JBF

On Monday night I had a friend call me to ask if I wanted a pre-pass to the JBF  (Just Between Friends) sale.  I had heard of it, I knew it was a big consignment sale that happened a few times a year with tons of baby and kids things, so I said "sure."

Welllll I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I pull up to the parking lot at my assigned time and there is already a HUGE line out the door, many moms with empty laundry baskets and wagons ready to shop, ready to run me down........

I seriously needed moral support, but my pass only allowed for me to get in, so I texted my friend Lindsay who gave me the full warning of its craziness.  My palms started sweating as the lined moved and I could see through the window and hear the women behind me plotting their moves.  All I could things was, "Is this real?"

Then I entered.

and I became frozen.

I didn't know what to do, where to look, how to breathe, because I was so overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, it was like Ross times 1 million (and I am not a Ross person).   I just slowly started walking, looks at the piles and piles of baby supplies.

 

The idea of it is actually pretty brilliant. I goes something like this.  I want to sell a baby item, I price it with a tag through the JBF website, I drop off my item for them to sell, and if it sells, I get 60% of the sale.  So, some items are priced GREAT, people just want to get ride of stuff.  Other people....... well, they are a little proud of their used items. There can be 20 of the same items, all a different price because each person prices their own.  This requires a lot of digging and searching, which I am terrible at!!  Just make it easy and I will pay more, I know that is totally lazy.

Anyway, I continued my search and found a few items we needed.  I completely avoided the clothes, because, well, that was just beyond ridiculous to look through.  

 

Then I heard someone call my name, a friend, Jamie to the rescue!  She came with her wagon piled high and I just stared at her, she gave me some quick tips and advice and I pushed through. 

  I wandered over to the section with about 150 strollers and just turned around.

And then I saw this.  

seriously not digging through that

The building became more and more crowded and I ended up doing my usually "sweating" routine.  My eye started to itch really bad and I was really resisting touching my face, I just felt so germy.  I am weird about stuff like that, I mean I am in the health care profession and have taken way to much microbiology and I definitely know how gross kids things can get and they were used, and I felt dirty and hot, and ehhh

I needed water

Then I got in line to check out.  In line for 37 minutes

I ended up with a small pile, which I am proud of because I seriously had the least amount of items compared to almost every mom. (mostly things for Norah's birthday and a few other things)

Here's the thing...... yes there are things at the JBF sale for a great price, things people need, but since so much of it is cheap I think a lot of people just end up buying way more than they NEED.  It is the sale temptation, the temptation of "I have to buy it, because it is a great deal."  I am totally guilty of doing this, but this sale seems to promote that, and I had to be really careful.

I am not trying to dis this sale, it really is great, and helps people who need things at a more affordable price, it's just not my favorite way to shop. I like clean and organized.