Making Good Use

A Bit of a Hiccup

Disaster struck on Sunday evening when the other computer in the house developed some very nasty corruption and stopped working!  Quelle horreur - a computer-less household.  P did his damndest to get it working again but no luck, so yesterday I was ringing round to find someone to come and fix it.  After a fair bit of trouble to find someone, this morning a very nice chap came from Basildon and spent over three hours reloading everything back on to the computer (not Finepix as yet though so no photos at the moment).  He's not sure that the problem isn't linked to the hard-drive (which apparently only have a life of 3 - 5 years - and this computer is over 5 years old) but for the time being all is working again.  He also had a look at my computer (which went 'bang' with a vengeance a few weeks ago) and found it was working fine.  He thought that the problem might have been caused by, ahem, excessive dust in the works.  Judging by the amount of dust in the back of the base unit I think he may have been right.  Obviously need to up my cleaning and dusting regime a bit!!  For all that time and effort he only charged us £25, which I thought was extremely cheap.

I went to the car boot sale again on Sunday as it was such lovely weather.  I didn't get much but did come home with a lovely double duvet cover for £1.00, which when I examined it was a Designers Guild one and these seem to retail new for a lot of money.  I was really pleased with that and also with the travel-size Body Shop shampoo and conditioner which I got for 20p each.  My sister, DN and I are off to Legoland for a few days at the beginning of April so they will come in very useful then.

After the car boot, we called in at the farm shop which is just across the road.  My goodness me that is a cheap place to shop.  Amongst other things I came away with a bag of six Jaffa grapefruits for £1.00, two packs of organic biscuits for £1.00 (and very tasty they are too), a huge bottle of Shloer white grape and mango juice - £1.00, three Boursin cheeses - £1.00, and a luxury Christmas pudding for £1.00 (I thought it would make a nice pudding on Easter Sunday).  The shop was packed, despite it being Mothering Sunday, but judging by the amazing prices I'm not surpried. I think I'll certainly be going there again.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a few photos too.

Oldest Thrifted Item

I've just spent another hour in the garden armed with my trusty secateurs (although a machete would be more appropriate in some spots) having another good session of hacking, chopping and cutting my way through the worst of the overgrown undergrowth.  Whilst out there I started thinking about the car boot sale on Sunday, and whether we'd be going this week, which led me on to thinking about thrifted items in general, and how long I've had some of them.  Eventually I ended up with thinking about what was the oldest thrifted item I still have.

I don't think there's any contest really - it has to be the Lloyd Loom type laundry basket which I've had for 25 years and which is still used every single day.  Picked up at a jumble sale in Bath a quarter of a century ago (wow - that's scary!!) this has moved with me from Bath to Bristol, Bristol to Nottingham, back to Bristol, several different addresses in Bristol, on to Billericay and now to our present house.

It was always a bit 'askew' and was originally a sort of 'boudoir' pink colour.  I should probably have left it alone but at some point I decided to paint it gloss black, probably not the best decision I ever made but there we go.  I can't remember what I paid for it but I suspect it was about 50p, which works out at some infinitessimally small 'cost per use'.  I can't imagine ever getting rid of it, it still seems as sturdy as the day I lugged it home from the jumble.  Perhaps at some point it could do with smartening up a bit but I can't imagine how many coats of paint it would take to cover the black gloss!!  I'll probably just leave it as it is. 

Close runner up to the laundry basket is a large grey and white enamel baking tray which I've probably had for close on 20 years - also originally from a jumble sale.  I would have taken a photo of that too but it's being used at the moment in the oven to cook our evening meal.

What's the oldest thrifted item you still have?

Sunshine on a Stick

Perhaps more accurately I should say sunshine on a twig.  This is the view of the forsythia from the back bedroom window in all its sunshine-yellow glory.  It does make a lovely sight and is that zingy ultra-bright yellow that just has to lift your spirits when you see it.

