Frugal Find Friday--Swimming Pool and Easel

What a fun Frugal Find I have to share today!

I was out running some errands and had little one with me. Typically he stays home with Daddy when I run around or I do my stops on my way home from work. However, Mike needed to really focus on work, so I took the little guy with me. Of course, that meant that we ran into a neighborhood rummage sale. It is not so fun trying to rummage when it involves getting an 11 month old baby in and out of his car seat at every single stop. And the sales were not close enough to walk around blocks and such. I decided to give it a shot and we made it to about 6 sales before I decided I needed to get home to give him lunch and stop stressing us both out! He was a real trooper though...maybe he'll make for a good bargain shopping buddy as he gets older.

This was not the most prime neighborhood for sales. Lots of junky stuff and not very organized sales. However at one stop I spotted a ton of stuff, some of it baby items so I figured maybe I'd have some luck. No luck on the clothes, but they did have a child art easel set up to the side. It was behind a particle board bookcase that I can never get to stay together. The small, falling apart bookcase was marked $10 (don't they sell for like $15-20 new?) so I was a bit worried that the easel would be expensive. Lucky me, it was only $2! Now I realize that little guy is not at the age that it is useful, but if these 11 months have taught me anything it is that time really flies. I figure he'll be using it soon enough and for $2 I'm happy to store it for a while!

And now I'm really happy! I just started browsing around on-line to see what the prices are on these new. For ones similar to this one the prices are a bit insane, in my humble opinion. So far I've found this, this, and this. Seriously? Somewhere between $60-$160 ON SALE? I'll take mine for $2 thankyouverymuch! Oh, wait. I just found the label and mine is from IKEA. It was only $14.95 and I'm still happy to have it and store it for $2. :)

Then I spotted a piece of blue plastic. Not sure why it caught my eye, but I realized when I picked it up that it was a teeny, tiny kiddy pool. One that required blowing up the sides and the bottom. Seriously the perfect size for this summer. Little guy can splash and Mommy can put her feet in and relax. My first question was if it held water. They weren't sure, but one of the girls happened to be on the phone with the owner of the pool. She said that it did. They I had to ask the dreaded question....is this in the right box? It was in a box that contained random little Christmas ornaments, some chop sticks, and a few other odds and ends. By far, this was the biggest item in the box and in the best shape. The box said $.10. So, "Is this in the right box? It's $.10?" The answer was yes!

I figured for $.10 I'd take the chance that it was a leaking pool. Good news is, it's not! So little guy loves splashing in it and I'm excited about my find. Of course about 15 minutes into enjoying it I spied a $.25 sticker stuck to the side. I think I negotiated a deal without realizing it! Just for the record, I'd have paid a quarter! From what I can find on-line I'm guessing this was between $10 and $20 new.

Maybe it is worth dealing with the car seat stuff and hauling around the baby! Turns out I got some pretty awesome deals after all :) More great deals over at Southern Hospitality!

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