Target vs. Sam's Club vs. YARD SALE!!!

Setting up housekeeping. Ahhh... what a delightful thing to do... except when it comes to the rapid drain on the pocketbook. But, yet again, God chooses to make this into another episode of "GOD TAKES VERY GOD CARE OF ME." I just love being HIS! 

Let me highlight the GOODNESS of God by providing my Target and Sam's Club purchases as a case in point to show the contrast of the amazing gift God gave me at a yard sale.

Target 

Just a drawer not-even-quite-full of stuff: basic, bare-bones essentials, and it cost $101.98.

My purchase included:
Plastic dishpan: $1.87
Glass pitcher: $12.99
Anchor 2-cup measure: $3.79
Wire whisk: $8.99
Pancake turner: $6.99
Peeler: $7.99
2-piece spatula set: $3.12
3-piece bamboo tools: $3.98
Measuring spoons: $3.99
Measuring cups: $4.99
Rolling Pin: $20.19
3-pack sponges (not pictured): $3.89
4-pack scouring pads (not pictured): $2.99
Broom (not pictured; I took it back because it was useless): $9.99

Sam's Club

I think it's a little larger pile, but it's fewer items...and it was $107.81

This time I got:
2-broom set: $10.98 (Waaaay better than the Target broom, just sayin')
Cascade Dishwasher powder: $9.28
2-pack cookie sheets: $10.78
Glad Cling wrap (2-pack): $5.97
4-lb organic carrots: $2.98
Mop: $8.88
Mop Bucket: $39.98
Flour Sack Towels: $12.48

Yard Sale

And then there was the yard sale.

I woke up Saturday morning with the distinct impression that God wanted me to go to a yard sale. "I have something for you. Go out to some yard sales."

Okaaaay.... but I don't have internet, so how can I look up where the yard sales are? OH! I can do it the old fashioned way. Maybe I'll go down to the gas station and get a newspaper!

I got in the car and left. On my way to the nearest gas station, I saw a couple of yard sale signs, so I followed them and got this chair for $1.00.

It needs to be reupholstered, but I couldn't turn it down for ONE dollar. And I can reupholster it. It'll be a fun project.

I took the chair home and went back out. I decided to just drive around and look for signs, so I drove toward the part of town where I figured there would be the most likelihood of seeing signs. I saw my first sign and pulled in. It was at a storage unit, and a family who had already moved to another state a year ago had come back to clean out all the stuff that they had put in storage that had been sitting here for a year. They had already replaced everything. They just needed to get rid of all their stuff.

I walked up and the lady asked me what I was looking for.

"Oh, maybe kitchen stuff," I said.

"Oh, we have kitchen stuff," she said. "If you can just give me a minute."

So she started pulling boxes out of the storage unit, and I started collecting a little pile of stuff I was interested in, and as the pile grew, I migrated it into the back of my car. Finally it came time to reckon up.

"How much do you want for all this stuff?" I asked.

"Whatever you want to give me," she said.

"How about $50?" I said.

"Fine," she said.

So I handed her $50 and drove away with THIS:

9 small green glasses, 6 large green glasses, 4 tall clear glasses 

5 pie plates

6 serving/mixing bowls

A round casserole dish with lid

Two 11x7-inch Pyrex dishes 

A 13x11-inch Corningware casserole dish and an oval platter

Random stuff...Paper plates, two mugs, a microwave cover, and a cutting board

Two round cake pans and two colanders

A roaster pan and a crock pot

A giant electric Rival roasting oven

A food processor, a blender, and a brand-new coffee grinder

A Dirt Devil vacuum

A nonstick pancake griddle (no cord), another bowl, and a wire cooling rack

All these utensils

All these spices

And more! (not pictured): 

•  A 6-foot ladder

• A car charger for my phone

• A jump rope

• A lid for a rectangular cake pan (but I don't have the cake pan...oh well...I thought it would eventually unearth from the boxes, but it didn't.)

So $51 later, I have a chair and all this bounty. Is God not amazing in his dealings with me? All of this was stuff I needed and would not have been able to afford right away.

God knew He had a gift for me, and He told me about it, and he sent me out to get it. And while I felt like I was stumbling around in the dark, driving around looking for yard sale signs instead of looking up where the good sales were in the rich neighborhoods, He was perfectly guiding my steps.

OH! And the best part? He even gave me the money to get it. I would have had only about $10 cash, but that very morning I had found $100 that someone had hidden in my stuff...some anonymous donor who blessed me amazingly when I found it, and God used it to pay my yard sale bill. Amazing. Beautiful. (So thank you, if you're reading this and you know who you are! I found it! In perfect timing! Thank you!!!) It's like God says, "Hmmm, I want Rebekah to go to this yard sale. Let me send her out the door with some money." And I find money. In my own house. How bizarre is that??? God's ways are unpredictable! Can I just say--I LOVE WORKING FOR HIM!!!

The end.

P.S. If I had to buy all this stuff new, good grief! How much do you think it would cost???