Here in Essex the glorious sunshine of the past few days has vanished since lunchtime and has been replaced by leaden grey skies and a bitingly cold easterly wind.  Ah b*gger it, and I really thought Spring had come to stay.

Online Selling

Is it a sign of the times that this year's adult learning courses in our area are offering a 'buying and selling on-line' three-week course (2 hours a week for 3 weeks)?  I would imagine that trying to make a bit of extra money selling online, or trying to find a few bargains by buying second-hand online would be very very popular at the moment.  I'm not sure whether the fact that ebay have now removed listing fees for all auction items starting at 99p or less is a sign that they are doing very well or are desperately trying to encourage more people to take up online selling.

I've been selling on ebay for more than six years now and oddly enough have had some of my best sales since the New Year.  Just before Christmas (usually a bonanza time), I was very disappointed with some of the sales I had.  Things just weren't fetching the sort of prices they had in previous years in the run-up to Christmas and I was really fearing that the recession had meant even second-hand sales were beginning to suffer.  Luckily, since then things have definitely improved and I've had some great sales - like the Marks and Spencer king-size cotton duvet cover which I paid £1.00 for and which sold for £33.00, or the vintage child's Holly Hobby apron which I also picked up for £1.00 and which went on to sell for £24.00.  Of course, there have been plenty of things which have either failed to sell or have only fetched the initial 99p or not much more, and which in hindsight I wish I'd never bothered to list.

I just keep listing away - usually for 10 day listing-periods - every Thursday afternoon in the hope that things will keep on selling despite the recession.  At the moment I've been having a good look through my summer wardrobe and have decided that a lot of my T-shirts just aren't really long enough so a lot of those will be getting listed in the next few weeks - many of them have only been worn a couple of times and are in really good condition.  The question is why did I buy them in the first place as I certainly haven't grown in height in the last year or so - around possibly, upwards definitely not.

How has your ebay trading been lately?  Have you noticed any great changes - for good or bad?  I'd love to know how others are getting on.

The Best Laid Plans ....

I'd had such big plans for these past six days when I was here all by myself.  I was going to be cutting out and sewing up loads of pillowcase bags, possibly even making some slightly more sophisticated bags, maybe even venturing a bit further afield and sewing up some summery cushion covers.  Oh yes, the plans were endless.  I'd have so much more time what with only having to cater for myself and then there was that whole empty weekend for me to be really creative in.  Yeah, right!!  None of my best laid plans came to fruition!

I partly blame the lovely weather which saw me being out and about a lot more than I'd planned on being.  I mean, no way was I going to turn down the chance of going with my next-door neighbours to the first car boot of the season.  Then there was the copious amounts of washing to be done - because you just never know when this lovely weather might disappear.  Then there was taking advantage of it being nice and dry and so getting the grass cut for the first time, which led on to yet another 'tidy up' of bits of the garden yesterday afternoon.

In my defence, m'lud, I did spend a fair chunk of both Friday and Saturday afternoon hand-stitching a little something for Mother's Day (photos to follow next week when said item has been received by my Mum), and I did manage to knit yet another waffle dishcloth in the evenings.

However, the most useful thing I did in the whole six days was this morning when I finally got round to gluing the world's most irritating castors back on to the bathroom trolley.  That damn trolley has been one of the very few Ikea items I've bought that I've not been best pleased with.  From the start the castors had the most annoying habit of falling off whenever you so much as looked at the darn thing.  I would have ditched it years ago but we don't have any storage to speak of in our bathroom - including no toilet-roll holder - so we've had to continue using it no matter how annoying it has been.  We've only had it for about 12 years so it didn't take me too long to get round to fixing it!!

Firsts

A whole load of 'firsts' took place these past couple of days.

