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Wednesday 1 May 2013

Spring Cleaning & Tidying Away The Junk!

We’re settling into the new house very slowly, part of this is the face we are doing so many other things, but for the most part its because we have so much ‘stuff’. Things pile up and I distinctly remember saying before the move that I was much too busy and I would sort it once I got to the new place…oh how naive.


One possible good thing to come from this is that I didn’t just throw these things away to get rid of them quickly, this means that now they can be sold on ebay, gumtree, car boot sales or any number of places. The important thing here is that they get sold!

I have loads and loads of ball gowns and cocktail dresses that I bought when I was a cadet for all of the dining in nights and when I was a student for the balls there. I got a new dress for each occasion, (sometimes six a year) as well as a new pair of heels and a bag. I got my hair done up and some beauty treatments as well-just for the fun of it. I mean, I had my part time job in a clothes shop and real life when I was a grown up would be like this, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it? …oh how naïve.

So although I haven’t been a good thrifty, frugally saver my whole life at least I have items I can and will sell to make up for it. TH has put his old camera on gumtree, there are some random things we found on ebay and yes, those pretty silk gowns are going too.

I didn’t do as well as I thought I would when I sold some things before from the old caravan. I completely miscalculated the cost of shipping and ended up barely breaking even, minus a product I pretty much gave up for free. I now use a courier company to deal with this as it’s really not worth the hassle trying to carry it down to the Post Office (sorry-I promise I use them for lots of other things).

I found one here which is very used to dealing with eBay purchases and all you need to do to get a free quote…free being the operative word…is put in a couple of details so they can contact you. I absolutely hate having to sign up for no good reason or so a company can send you a bunch of spam, so I am super wary. If you want the cheapest quotes you have to be flexible, but I think we’re all used to that now, and when I put things on eBay I always make it clear I’m not a shop and people are always very patient.

The good thing is you don’t need to make half a dozen phone calls to get quotes for a courier-they get in contact with you. For some reason I always used the Royal Mail because I thought it was easiest, but it isn’t really if you have a great big thing or an awkward shaped parcel you need to send on. I think this is the way forward for future swaps, especially I am able to take advantage of the local delivery page which shows people in your area needing things moved about.

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the postage costs down and get our things to any eBay purchasers. All these little pennies will hopefully not take too long to add up, and at the very least, we’ll be having a spring clean!

3 comments:

Julie said...

Good luck with all your unpacking. Sounds like you have rather a lot to sell! It must feel strange now to have ball gowns and so on, as you say they don't come in all that handy with normal everyday life! I've recently had a spate of ebay selling and done quite well but I was careful with getting the postage right. Good luck. Juliex

bellaboo said...

Good luck with your ebay selling!
I'm having a clear out myself and have sold a few things.Did you watch the TV prog about courier companies last Monday? It was quite shocking to see the way the employees handled the parcels,kicking and throwing them around the depot! On a happier note...
hope you are enjoying the sunshine!

Claire said...

hi, thanks for stopping by :). Can I ask what company you use? Royal mail is getting so expensive!