One Person's Trash Is Another Person's Treasure

There's a Montessori school on our block.  Every so often they leave stuff sitting out on the street.  Luckily, it's not a well traveled street, and we're able to snag a lot of it.  Recently, they left 5 perfectly good children's school chairs out.  I saw them, but I was in a hurry.  I was going to call Robin and tell him to run over and get them, but I didn't.  When I got home that night - like magic - there were three of them sitting in our dining room.  It turns out our neighbor saw them.  He grabbed two of them for his family and brought the other three over for us.  Thank you Dan!

Yesterday, they left a Little Tykes play house out.  I sent Robin over to get it.  The bottom is full of dirt, so it was quite heavy and it took him awhile to carry it home.  It's in rough shape.  It's really dirty and it's missing most of the parts like the door and the flower boxes, but I don't care.  I've been wanting to get something similar.  I saw the exact same one on craigslist for $100 two days ago.  They retail for $600.  Ours is missing parts, but it's free.

I've blogged before about wanting a triple jogger.  I want one with front wheels that rotate, but today I saw one on craigslist in Golden for $50.  It's an older model and the front wheels most certainly do not rotate, but it was in excellent condition for its age.  It has pockets on the back of each seat, a storage area at the bottom, brakes that work, no holes and a sunshade.  It was REALLY dirty because it had been stored outside for quite sometime.  I talked her down to - ready for it - $25.  Unbelievable steal.  It's not exactly what I wanted, but the price was more than right and beggars cannot be choosers.  It was actually at a consignment store, and I also got two children's picnic tables (they look brand new), a well-loved cozy car and a 50 piece MegaBlock set with a wagon all for $80 (that includes the stroller!!!).  I brought the stroller home, got out the hose and scrub brush and viola:

Now I'll have a much easier time taking the girls for walks around the neighborhood.  It won't fit through any doors, so I can't take it to the library.  It does fold up (sort of), but it doesn't fit very nicely in the back of the Navigator.  This will be used primarily for walks around Golden.  It will be much easier to push than the triple-wide umbrella stroller and pulling the choo choo wagon is quite a workout!