The first car boot sale of the season - unbelievably early as last year my first car boot was at the beginning of May.  A surprising number of sellers, although a lot of them were traders, and a whole lot of eager buyers.  I didn't come away with anything wonderful - some nice toiletries @ 50p each and a 20p Spiderman T-shirt for DN - but it was just fantastic to be tramping round a car boot sale once again.  Boy, have I missed the thrill of a car boot sale on a Sunday morning over the winter.

The first time the back door has been propped open and left that way for a few hours since sometime last autumn.  It's so nice to feel the house filling up with fresh air once again.  Yesterday the door stayed wide open until it got dusk when it seemed the temperature plummeted and I had to shut the door and put on the heating again.

The first grass cut of the season this morning, prompted by the whine of electric lawnmowers from all directions yesterday afternoon.  It was surprisingly easy to cut (I always dread the first cut of the year as it can be murder to get the mower through longish wet grass) and I really quite enjoyed being out in the garden with the mower again.  The grass always looks so nice when it has just been cut - although, sadly, that effect never lasts very long.

The first time I've ever seen a knitted clock cosy!!  These were featured in Saturday's Telegraph magazine.  Slightly mad but also very covetable.

Coming Up Roses

I had a very useful trip to Basildon this morning. 

A long-sleeved T-shirt for DN - 75p which was half the marked price.  Blimey, times must be hard if charity shops are cutting their prices.

A quantity of police-themed Lego for Mr Lego Crazy nephew.  The box was HUGE but most of the contents had been mislaid long ago (though there is a lot more than is in the photo.)  No worries, it was only 50p at the church 'Bargain Box' and I've no doubt DN will enjoy adding the bits that are there to his already extensive Lego collection.  It's great to see him enjoying Lego so much as I used to love it when I was little too.  It's much more sophisticated these days as there were no little figures in my day - only the basic bricks and a few windows, doors, gates etc.  Luckily, Mum never got rid of the Lego we had as children so DN also plays with the 40-year-old stuff as well as the more modern kits.  That's the great thing about Lego, it may be uber-expensive to buy but it just never wears out - or loses it's appeal.

Two videos for me - 25p each.  P is away on business at the moment so I'm in sole command of the TV and video remote controls - bliss!!

Also at the 'Bargain Box' were these rose-printed vintage hankies - very sweet and pretty and only 5p each.  If I put my thinking hat on I might be able to find something useful to do with them.

Thanks to everyone who commented about their local tip / dump yesterday.  It seems that the common theme at UK tips is a VERY strict policy of not taking anything away with you.  I loved Sharie's comment that people have been banned from her local tip!!  That is just extraordinary.  It's a pity we can't be more like Australia where The Shopping Sherpa says they have Aussie Junk stores at the tips. 

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that in some American towns they have a couple of dates a year where people can leave out larger items they no longer want and others can come along and 'trash pick' them.  After a set number of days the council then comes by and collects what's left.  That sounds a really good idea to me and surely anything that helps to reduce landfill should be welcomed - including 'dumpster diving' at the local tip.  Not that I'm going to try it anytime soon with the muscle-bound 'Essex boys' (and if you've ever seen the film 'Essex Boys' you'll know what I mean) that are patrolling our local tip.

A Trip to the Tip

I'd never had cause to go to our local council tip (dump) before today but my next-door neighbour asked me if I could give him a hand taking an old carpet down there.  My memory of the tip my parents' used to go to is of something closely resembling a painting of Dantes 'Inferno', everything had to be hauled into a vast corrugated-iron shed-like structure where there was a huge incinerator in one corner.  The men who worked there would appear to sort through what was dumped, and there was always a pile of 'things' somewhere which presumably they were intending to sell or keep.  The one I went to today was completely different.  Everything was out doors in the fresh air, there were recycling containers for pretty much anything you could think of - garden waste, cardboard, telephone directories, books, clothing, wood etc etc.  Sadly, the carpet we had didn't fit into any recycling category and so had to be put in to a huge industrial crusher. 

