I got up at the crack of dawn this morning even though I was up at 1am last night writing my last blog entry. After all, I had a very important appointment that I didn’t want to be late for. It’s garage sale day and the early bird gets the good deals! K and I are both shopaholics that are also concerned about the environment, so this allows up to help recycle things to keep them out of landfills while also helping us to save money on the things we need (or just plain want!).

In the spirit of thrifty fun, I made healthy snackies to take on our adventure. We each for a whole wheat tortilla with organic peanut butter (the store was out of almond butter, drats!), raisins, and bananas. I also packed a few cereal bars and my own granola trail mix into a Winnie the Pooh lunchbox that I had found while unpacking earlier this week. K picked me up so that we could carpool, and she had mapped out a super efficient course that allowed us to hit about 10 garage sales, estate sales, and church rummage sales!

Some of my fave finds of the day include:
* banana tree for $1 – the market by me seems to only sell green bananas, so I always have to wait a few days before I can eat them. I like them with a few spots, so now I don’t have to wait as long!
* Colorado coffee table book for 50 cents – E has always wanted to live there (even though he’s never actually been there), but I know he’ll just love these gorgeous pictures.
* Spain guidebook for 50 cents – I’ve always wanted to visit Spain, so now I’ll be ready when the opportunity arises!
* brand new Paul Frank pjs for $1 – Even though this fits me, I got it for Georgeann because it’s sooo her, plus she’ll look so cute in it!
* new bag of the faux spider web stuff that you put up for Halloween for 50 cents. I’m hoping to have my home in shape for a party by Halloween! =)
* Canasta Caliente card game for 75 cents – I have no clue what this is, but the box explains that it’s “hot, hot gin rummy.” Dan loves all card games, so I picked it up for him. I love sending him care packages!
* adorable reindeer napkin rings for $2 – if I can get my house ready for a Halloween party, then I’ll also be ready for holiday parties too!

And there were so many other great deals, such as a 10 cent sewing hand book, brand new zippers for 25 cents, and wonderful Christmas crochet pattern books for 10 cents… can you tell I’m on a crafting kick?! 

K had some amazing bargains too! I’d say her best find was a set of 10 funky glasses that looked almost new for only 25 cents each! Honestly, if she didn’t get it, I would have snatched them right up! 

While I wouldn’t say that we absolutely *needed* everything we bought, but they’re all certainly useful – and if I find that I no longer need it anymore, I’ll sell them at my own garage sale! That’s right, K and I were so inspired by our green shopping adventure today, that we’ve decided to join forces and host our own in two months! You can bet you’ll be hearing all about the planning efforts soon!

**Side note: we found out that surprisingly, Friday morning is the optimal time to go to garage sales! Turns out a lot of the good stuff was gone before we had a fighting chance at it! This is good to know for our future trips since we both have our own businesses and can decide when we want to take off for green shopping trips! ll in the name of recycling of course!