Making Good Use

Getting My Priorities Right

The day didn't start off too well, Mr Motorbike Man next door was revving several motorbike engines at 7.45 am.  Now, in the normal run of things I'd already be up at this time, but with P being away I was looking forward to a couple of lie-ins.  It seems with him as a permanent fixture in the garage next door there is no chance of that.  Much swearing and gnashing of teeth went on as I was so inconsiderately roused from my slumbers - yet again!!  I seriously feel the time is fast approaching to report him to the council.

Then I put the washing machine on with a dark load in it. When it had finished I got all the washing out and found that somebody (and it wasn't me) had left a tissue in the pocket of a shirt and there were teeny tiny weeny little bits of shredded tissue attached to absolutely everything that had been in the wash.  More swearing and gnashing of teeth went on as I was hanging it out in the teeth of a northerly gale (when is this weather going to improve?) and failing miserably to shake or pick the teeny tiny bits of paper off everything.

I'd also found that some local feline has been using my pot of salad leaves as a ready-made toilet.  I'm not sure which particular one of the two local felines is to blame but Gawd help 'em if I find them doing it again!  And yes, more swearing and gnashing of teeth went on with that discovery too.

So, as I say, not a good start to the day, then I read this post over at Whats Happening At My House and I felt so ashamed of myself for getting wound up about complete trivialities when other people have such difficulties to face in their lives.  Really, I do need to get my priorities right. 

Every Little Helps*

I'm always up for trying to earn a bit of extra money whilst still 'working' from home and a couple of weeks ago this post from the ever-inspirational Apron Thrift Girl really caught my attention.   I Googled market research groups for the UK and signed up with MRFGR, I haven't heard anything back from them as yet but who knows, it might just prove to be lucrative in the future.  And it got me thinking about the other ways I manage to earn a bob or two whilst being at home.

I signed up with Valued Opinions (an online survey site) just under 18 months ago and have so far earned over £60.00.  I always take my rewards in online Amazon vouchers and use them to help buy birthday and Christmas presents (Amazon being tres popular one way or another with all members of my family.)  I used rewards to buy P some DVD box sets for his birthday - 'Life on Mars' and 'Spaced' - and we are both really enjoying working our way through the DVDs, especially given how dire a lot of the TV ourput is at the moment.

I'm also signed up with You Gov.  They only pay out (by cheque) once your account reaches £50.00. At the moment my account is somewhere around £35.00 so I don't have too far to go until I get a cheque but better than that is my chance to air my opinions on the state of the nation and the government (whoever that really is at the moment!!)  I do so enjoy saying what I think about David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, George Osborne et al, although I'm not so sure my opinions are quite what the pollsters are hoping for!

Then there is my Amazon book selling activities - or rather lack of them at the moment.  This used to be such a great way of earing a few bob but over the past 20 months or so the market has just dried up.  It's near on impossible to find useful books to re-sell and even if I do find them, they just don't sell very quickly.  At one time I had over 800 books listed for re-sale, these days the number is less than 300 and falling fast (I go through them every week or so and at least three or four are taken off each time.)  I suspect my days of selling on Amazon are numbered and eventually I'll have so few books listed it won't be worth carrying on.  Ah well, it was very good whilst it lasted.

I gave up selling books on Greenmetropolis a while ago but have recently restarted again.  I don't have too many listed and only list if I'm the only person selling a particular title but, oddly enough, it's proving quite useful at the moment.  I guess it's because the books for sale are all priced at £3.00 (plus extra for postage if they are larger books) and people are happy to pay that sort of price.   As they only have to be posted second-class, it's surprising how the £3.00's mount up.

By far my biggest source of income is listing on ebay.  Sometimes I get really bored with photographing, describing and listing the items (not to mention the tedium of queueing in the post office to post them) but always have items listed and always force myself to list more each week.  Without ebay I would be in a pickle.

