By the time I managed to get to the front of the table to get a quick photo, some of the best bits had already gone to other stall holders. We didn't mind at all of course, after all money is money, the general public and traders weren't allowed in until we had all set up our stalls and been able to relax with a free cup of coffee. Then it was sell, sell, sell for the next few hours.
Virtually everything sold, and even at the very end when the village hall went quiet and virtually all the customers had gone home, we were still selling to the other stall holders once again. We reduced our prices right down and others who did regular car boot sales and tabletop sales were buying off us ready for their next events.
We came home with one box of books and one of assorted bits and bobs. It made for a quick unloading of the car at home, which was good as Alan needed an afternoon nap before hitting the road for Berkshire and a day in the office yesterday.
My little place is looking much neater now, the top of the bookshelves no longer has a basket and bowl to catch my eye, and my lovely Welsh Bread and Cheese cupboard larder is minus its Spider plant and trug ... and I especially like the look of the bookshelves now that the books are all stood neatly instead of being stacked here, there and everywhere.
Will it last? For a while at least ... but you know me, I am always acquiring new books ... I do think slowly decluttering is most definintely the way for me and living with what you have and then realising that you can live with less and less and yet somehow get happier and happier for it, is even better.
I like that blogging about my home makes me more mindful of it and what I have in it. Looking back over the years when we had so much more makes me realise just how much we have gotten rid of. I blame most of it on moving into a big four bed farmhouse and the need we felt to fill it with stuff ... well blaming a house is better than blaming me for buying the bloody stuff. 😁
I'm off now, I need to see if I can turn two teeny, tiny pumpkins into a bowl of soup ... that waste not want not wartime rationing mentality is and always has been deep in my soul.
Sue xx
Totally agree with you reference filling up bigger houses with stuff - we are in that position here having got rid of such much in years gone by - give me a cupboard and I'll fill it syndrome! I've got a horrible feeling that the table top sale I'm doing this weekend won't get rid of much, but we'll see.....
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Be ruthless, you'll be glad you were afterwards, when you have more money, more space at home and less to worry about. Go on ... you know you can do it!!
DeleteShould read 'so much' of course!!!
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Haha ... I guessed. :-)
DeleteI would have been right there to buy that green tea set! Which I do NOT need. But books, yes, I am trying hard to downsize my hundreds of books. I am down by about half, but still there are hundreds, and so hard to part with them! I spent years collecting West Virginia, Appalachian, Irish and British folklore and history, world folktales,, along with poetry and nature books, and it is hard to part with them. But most of the world folktales are gone. Oh and then there are the ballad books. Ah me.
ReplyDeleteI still have that it was one of the few things that came home with us, it might stay ... I'll see. Books really are the hardest things to get rid of aren't they.
DeleteAn outstanding success - good for you both. xx
ReplyDeleteIt was brilliant, we were both so pleased, especially Alan when he had so little to carry back out to the car.
DeleteSue, I love your rationing mentality and feel blessed being gifted/contaminated with the same 'dis(?)-ease'!
ReplyDeleteI mean infected :>)
DeleteIt's a good mentality to have isn't it, and it's good for the planet too.
DeleteYay! That's a brilliant result.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I bring something new (well, usually secondhand) into the house I immediately put at least one thing into the charity shop bag that always hangs on the dining room door and drop whatever's in there to the charity shop on Sunday morning. xxx
I may get to a stage of doing that in the future, for now I want to stop buying things completely for a while. Will it ever happen ... we'll see. :-)
DeleteI seem to have been decluttering for years! It’s easy with ‘my’ stuff but those boxes of cables and other unrecognizable garage bits and pieces are another matter! My late husband would have know what they were but I’m stumped. They’re probably worth a bob or two as he believed in buying once. I need help :)
ReplyDeleteIs there someone you can ask to go through it with you. Random electricals and chargers etc always flummox me too. Usually, I only find I need something AFTER I've got rid of it. It's always the way!!
DeleteThat was a very good result and must have been very satisfying as well as lucrative! Well done both of you 👍
ReplyDeleteWe made just under a hundred pounds, so it was a very good mornings work.
DeleteThat’s good you were able to rehome so much of your treasure. I am currently filling a bag with bits and bobs for the charity shop but am also looking around for christmas pieces which I could put onto my sewing stall at the christmas fair. For example I have a tiny sugar and cream set that I bought from a charity shop and have never used even though it has a lovely christmas pattern on it. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI donated a lot of my Christmas things to a charity shop after I had put up the decorations at the start of December last year, now I have just enough to make the place feel festive and no more. You get only a couple of chances to sell or donate Christmas things don't you, so it's worth a good sort through. The best time to buy Christmas things from a charity shop is on Christmas Eve when they reduce everything to clear, rather than throw it away or store it until the following year ... if they have the space. Some of the shops I managed did not have the space to store things.
DeleteSlowly but surely, you are getting things the way you want them. Making a bit of the ready while doing so is a great bonus.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It is a good feeling to make money out of things that you no longer want, and I am very mindful that there will be no one to inherit any of my things, my sons do not share my taste at all.
DeleteGood job!
ReplyDeleteThank you. xx
DeleteBut did you buy anything?
ReplyDeleteNot one single thing to bring home with us, and I wasn't even tempted to look at the other stalls properly. Alan bought two bacon buns, a slice of cake ... and a cup of coffee for me.
Delete