Thrifty Teacher Finds & a Giveaway { with Mrs. D's Corner }

Let me start today off by introducing myself. Hi, my name is Stephanie and I brake for yard sales. Phew! Admitting you have a problem is the first step, but seriously. Let me know you what the current situation is in my home office.

 Besides my Target stash from this weekend, which included those 4 gray bins, the purple cardboard mailbox setup, some pointers, and other random school supplies, everything else is from yard sales. 

You're probably saying "what!?" or "I need to go yard saling with you!" ...and you for real do because I feel like I've hit the jackpot this summer.

This is a picture of my total book collection from 2 Saturdays of yard saling. Not only has this pile now doubled tripled, but summer isn't over yet! My goal this summer was to organize my classroom library... which turned in to leveling my entire library... which led me to already leveled books... which has been the majority of my yard sale finds.

Since I found all these books, I needed something to store them in. I wrote a blog post about using Post Office boxes for book bins, and while I felt like it was super time consuming (and I may have purchased Ikea book boxes afterwards), I did end up having my husband help me make some more.

But my scores don't stop there with just books! Katie (Mrs. Decatur's Little Gators) and I went yard saling together one Friday and hit up a retiring teacher's sale. Best. Yard Sale. Ever! Together we spent $30 and got all of the stuff you see above. Brand new scholastic games, books on tape with the books, and so much more. 

So how do I plan where to yard sale?!
Besides driving around aimlessly turning at every garage sale sign on the road, I use an app called Yard Sale Treasure Map (FREE and available on Apple/Android). You put in your zip code and it pulls Craigslist Yard Sale ads and puts them on a map for you. You can click on the dots to read the ad and even get directions through Google Maps directly to the sale. #perfection

What is your best #ThriftyTeacherFind at a garage sale?

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I am so excited that our EE family is growing! We already have a fabulous group of teachers who blog here, but now we're going to be even better! Let's all welcome...

And with our new members comes a giveaway! This has to be one of my most favorite giveaways on this blog because I absolutely love everything we are giving away. I discovered Smencils in college and LOVE them. My favorite is the grape one, mmmm! And hello quiet pencil sharpener to sharpen up your new Smencils. #bestinventionever Plus if you still have not heard of Tallahassee Sunday and ordered yourself a custom mini pencil, you need to! I have a pencil and a huge anchor that was custom made for me :)