Thursday, March 5, 2009

I *heart* JBF

Have I mentioned that yet? JBF (Just Between Friends) is a FANTABULOUS consignment sale. I had too many late, last minute, nights getting my stuff ready to consign, but it was SOOOOOOOOOO worth it. I volunteered Monday, dropped off my stuff Tuesday morning (3 huge rubbermaid tubs, a couple big boxes and a few things by hand), then back again for shopping Tuesday night. As I was driving up, I was getting so excited, both for the thrill of the hunt and for the time with my friends.
Katherine hunting- this aisle is 4s and 5s, as far as you can see. Then Tracy, with her giant rack. She only has 2 kids. People kept asking her if this was a put-back rack. That girl is a hoot! However, she buys 99% of her kids' clothes/shoes at JBF.

Because my precious friend also have daughters the same age/size as Beth, I start in her section first. By the time I got done, my bucket of "things I like" was already full. Then, to Jacob's size(s). Boys stuff wasn't that great this round. I hardly found any Gymbo stuff, most of the stuff was worn out, lots of things with stains got past inspection. Don't let that fool you, I still found plenty. I walked around the toys and books and other stuff, though I didn't really need any of it. Ok, so I didn't feel like digging through those piles. Once I had done enough (at least for now) looking, I headed for a corner to search through things- do I really like it, is it a good price, is it stain free, is it long enough for my long-legged girl.
Here's our sorting corner. We go through our things, our JBF friends who sit by us every time also have girls the same size. So, as we go through our things, we pass our don't-wants on to each other to look through. Once I've narrowed things down, I add up to see if I stayed in my budget then make anymore decisions I might need to. We're usually the last people in there, and most of us started shopping at 6/6:30 (though Tracy started WAY before that).
Here's my narrowed down bucket full of great deals. I managed to get equal piles for both kids.
My friends and I, right before midnight :). Me, Tracy, Katherine, Alyssa

This thing is hundreds of people consigning gently (well, it's supposed to be) or never used baby and kid stuff. Furniture for babies and toddlers. Toys out the wazoo. Clothes from premie to kids size 14. Books and videos. Bedding, room decorations. Diapers and potty training stuff, diaper bags, ... shall I go on. Imagine 2 football fields filled with stuff. Seriously. It's huge. The prices are great- around 1/3 of the original cost. I got Gymboree outfits for less than $10! People will try to sell anything- used underwear, ugly adult type bathroom accessories, clothes I swear have been used for 20 years, and some horribly ugly stuff. I think this was the ugliest by far, and they expected full price for it (that's what the red star on the tag means). It was priced at $5.50. By the way, Beth saw the pic, and said it was so pretty. Yikes!
By tomorrow, they will have condensed into half the room. By Tuesday, pick up unsold stuff day, there will hardly be anything left. This sale happens twice a year- March and September. I look so forward to it. Hopefully next time I'll be better about spacing out my prep time, so I won't have too many late nights!

4 comments :

Casey (@ Chaos and Cardboard) said...

What, you don't like the sweet white lace bib collar? But the tag says it's adorable!

Casey (@ Chaos and Cardboard) said...

PS- The tag also says 5.50

aahcoffee said...

Do they price the stuff? Is there a numbers system to know who has consigned what? How many days is it? Do they cut the people a check? Who runs the cash registers? So many questions!!!

Laura said...

OMG, that dress sold!

Aahcoffee- I responded on your blog!