The Underground World of Consignment Shopping or What Every Thrifty Mom Knows

This weekend I discovered the secret holy land of baby crap, the underground paradise of bargain shoppers, the mecca of all used baby things…the consignment sale. A friend of mine, who is expecting her first child in March, first mentioned this amazing institution to me on Saturday. I subsequently had to register online by verifying that I was indeed a first time mother. I’m not sure what would happen if you lied about said motherhood stage, but I’m guessing that you risk being banned from the holy land forever. Luckily for me, I was among the select few who could gain early entrance. After registering, I had my golden ticket, which came in the slightly less exciting form of a black and white printout of an invitation.

Late on Sunday night (and by late I mean 7:00pm because that’s late when you’re busy growing another human) we arrived at this huge, inconspicuous warehouse. Well, it wasn’t as inconspicuous when we drove up and saw the droves of SUVs and minivans, but whatever. I felt like I was going to a secret rave for bargain hunting mommies. The website promised 30,000 sq ft of mint condition used baby supplies, 16 checkout lines, maps of the facility, etc. It warned shoppers to tell husbands and babysitters that they would be out late.

Well, what we found inside was a little less dramatic than what was advertised. For example, 30,000 sq ft might have been the size of the entire space, but about half was completely empty. And, the 16 checkout lines were really just 16 people waiting to count and pull the tags off your crap with only 3 actual computers to do the “checking out.” So, the line took approximately 30 minutes to get through.

Still, you can see from the picture above that I did pretty well for BH on my little shopping extravaganza. Yet, I only spent $79.I even got the exact bouncy seat that I had picked out! I also got a bunch of stuff that I didn't even know I needed, but according to my friend Katie, I definitely have to have. So, there you have it. The whole event was a complete success, except that I was so wired from my bargain hunting that I had a hard time going to sleep and even after I fell asleep, I dreamed of more sales! I'm certainly turning into my mother's daughter.