk panel presenters actually liked how I had off-centered the pocket. ( I totally pretended like it was a well-thought decision after that)  We tucked a compass and a pocket watch into the apron pockets to show they're practical. The jacket was made of 2" leather strips, so it was really easy to rip apart and make these no-sew bracers.

I love these boots! I actually bought them for $1 a few years ago for a costume, and they keep coming in handy. I tucked my pants into my boots of course. The 'practical bloomer' as someone said. Remember, pants weren't the norm in the Victorian era. So I didn't want to wear them like a boy would. I pinned my shirt open because, well why not? The bracer on my right hand is a leather strip from around the sleeve. It was already pointed, so I wrapped it around and sewed a ring of chain to it. That way I could slip it over my finger. I wear glasses, so it was important to have goggles that I could wear. I painted the sunglasses and popped out the lenses. Then I cut replacement lenses from a 2 liter bottle. I hot glued my purse straps to the back. I also found a 3-chain choker in my stash of vintage jewelry, so that got pinned into my vest. It gives the illusion of a watch. 

Sorry this isn't a detailed how-to. I didn't think the costumes would come out as well as they did. We met some other long-time Steampunkers there-the con actually had them do a panel, which was great.

They were very nice, and so encouraging. But when someone asked how much it costs to get started in making a Steampunk costume, the veterans (who hand make their very nice costumes) went into a lot of detail. So, I stood up and said, this is our first time doing costumes, and I spent about $30 for both of us. That got some "oh wow"s and "really?"s. Then we had to stand in front of the class while the speaker went over our costumes. Some of the things he mentioned were nice touches:

the soot on our face, DH's hat, my tucked in pants.

I think we only got away with spending so little because of our personas. If we were trying to portray the upper-class, our costumes would have needed more pomp and circumstance. Everything that got comments were the little details, which made me feel great. A tip I picked up is to make one central piece of interest, and make the rest of the costume backdrop. I really want to make some kind of tinkerer's glove in the future, so that will be my central piece. 

We've joined a Steampunk group in the area, and I'm excited to further develop our costumes and characters. 

-DearLadyDisdain

I will assume thy part in some disguise

Swag that Pays!

No, not the annoying phrase that all the tweens are using now. I'm talking about Swagbucks!


It's this pretty cool site that a friend recommended to me about a year ago. She was always posting updates on Facebook like "look at all this cool crap I got for FREE" At first I just ignored it, but after a while, it started to bug me. I want free stuff too! So she told me about Swagbucks, and now I'm a regular Swaggernaut!

I've had people try to convince me to join their pay-per-survey site before, and I've never liked any of them. But Swag is great because they give you so many ways to earn!

Of course there are surveys (which have never caused me to get any spam emails.) You can also earn by playing games online, doing 'tasks' online, and even just answering a simple poll question. You can earn by watching videos. Not lame videos either, they're actually normal clips you'd probably watch anyway. I like to have the music videos playing in a background tab while I work. Now I'm making extra money while I play work online!  You can also enter raffles to win more Swagbucks, or keep an eye out for codes which give you even more!

Shopping. You get Swagbucks back for shopping online. And not just those ridiculously over-priced sites you only go to when you forgot to get someone a Christmas present. I'm talking online stores like Walmart and Amazon. A no effort way to make money back on what you were going to spend anyway.

My favorite is the search engine feature. The results are actually really good, and I personally am starting to prefer Swagbucks search over Google.

Want a super easy way to earn with search? You know those sites you visit more than once a day? Like Facebook, your email, websites filled with celebrity gossip and cat pictures? Yeah, the ones you probably bookmarked so you don't wear out the same 10 letters on your keyboard? Well, just search for those websites in Swagbucks search once. Then bookmark the results. It takes you one extra click to get to the site, and you will probably earn some Swagbucks in the process. I've done that with two sites we hit up a lot at home. Just two sites. We probably make $1 or $2 a week just by having that one extra click. 

Now for the prizes. This is another reason I use Swagbucks instead of all the other survey sites. The prizes are great! You can buy coupons to local stores, raffle tickets to earn more Swagbucks, or give to charity. They have any sort of random item you've ever wanted to buy online. From body soap to bird cages. Jewelry to BBQ grills. And gift cards! Lots and lots of gift cards. That's all I buy with my Swagbucks. It really is just like free money!


If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

-DearLadyDisdain
Therefore know I have earned...a thousand ducats.

Board Game Organizing: Part One

After going to a Meetup of board game aficionados, B and I realized two things. One, we do not have too many games. And two, if we are going to go to board game parties, or have them at our place, we need to organize our games some more. So that's what I did Sunday afternoon.

Of course, I forgot before pictures. Here are the 5-minutes-in pics.

 This is the cabinet that B wanted to hold all his MTG cards. We are still in the process of organizing them (which will take forever). If you look on the second shelf, you can see that the binders don't fit very well. The cards are also fairly valuable, which would be bad if the basement ever flooded.

These are the binders I pulled out of the cabinet.

 

These are our board games.


Last step first- I went through every game and bagged up all the small pieces.

No risk of these little guys spilling all over the floor...wow, that wound up sounding like a pun. It wasn't meant to be a pun.

A little tip if you have little-used buzzers. Keep the batteries inside the box, but outside the buzzer. No acid-leaking batteries this way, and no mad dash to find some when you want to play.

