Making Great Things with Seasonal Clearance

I often times take advantage of seasonal clearance.

For example, red napkins, clearanced down after Christmas, are perfect for Valentine's Day. Same goes for green (purchased after Christmas, great for St Patty's).

Sometimes I will buy my kids' clothes for the following Christmas, same as I do all of their clothes (buy their coats the season before, once they're marked down).

And candy & other edible goodies?...who cares if it's in a Christmas tree wrapper? (I don't!, chocolate is chocolate!)

So, imagine my delight, when I saw the possibilities for this after-Christmas purchase, cute little metal bucket of 'puppy chow'.
We devoured the puppy chow on New Year's Eve, then I sent my hubby outside w/ the pail & some silver spray paint.

I let it dry & tossed around some more ideas...
Perfect for baked goods.
Or...
A container for my daughter's orange & lime room.

Before you toss it!, think of how it can be reused... you will surprise yourself.

Recalls

I love finding great toys at garage sales, resale shops & consignments, & thrift stores. BUT, people who buys things for their kiddos at places like these, have to be careful about recalls. Us 'used consumers' (not that we're used ;) but the stuff we buy is), aren't going ot be getting a RECALL postcard in the mail.

Even things purchased at the store can be found unsafe, and you not know it.

Periodically check the CPSC's list of recalled items, to be sure that the stuff your kids are playing with, is safe.

Mr Shelf

I know my garage sales. And one thing I do know is that different areas of St Louis, will yield you different 'finds'. Older parts will score you older things (thank you Captain Obvious). Newer yuppier parts sell newer clothes, newer trinkets.

I'm not likely to score big (in the town I'm currently living in) when it comes to outfits for my kids (altho sometimes I do!) -- if that's what I'm looking for, I'd most likely head to West County.

But here in my town, 20 miles south of the city, there's a potpourri of finds.
Like this little number...
Thank you wonderful shelf.
But I gotta tell ya, when I found Mr Shelf, he looked a lot different than this. For starters, he was blue (& I don't mean sad). His brackets were hung so that I knew he was more of a horizontal hottie.

The first thing I did was knock out one of the "internal wall" (for lack of a better term). I wanted to get rid of the symmetry. I also wanted to go tall (like me!). So I banged newer brackets in at the ends to make Mr Shelf an "up & down" number.

My next order of biz was the color. I took the "bitter green" paint, which has went SO far for our family. Bitter green was first used for our basement walls, then our cabinet (which will make its debut next), then other accessories (such as this great shelf) for our first baby's nursery.

And now that we no longer have babies (yet instead, toddlerhood & preschoolhood rule our lives) we don't need a shelf for a nursery (as the nursery no longer exists). And Mr Shelf was promoted, to the KITCHEN.

And goodbye went the chunky board books & choo-choos.
And hello to antique porcelain quails (25 cents at garage sale).

And plastic retro metal-handled mugs (a nickel, I'm not even joking).

price of old blue boring shelf, $1.00

paint, $0.00 (free, leftover from basement)

bracket, $.50

voila!: $1.50 awesome one-of-a-kind shelf