I wish I could find an outlet for selling some of my handmade items but so far this has eluded me.  I do sell one or two tote bags or knitted items on ebay but as I put them up as buy-it-nows and it costs 40p each time to list them, there comes a point where it's not worth doing this.  Besides, I don't really think ebay is the right place to sell handmade items.  I've tried both Etsy and Misi in the past but didn't sell anything on either site.  What would be lovely would be to have a stall at something like the Vintage and Handmade Fair but I don't think there is much chance of that happening as it is a sell-out every time it's on.   Of course, I could always try organising a similar sort of fair myself for crafts people in the Essex / Suffolk / Kent area and this is an idea I've been mulling over for a while.  Typically for me, mulling it over is probably as far as I will get.

Anybody got any good ideas for earning money online, I'd love to hear what else is out there.

*Before Tesco took over the saying 'Every little helps,' it was a phrase my Father often uttered - but his version was followed by the line 'Said the old lady as she peed in the sea!'

Third Blogiversary Giveaway

As I mentioned 10 days ago, I've just had my third-year blogiversary.  I have no idea where the past three years have gone and am astonished I've been at this 'ere blogging lark for so long.  When I started I didn't know if it would be something I would enjoy doing (I'd never been someone who kept a diary or did much writing of any sort)  - but it has proved to be a lovely thing to do.  I've come across so many lovely people and although I've never met any other blogger in the flesh, I feel I've got to know many of you pretty well.  It's been a great way to 'meet' other likeminded people - people who enjoy thrifting or car booting, people whose frugal skills are so much better than mine and people who I just seem to have a lot in common with. 

So, to mark my three years on t'internet (and the fact I've almost achieved 100,000 visitors to the blog,) I thought I'd have a small giveaway.  I finished off two pillowcase tote bags over the weekend and thought I'd offer the winner of the giveaway their choice from the two bags.

 
The first one is made from a pale blue and white striped pillowcase livened up with a piece of cherry embroidery cut from an embroidered serviette which I found at the recent jumble sale. 

 
This bag has short 'hand held' handles.  It's pretty sturdy and should be good for grocery shopping, as a book bag or as a beach bag.

 
The second bag has longer handles - they would fit nicely on the shoulder or you could still carry them in your hand - and is a lighter-weight fabric.  This one folds up pretty small and so would be useful to keep in a handbag or a coat pocket.  Again, it should be sturdy enough to hold groceries, books or any other bits and bobs you need to carry around.  The fabric has brightly coloured flowers (possibly convolvulus) and leaves on a white background.

Just leave a comment on this post and I'll draw a winner next Sunday (16.05.10.)  As they're both fairly light in weight, I'm happy to send to anywhere in the world.

Table Top Sale

Yesterday's table top sale at the local Salvation Army church proved to be very useful.

 

I found this pair of wooden shoe lasts (destined for ebay) for the princely sum of 50p.  If I had a bit more room about the place I'd be quite tempted to keep these as there is something architecturally very pleasing about them.  Somewhere on the net I saw a suggestion to use old wooden shoe lasts as doorstops - which seems a very good idea to me.  If they don't sell on ebay, that's what I'll do with them.

 

Two small (30ml) bottles of Molton Brown ungents - one body wash, one hand wash - also heading for ebay.

 

And then the absolute creme de la creme of finds - a 1950s Brexton Picnic Set for four people with everything complete (although one cup does have a missing handle.)  It was on a table with the lid shut and at first I thought it was a dansette record player.  I was amazed when I opened it up and found what was inside.  Those must have been elegant days when people used proper china crockery and 'real' knives and forks on a picnic.  Mind you, the thing weighs an absolute ton and I'm glad I didn't have too far to walk to get it home.

I paid a fiver for it and am not sure whether to try it on ebay (although the postage costs would be huge) or whether to go over to Battlesbridge Antiques Centre, which is only a very short drive from here, and see if any of the dealers there would be interested in it.  I'll have to think about it.  It would be, yet another, lovely item to keep hold of but, realistically, I haven't got the space and would be too afraid to ever use it.  Shame, as it is totally gorgeous - and a very nice find.

A Little Monster for My Little Monster

 
A couple of hours cutting, sewing, swearing and stuffing saw me complete the little make your own dinosaur kit which I bought at the Vintage and Handmade Fair.  It's a little something extra for my nephew's upcoming seventh birthday.