I used some cardboard for now, but eventually I'll get some type of wood to set the binders on. It still needs some work, but at least the binders fit perfectly.

B took the doors off the cabinet, and we tucked it in the corner. Stacking some of the games sideways lets me fit more games in the space, and it makes getting the games so much easier than tall piles.

The longest games wouldn't go in the cabinet, but they fit perfectly on this little shelf. 

We've been collecting dice, and this is one little jar of them. I found this big timer at a thrift store. The little jar is full of some timers from old games, and three more that I bought from a yard sale. 

Still some work to do. I'm working on a games binder, and of course there are all those cards. But I'm really happy with the progress so far.

-DearLadyDisdain
Well, I am glad that all things sort so well.

BB Cream by Garnier

I haven't told you yet, but I'm a BzzAgent.

It's a pretty cool program that I'll have to go into more detail on later. But I get to test out new products for free, in exchange for giving an open and honest opinion about the product. This month, I got to try out BB Cream by Garnier. 

I've seen a few commercials about BB cream, although I'm not really sure what makes it different than normal make up. But maybe that's because I'm not really a makeup person. I'm starting to use it more often, and getting better at finding what works for me. One thing's for sure: this does not work for me.

It's not a bad product, and maybe it will work for you. I don't know. But here's my experience:




We were given the choice between 3 shades. I chose Medium/Deep.

It's a big tube; pretty cool if they're that size in the store.

I had kind of assumed that since the website knew my race, I was picking one of 3 shades they assumed would work for caucasian skin. I did not realize there were only 3 shades for EVERY skin tone. I tried it a few times, but it really only came close to my color once: after the first tan of summer, but before the second. Even when it was close to my skin, it looked too orange to be natural. 

So, I didn't like it personally, but let's see what the box claims to do. 

"Immediately mattifies, minimizes pores, and conceals imperfections..." 

Well, I don't know about mattifiing, but it definitely did not conceal imperfections for me. Unless you're talking about a tiny scar that's almost the same color as your skin. Then it might have covered those. I have pretty significant acne scarring from my teenage days. This didn't cover the pinkish/red scars at all. I didn't notice any difference in my pores either, but I might have missed that. 

"Skin looks naturally health, even-toned, and smooth."

Yep, my skin looked even toned- for an evenly toned pumpkin. I guess if uneven skin tone is an issue for you, this would work. 

"88% had a natural shine-free finish"

Ok, I'll give it that one.

"Won't clog pores... won't cause breakouts"

If that's true, it's a big plus.

"Gentle to skin. Oil-free, non greasy"

This felt thick and oily to me. 

"SPF 20"

Well that's actually pretty handy. I was pretty disappointed to realize my normal make up doesn't have any sunscreen. 

Overall, I give it 3 stars. For a one-step makeup, it probably is pretty good. It's just not quite right for my needs. And REALLY, why are there only three choices for skin tone? 

-DearLadyDisdain

Will you then write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty?

Townwide Yard Sale!

In March, our city advertised a "city-wide" yard sale, lifting the normal permit requirements so residents would have sales on the same weekend. We had a sale that weekend, and it failed quite miserably. Very few houses had a sale. How is that city-wide?

When we saw that a nearby neighborhood was having a townwide sale, we decided to go. It's a fairly affluent neighborhood, so we thought we might find a few good items. We were not expecting for there to be over 50 yard sales! We had a blast! We arrived at the first sale around 8:30. We didn't finish shopping until after 1.

Here's what we got

This is my favorite find! I've been looking for a good deal on a toaster oven since we moved into a house with a gas stove. I hate wasting energy and having the house smell like gas just to cook a few biscuits. It's rather dirty, and not brand new, but I got this baby for $5! 

Books! Prices varied quite a bit, but we managed to get some good books at a few sales. Only one Spanish book, but we passed on tons of German and French. Some are to read, some are for gifts, and some will be listed on the website. 

Some practical things. Some plastic bins (which came with steel wool which will be on freecycle tonight), a wire basket, poly-fill, CD case, doggy bags, old level, basting brush, and an Under Armour sweatband

I've never bought shoes at a yard sale before, but these looked like they had maybe been worn once. A brand new Swiss back pack and an old coffee tin to go to work with B. A thermous and some cups that are headed to Keyn Eye. 

Our first stop had a bin full of ties. They were $.50 a piece! Our local thrift store sells ugly ties for $4 and name brand ones for up to $35. B picked out 15 he liked.

Check out some of these labels!

An unopened pack of world maps. We've been looking for one to hang up in the library. Some wooden leaves for the living room wall and a pair of hand grips. 

We found this great pair of mirrors for the beer mirror wall.

Fun and games! Two old board games, a pack of jumbo cards for decoration, 3 awesome timers, a hilarious book, 7 NES games, and an unopened game. Not sure if the last one will get played or saved for a Christmas present, like the seller suggested. 

I got these from 2 different sales. There's a big difference in price when a man does the pricing on jars than when a woman does! Still, I got all these for $9! 

All in all we spent under $100. 

My new toaster oven costs $79.95 from Cuisinart.

That is why we buy second hand

-DearLadyDisdain

'Can the world buy such a jewel?'

                 'Yea, and a case to put it into'