Spring Cleaning {For a Profit}

Every year it seems that the clutter in our house multiplies, not just a little, it honestly grows exponentially. You see, I have a serious problem… I HATE to get rid of things that I might use, and I HATE to say no to hand me downs. For the most part, this attitude has served us well:

• We didn’t have to go buy a bread maker when I wanted one- my Aunt was going to donate hers
• I didn’t have to save up for a glider -a friend was tossing hers out
• I most likely don’t have to buy clothes for my daughter until she is 2 -from hand-me-downs

However, alongside the wonderful generosity from people I know always came this fear of getting rid of something. I felt totally guilty if there was something that my child just didn’t LOVE or didn’t use. Thus, my clutter problem. **Side note: I promise to not become one of the families on Hoarders**

But then I made some huge realizations this past weekend…

1. There are some things that we do need that we can’t afford and don’t have room for
2. There are some things we do not need and don’t have room for.

So I am now here to tell you that after going through my boxes of baby clothes piece by piece (deciding what things I do need to hold on for future children and what I could do without), sorting through toys and movies that my children don’t really need, and learning to let go of some of my baby gear I feel much better.

I then, for the first time, took everything to the Once Upon a Child across the street from our house and now our house has a little more room to breathe AND I made some money to go toward the jogging stroller that we have been saving for. I now understand why some of my friends take EVERYTHING to children’s resale shops when they are done with them. More importantly, I now know where to go when I need to buy anything. They have great deals on some awesome things!

Confession:  My cleaning spree may or may not have been prompted by finding an awesome Bumbleride double jogging stroller for $200. No, I didn’t buy it. I did the ‘practical’ thing and slept on it. Woke up and decided I HAD to have it (thus the cleaning spree), went in to sell my stuff and it had sold. BUMMER!! But I’m totally ok with how it all worked out.

I am actually so thankful for the entire experience. I learned how the process works: they generally price their items at about 50% of retail value, and then will buy your items for 50% of their sale price (this particular store gives you an equal amount of either cash or store credit.) Not too shabby. Also, they told me not to worry about the things they couldn’t buy from me that day (due to overstocked inventory)- inventory moves so quickly that if I brought in my other items in a month there was a good chance they could buy them at that time.

What about you… do you know of any great local area baby/children/maternity resale stores? Do you do this often? Am I the only one who had not done this?!? I want to know your stories- the good AND the bad.

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Jess Fischer is a Phoenix native who is happily married to her very best friend Lukas. She has two beautiful babies (15 ½ months apart!!) her son Parker and her daughter Piper. She has a love for most things domestic- be it cooking, sewing, crafting, or gardening although she has never enjoyed cleaning (oh well!) She loves saving money and views it as a game that she is constantly trying to win. She enjoys spending time with her family above all else. She recently started her own business and loves keeping friends and family up to date with her life on her family blog.