Calling All Cash-Strapped Parents

Tomorrow, I am sooo gonna score.

Little boy gear, that is. Rather than have to traverse the known world for garage sales in hopes of finding affordable, quality clothes, furniture and toys for my newly minted toddler, I can head to Central Park Hall at Expo Square for the spring Just Between Friends sale. Seven days of the bail out for which Tulsa-area mommy and daddy types have been waiting begins March 1.

I didn't get to go to the sale last year since I was rather incapacitated from having just, you know, passed a real, live human being from my poor, aching body. The year before that, however, I made it to the fall sale to stock up on maternity clothes. Total cost of about 85 percent of my entire maternity wardrobe: $93 and some change. I'm might be able to get a pair of maternity jeans for that at some place like A Pea in the Pod at Utica Square. Not that there isn't a time and a place for a Pea in the Pod purchase, because there is. It was just that, for me and 98 percent of the other moms-to-be out there hearing the R-word on the radio 532 times per day and scrounging to prepare to be nickeled and dimed for the next 18 years, that time was when someone else was buying.

A year and a half has passed, and my mommy friends and I have been anticipating for months this spring JBF sale. I fully plan to spend an entire working day's worth of time getting my shop on at Expo Square over the course of the next week. Tomorrow I'll be out to get the first pick of the toys; Friday or Saturday I'll hit up the sale for gently used boutique-quality clothes for the entire next year, since many items will be marked down by 50 percent. I'm talking 1,200 consignors'- and 42,000 square feet-worth of Baby Gap, Gymboree, Pottery Barn Threads, Ralph Lauren, Izod and other designer kids' clothes - at JBF, you can get the brands, baby, and without paying the price. And I haven't even touched on the mounds of toys, strollers, furniture, books, videos and baby gear that can be found at a JBF sale.

Excited yet? Halfway out to the car already? Better check the sale hours first:
Sunday, 1:00-7:00pm Monday-Sat., 9:00am-7:00pm MON (new merchandise) Thur-Fri. (25% off)
Saturday, 9:00-7:00pm (50% off)

Also, check the Just Between Friends blog to get some visuals on what's in store for you. Brace yourself before clicking; I squealed and scared by husband down the hallway.

If you miss this giant chunk of economic stimuli, don't wring your hands and fret. Spring is the season of the JBF sale in the Tulsa area. Check for other local sales happening soon and mark those calendars. And, don't forget the fall sale in Tulsa.