What caught my eye was the large wheelie bin of books.  I had a quick look inside and was itching to have a good root around in there - who knows what treasure may have been lurking in it's depths.  However, the muscle-bound types who were working there seemed to keep a very territorial eye over the proceedings and it was obvious that you weren't encouraged to take things away with you, or even to poke about too much.  The inevitable pile of 'useful' items they'd put to one side were being kept an especially close eye on.  I don't blame them, if I worked at the tip I'd certainly want to have some perks for doing so too.   But you know the old adage 'one man's trash' etc etc, and it seems a shame that the public can't take away from the tip if its something they could make use of.  What's the way of doing things at the tip / dump near you?

Nearly

It's so very nearly spring.  The weather today has been fairly warm (10 - 12 degrees) with just a bit of breeze and a lot of sunshine.  The daffs are very nearly out in flower.  (I just wish that pesky ivy that gets EVERYWHERE in the garden would have a period of hibernation.)

As is the forsythia.  Everything seems to be a few weeks behind this year, due to the very cold weather we had in February I expect.  And, indeed, there was quite a sharp frost again last night.

Luckily the weather seems to be set reasonably fair for the next few days and the next-door neighbours and I have been talking about going to the car boot sale on Sunday if it's a nice day.  In fact, the BBC weather website gives the forecast for Sunday as unbroken sunshine. I do hope so as it would be wonderful to have a schlep around the car boot again. The car boot season started officially around here last Sunday but although it was dry and sunny in the morning the wind was near gale-force so I can't imagine there were many sellers (or even buyers) on the very exposed field where the nearest boot sale is held  I'm keeping all paws crossed that this Sunday's excellent weather forecast is indeed correct!! 

Not Banking On It

I've been a customer of the Royal Bank of Scotland for the past 25 years.  In fact I started out as being a customer of Williams & Glyns (for anyone old enough to remember them) who were taken over by RBS.  I've been reasonably happy with RBS despite the fact that their branches are few and far between and have never seriously thought about closing my account with them - until recently.  I won't go into the saga in any depth but lets just say it involved a cheque which although received into my account wasn't counted, a further cheque being written by myself to my credit card company, refusal to pay that cheque, rude letters from RBS, disgustingly high charges for what amounted to their incompetence not mine, and no answer to a letter I sent them which was recorded delivery.  Presumably Sir Fred Goodwin's 'sod you' attitude has permeated right through the bank.  (For any non-UK readers Sir Fred was the former chief executive of RBS who is now receiving a pension of £725,000 per year despite the fact that the government has had to bail RBS out to the tune of £33bn.  When asked by the government to pay the pension money back Sir Fred basically told them to sod off.)

After total inertia on my part for two months (something I believe the banks rely on in their customers), I've finally made an appointment with Nat West (and yes, I do know they're basically the same bank as RBS) to transfer all my direct debits and the balance of my account into my Nat West bank account.  No wonder RBS are going down the pan - why don't the government just nationalise them and have done with it?  It would work out a lot cheaper for the tax payer in the end.  Nat West are not a lot better but at least they have a branch on the High Street here and I've never had too much trouble with them - yet!!

To add to my banking woes, I've ended up with shares in the Lloyds Group which are losing value at such a rate that I seriously think I'll just set fire to the share certificates as they're hardly worth the paper they're written on now.  Like many people, I originally acquired Halifax shares free because my mortgage was with the Leeds Building Society (taken over by Halifax) in 1997.  (Halifax subsequently merged with Bank of Scotland, not to be confused with the Royal Bank of Scotland, almost collapsed in October and were bailed out by Lloyds bank to become Lloyds Group.) Loads of people I knew cashed in their shares immediately in 1997 and used the money for exotic holidays or home improvements.  Prudent me thought I'd just hold on to them and for many years felt I'd done the right thing.  If only I'd had a crystal ball and could have seen the future I'd have cashed them in a couple of years ago when they were somewhere around the £10.00 per share mark.  Today they are at 49p each - b*gger!