Refilling the Vacation Fund One Shirt at a Time

I have four children. And they need to have clothes even though they don't actually like wearing them. I learned a few years ago that if I buy quality, name brand clothes and then take care of them, I can resell them for as much and sometimes more than I paid for them. In the wake of this knowledge, I have gone a little crazy buying some of the cutest clothes ever made for kids. I finally realized that this has become an issue in my life, and I regained control of myself. I haven't been inside a Gymboree since right before Christmas, 2008. I am doing well.

Now, in my defense, I never paid full price. I never even paid 50% off - I always tried to wait until the clothes had been marked down to 60% off or more. I watched the sales and used coupons to get the best deals I could. But the truth is that I did overbuy. Every season. So we have an overabundance of these adorable clothes.

Anyway, a couple of years ago some friends and I started a consignment sale where other women who overbuy really adorable, quality, name brand clothes, can resell them when they are done with them to recoup some of the cost, and we keep a percentage of what they sell. It's really fun but it's a lot of hard work. Somehow, though, I hardly ever get my act together long enough to get my own kids' clothes sorted, ironed, tagged, and hung for our sales. Because of this, I have boxes and boxes and boxes of these clothes just waiting to be sold.

Wandering around Disney World with the kids and worrying about whether I would be spending the days afterwards cancelling campground reservations and returning supplies to the store, it occurred to me that if I could just get with it for 2 weeks, I could probably sell enough clothes to go on this trip. I had to make a conscious choice right then - do I want this trip or do I want to keep these clothes? I chose the trip.

I have been buried in a mountain of clothes ever since. Sorting and listing and selling and shipping ... and at $5 for a used shirt and $8 for used jeans, my vacation fund is rapidly refilling. It's refreshing to have some of these clothes gone and out of my house, and as ridiculous as it sounds, it's nice to know that they are going to other people like me, who will take care of them and love them the same way that I did.

Some other things have helped, too. The biggest of which is that "Tinkerbell" left us a sizable gift when we left Disney World for home. Somehow, "she" found out that our van was sick and that the repairs would be expensive. It was so nice of "her" to think of us and help us out like that. It meant so much to us.

Isn't it funny how, when you really feel led to do something, the means of doing so come more freely? I really feel like taking this trip with the kids is something that I am supposed to do this summer. I'm not much of a religious person but I almost feel called to do it; that I need to make this happen. In the time since we've come home from FL, besides the Tinkerbell money and the money from selling the kids' clothes, I have gotten 2 paychecks from the college for the note-taking that I did, checks from family for their cell-phones that are on our contract, several of our bills have been reduced leaving a surplus in our budget, and Tyler has had an abundance of overtime opportunities that have been scarce before this.

The vacation fund is nearly full again and it's only been a couple of weeks. I really feel that I am being 'helped' financially so that we can take this trip. I can't wait to go - I just know we are going to have an amazing time together.