 
I bought the kit from Donna Flower but it is produced by Nanette Regan of Area Thrifty One.  The fabric is a gorgeous print and beautiful quality, the instructions were really clear and easy to follow and I love how the patterns match up so nicely along the seams.  

 
As the eyes are printed on to the fabric I'm guessing this would work well for even very small children to play with.  Of course, now I'm wishing I'd bought the Babushka Bunny kit too and, having checked out the website, wouldn't mind the little Kokeshi Kitten kit as well.

P is off to Canada and the US next week (it's now only a very whistle-stop visit so I decided not to go with him) and has kindly offered to bring me back some American / Canadian craft magazines.  I've already got 'Martha Stewart Living'. 'Living Crafts' and 'Stitch Magazine' written on my list but wondered if any North American readers could recommend any other nice general craft and / or sewing magazines he should get for me.

My Vote

So I dutifully went off to the local Salvation Army hall to cast my vote for the general election this morning.  In all honesty it's probably been a total waste of time as the candidate I voted for has about as much chance as a cat in hell of actually being elected in this particular constituency.  I rarely seem to live anywhere where the person I'm voting for has a chance of being elected - perhaps I'm just always out of step with everyone else.  

I always feel it is my duty to cast my vote, however out of step it is, especially as a woman - bearing in mind how hard the Suffragettes fought to get the right for women to vote.  (And, as a small aside, did you know that women in Switzerland only got the right to vote in 1971!!  That particular piece of information from P (who is Swiss) always totally amazes me.)

Anyway, something good came of me doing my duty, I spied a notice outside the Salvation Army hall saying they are holding a Table Top Sale there this Saturday morning.  Needless to say, I shall be trotting off to check out what's on offer.

Apple Blossom Time

 
During the ten days I was away in Bristol the garden seems to have suddenly exploded into life, particularly this old apple tree.

 
In the five years we've lived here I've never seen it so laden with blossom and it's making a stunningly pretty sight at the moment.

 
If all these blossoms become apples then the tree will be seriously laden with fruit come the autumn, although I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one way or another we won't still be living here then.

 
In contrast to the apple tree, and after last year's bumper plum crop, the plum trees had nary a blossom between them this spring.  I daresay after thoroughly over-exerting themselves last year they felt this year they needed a good rest.

Vintage and Handmade Fair and a Birthday

This past weekend was all about getting out and about - despite the miserable Bank Holiday weather.  Saturday, Mum and I headed off to Chipping Sodbury for the fourth Vintage and Handmade Fair which we thoroughly enjoyed.  As the day was a bit overcast and rainy I didn't take any photos at all (unlike last year when the weather was glorious and I took loads of photos.)  Same as last year, the crowds were really out in force and everyone seemed to be having a fabulous day.  I kept my purchases fairly modest and only came home with

Two lovely pieces of vintage fabric from Donna Flower which I'm hoping to incorporate into a patchwork blanket I'm planning on having a go at.  I've no real Idea at all what I'm doing with patchwork and as I'm planning on using an old wool blanket as the batten it's anyone's guess whether it'll work out OK or not.

Also from Donna Flower was this sew your own dinosaur kit.  I think it's primarily aimed at getting children to sewing something themselves but I'm planning on making it up and giving it to my nephew for his birthday.

And two very teeny weeny little items which I hope will, one day, look nice on my old Printer's Tray(currently stored away in the loft - awaiting the time when we're finally settled somewhere.)  They were only 50p each and as I love all things miniature I couldn't resist.

Sunday was Mum's birthday so we all went out for a hugely delicious lunch at Grounded  (which I can highly recommend if you're ever in Bristol) followed by a very cold walk in the park and a quick trip to the museum.  When we got back it was time for my nephew to unveil the birthday cake he'd helped make for his 'Mandma.' 

It was full of all kinds of ginger and was absolutely delicious.  For a six-year-old he made a fabulous cake and we're now all wondering if he's going to be the next Jamie Oliver!