Virtual Garage Sale?

Anyone ever had a virtual garage sale? 

I'm selling all of my baby stuff:

Girls clothes (sizes preemie - 24 months)
Shoes
Coats/Snowsuits
Socks
Bedding
Bottles (have glass bottles that have never been used)
crib/car seat/stroller netting (kind to keep bugs out)
much much more!

Would love for things to go to a fellow IF'er who needs it.

Family Visit

We had some family visit from PA this past weekend.  They arrived on Friday evening and left yesterday morning.  It was DH's cousin D, her husband C, and their little boy, M.  M turned 2 in April...and this is the first time we've met him.  D is familiar with the pangs of infertility...she and C tried for years to have a baby...only to have M "dropped" in their laps.  A friend of theirs knew someone who was pregnant and wanted to give the baby up for adoption...and once they met, the rest is history!  They are so grateful. 

Anyway, Saturday we had a party to go to!  Lexi's other cousin Connor turned 4...and they had a bumper bowling party! 



Bowling balls that look like pumpkins!



Sunday we spent the day at Babcia and Dziadzia's swimming in the pool

Eating apples of the tree

Needing naps!



Though Lexi was the only one that caught zzz's

Sunday we went to the Shedd Aquarium

My little penguin



Jelly Fish!



Finally got a picture of both of them looking at the camera...on the last morning.



Cousin kisses!



Blogger Issues

For some reason Blogger messed up my template and layout and I can't figure out how to change it back...I'm html illiterate...anyone with suggestions??

Purging

Our marriage counselor suggested in our last session that I might want to consider "moving" the old baby stuff out of Lexi's room and into the basement so that I'm not bombarded with it everyday (it was all in her huge walk in closet).  Yesterday, I started the purge with DH.  I had 8 totes of clothes to go through.  Separating them by sleepers, dresses, sets, onesies and separates.  Saving the items that brought back the most emotion and memories.  I have a tote of bottles and feeding paraphernalia.  I have a garbage bag of coats and snowsuits.  A bag of receiving blankets and crib sheets.  A bag with the original crib bedding and bumpers.  A bag of socks.  A bag of shoes.  A tote of miscellaneous items like mobiles and stroller netting.

I have one medium sized cardboard box filled with the items I want to keep and make into a quilt.  It was easy to choose the items I wanted to keep.  Just seeing an outfit brought back the memories of the tiny 6lb bundle we brought home from the hospital.  The little girl who was 4 weeks early and so small that she didn't fit into any of the 0-3 month clothes we had on hand.  The shopping trip to get preemie and newborn sized clothing that followed her birth.  The familiarness of late night TV because of the sleepless nights that followed.  Those were the same nights I would gaze at her in awe as some obscure program lightened the room.  I couldn't, and still can't, believe she was mine.

I was in her room until after 9pm last night.  It got emotional at times.  Many tears were shed for the babies that aren't here...will never be here.  Going through the tiny clothes was harder than I thought it would be...but the larger sizes were easier. 

This morning DH is making space in the basement that will be designated for "sell".  Either via that famous "list" or garage sale.  All those totes will join that space.  Along with the pack n plays, high chairs and swing.  And when I'm ready, pictures will be put on the "list" and an ad will go out for a garage sale. 

My baby isn't a baby anymore.  And I have to come to terms that there will never be another baby. 

Quilt/blanket

I am going through all of Lexi's old clothes...and I mean ALL of them.  I still have every piece of clothing she ever had.  I'm pulling out items that trigger memories or that I particularly loved.  The rest is being garage saled.  But the items I'm keeping...I want to make into a blanket or quilt...does anyone know how to do this...or do you know someone that does this?

Saving

I'm having a hard time finding areas to cut back on in our life.  Maybe it's me. 

We had 3 cars.  No car payments.  1997 Ford F-150 (DH's daily), 2005 Ford Escape (my daily and our weekender), 1991 Ford Mustang (DH's toy).  Yesterday, DH sold the Mustang.  It wasn't practical.  We can't all fit in it, well, we can't all fit in his truck either, but that's another story.  So we don't have "new" cars.  My car has 120K miles on it already.

Food - I already shop at the A L D I by me for most things...the rest I get at the Wally Mart.  And by rest I mean deli meat and cheese for the most part and the occasional snack food that the discount store doesn't carry.  A L D I doesn't accept coupons...but I do use them at Wally's when I am buying something that I have a coupon for. 

Household items - Things like toilet paper, soap, laundry detergent and the like I buy at Tarjay.  I use the RedCard to get 5% off and any coupons I managed to find.  My RedCard is the debit kind...not a credit card.  I buy generic whenever possible.

Entertainment - We don't go out.  I take that back, we do play in a FREE poker league every Tuesday.  We wind up spending about $30 for dinner for the 3 of us...when we don't have a gift card.  See, the 1st and 2nd place prizes are gift cards to the establishment.  We usually have a gift card.  When we do go see a movie, we make sure it's a matinee...we took Lexi to see Brave last Friday.  We went to the 9:55am showing...the first showings of the day are usually deeply discounted.  So it cost us $15.  We took our own popcorn...and did buy a soda.   Any other times DH and I go ourselves, which is hardly ever, we go because we have free passes.  We have a zoo membership ($108 annual) that we bought last year, so we're able to go to the zoo for free. 

Cell Phones - This I'm looking into.  We are on the cheapest family plan right now...and we've signed up for all the "qualifiers" that get us 5% off our bill (e statements, auto debit etc).  But we might be able to cut this more.  Right now our bill is $150 total for both our lines. 

Internet/Cable - This is the hard one.  We have AT&T.  We've cut our movie channels and HD service.  We have basic cable.  We have basic Internet (which I need to work from home).  We do have a home land line and a business line I use for work.  The home land line we may be able to cut...but I have to look into the bundle and make sure cutting it doesn't increase the cost of the business line.  I can't cut the business line. 

Clothing - DH and I wear the same clothes we've worn for the last 5 years.  Lexi gets new clothes as she grows out of the ones she has (though she's still wearing some 18 month size pj's because hey, they fit).  But I go to the second hand store for them.  Shoes are another story.  She has 3 pairs right now.  Gym shoes, sandals, and a pair of "nice" shoes.  But her feet grow like weeds.

What other areas am I missing?  There may be things that seem obvious that I'm not thinking about...

Not happening

Well, the Tarjay second job isn't going to happen.  It's a 3am start time.  I start work now between 7 and 8.  I am not a morning person...but the biggest reason is that it would be 3-8...which means I'd be "late" for my "real" job.  Not putting my "real" job in jeopardy for an $8/hour job. 

So we're back to square one.  We will be cutting our cable service to the very basic...I can't get rid of internet as I need it to work.  I could get rid of our land line phone...but I still need the other land line for work...

Anyone have any suggestions for cost cutting?