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Published: June 15th 2009
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Car Boot Sale is a great concept and fun activity which has the added benefit of helping the car boot sellers get rid of unwanted rubbish, bits and bobs cluttering the attic, garage and wardrobes. It's basically gathering all the stuff you've collected over the years and selling them second hand with the idea of having some fun and making some profit. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure! 😊
The car boot sale we joined on Sunday was held in Cuffley on a large field. We had to wake up really early in the morning -5am ! and head towards the fields after shoving all our bags, boxes and cases in the boot of the car. Got there, paid a fiver for the pitch and started unpacking our goods: old dresses and shoes, books, videos, toys, etc. We started off with a hard bargain as people showed up quite early as well, and seemed eager to check out what we displayed on our stalls. The best price we got was £4 for an old suitcase and we sold most of the stuff for £1, £1.50. As the day was drawing to an end
and we were afraid we'd end up with lots of stuff to take back home, we decided to give everything away for 10p and finally started shouting 'Free stuff, out for grabs!!' just for a laugh. At noon everybody started packing and the car boot sale was over.
Our gain was only of £20, and considering the fact that I had actually spent £10 myself on purchasing some other people's rubbish ( really couldn't help myself when I bumped into some cheap diaries and still new and unused cosmetic products!!) , the gain was minimal. But the experience was soooo much fun, even if we had to wake up so early to get to the place!!
Without any desire to be mean or malicious, I was thinking how the concept of Car Boot Sale would seem cool, but never catch on in Romania. I was thinking how a few weeks ago I went through my parents' attic and discovered loads, heaps of rubbish we needed no more, books from uni, clothes that were out fashioned or just too small to wear, lots of fluffy toys and so on. I wanted to clear up the attic as my parents
had been planning to do it up and have another spare room available. The only option I had was to shovel everything in the boot of my car and go to a very poor area and give the stuff away. Which I gladly did and the people there seemed genuinely grateful. But what I'm getting at is that a Car Boot Sale idea would be proposterous in my country!
I was discussing the issue with my sister and saying how a Car Boot Sale would never work in Romania for 2 reasons. Firstly, people wouldn't give old, unnecessary stuff away because we have a culture of accumulation: need it or not, save it, just store it somewhere....till you might need it again. Old babies clothes and toys for when your kids and grandkids will have their own kids (ridiculous, I know, even babies clothes are subject to fashion and trends!!)... Secondly, I highly doubt people would go to buy second-hand stuff, because we don't see it with good eyes and are too proud to buy other people's hand-outs. In a country like the UK charity shops and second-hand stores are at every single street corner and buying used items
is nothing out of the ordinary. Just like Car Boot Sales is the perfect way to get rid of stuff that you've piled up in different parts of your house and are that are just in your way. On top of getting rid of unwanted stuff, you get to spend a nice, relaxing day with friends ( weather permitting) and if you're lucky enough to have some interesting items, make a bit of a profit ( which was not our case! 😊 ). The only thing is that you have to remember, while you're trying to sell and rid YOUR unwanted stuff, don't go roaming about the Sale purchasing some other people's old stuff, you'll just end up refilling your house with cute bits and bobs that you surely don't need anyway!!
At the end of the sale we packed the stuff that we didn't manage to sell or give away and went straight to the local Red Cross Charity where we left all the remaining stuff. So we did go home empty-handed, which was exactly what we aimed for!
Hugs from London, stay tuned, more coming up soon!!
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Ayen
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:)
I really enjoy Car Boot Sales, my brother and I cleared up the attic the other day and got rid of all the rubbish! Made £120 in the process!:)