Who likes boot sales?

[Alice Abbott]

We've just had a morning out at a local village "vide grenier" - arriving just as they were all packing up. This is a sort of once a year yard sale when everyone drags out their old junk (some of it looks as though it has been dragged out on an annual basis for centuries), asks ridiculous prices and then settles for pennies. We went with €10 (plus 1c we found in the grass as we walked there) and came back with:

3 lovely blue cast iron pans (Le Creuset style)
3 jigsaw puzzles (the guy threw in a bag of partially used felt pens too, I suspect the kids were doing their poor child act as they managed to get the puzzles AND a box of books for 50c, although I was impressed as they did their negotiations in French)
A big box of children´s books (French)
A smallish bottle of home-pressed walnut oil (we have a lovely laden walnut tree so if we like it he has said he will press ours too and give us back 50% of the product for doing it).
2 sturdy cane gardening baskets (I can now pick stuff from the garden without having it folded into my tshirt)
4 red cabbages (guess what I will be making later today!)
A big bag of new wine corks (probably 50)
A new-looking cane dog basket (I'm not sure the dog is impressed but it looks lovely)
4 brass candle holders and a new oil lamp chimney
An antique looking wrought iron central light fitting (we have no electricity yet but it can be situated when we start on the upstairs floors).
Another big box of rags (perfect for oiling the new floorboards we are laying)

AND, what we originally went for, an large oval tin wash bucket for the wandering ducks to play in (no one has claimed them so I guess they are now ours).

I feel as if we have won the lottery! We had a fun morning out, actually had money in our pockets for a change (we spent every penny - the last guy accepted our last 41c for the rags) and came back with treasure.

[mrsflibble]

that's brilliant!!!

[thesunflowergal]

Wow thats amazing! You must be proud of your kiddies haggling in French, clever them!!

[MKG]

I adore boot sales - and have, over the years, amassed loads of bargains. But I especially love the patter ...

"It's brand new, love, only been used once".
"They're £10 in the shops", said of a candle which had been used.
"You just can't find 'em these days. I can get you a couple more if you want".
"Them foreigners can't talk English".
"Don't play with that!" - from a man trying to sell a guitar.

Aren't people strange?

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

Oh you are so lucky Alice. Every vide grenier I have ever been to sells only really dull tat at ridiculous prices. You'd have paid about €10 each for most of your items at any of the ones I've been to and there's no bargaining. So I don't go any more.

However in England they are brilliant and nobody tries to charge £10 for something that's only worth 50p.

[Sally Jane]

In England people seem to happily reduce their prices to avoid carting their junk back home with them, so it can be worth sticking around towards the end.
Boot sales seem to be a bit few and (very) far between up here in West Cumbria - there used to be regular ones down South, and I miss them now!
Mind you, we Freecycle quite a bit, and that can be a bit like a permanent car boot sale, except that you don't get tempted to spend money on bits you don't really need, which is a Good Thing for a magpie like me!

[paul123456]

Hello there ,

Yeah car boot sales ,some are good , especially the french ones ,
you can spend a whole day driving from village to village ,great !

The ones in the uk are also good , but now only see them on tv shows ,alas.

German car boot sales are held by private people on their on front yard , and of what I've seen ,
it is more an old junk sale very little interesting things , lots of plastic .

The dutch ones are very over commercialized , mainly high prices , and tou have to pay to get in .

Irish ones I've never seen , they sell the junk in the shops .

regards ,

Paul

[Silver Ether]

hmmm interesting reading this ... as I am wasting most of my Sundays at carboot "selling" I hate them... I have a lot of toys to get rid of because I am cutting down on childminding. I am asking 50 pence for this and 1.oo for that ... 10p for kiddies books... and I hasten to add that if its not perfect I dont sell it and folks still turn their noses up ... I can see a lot of it will go to the womens refuge as taking the pee is just not fair ... I like a bargain as much as anyone but this is just stupid ... and who was the idiots who started carboot that you need to be at by six

[Russian Doll]

our car boot sale rules for bargains

in the last 4 months ive picked up
and apple imac for uder a fiver

dyson for a fiver
three laptops for 2 pounds which hubby is trning into one as a project
all the kids stockings bits for a tenner

books galore

oh and i must admit the usual kids tat which does keep them amused while im trying to do housework

[MuddyWitch]

Yep, an other carboot fan here too, though I prefer 'Realcycle' (our local version of free cycle).

Just about to hand over a huge pile of jigsaws...we're getting rid of loads of stuff before the move.

Doing a carboot has been suggested, but I agree with Silver Ether, 6am is not a time I'm normally aware of!

MW

[Millymollymandy]

However in England they are brilliant and nobody tries to charge £10 for something that's only worth 50p.

You wanna bet! I've been to number of car boots here in the past couple of years and with the exception of plants which have been good value I wouldn't give anything else I've seen house room - where do all those crappy ornaments come from and who buys them in the first place!

OK I have to admit that the last one I went to in England was about 16 years ago! But tat or not, the prices weren't silly prices and there were loads of really interesting things to look at.

[Islay]

I love car boots - me and my sister go to them reasonably often, and although I rarely get anything (perhaps one or two things every 3-4 car boots), I've had some good bargains:
- a massive le crueset roasting tin for a fiver
- big sweetie jars (for storing flour in) for a pound each
- a meat slicer for 50p
- a preserve pan for a pound.

My sister actually makes her living from buying vintage clothes from car boots and charity shops and selling them on ebay. She is insanely good at spotting a bargain and makes a lot more money than most people I know with 'proper' jobs. (She always gives an extra bit to charities if she makes a good sale too, which is nice).

[Rosendula]

In England people seem to happily reduce their prices to avoid carting their junk back home with them, so it can be worth sticking around towards the end.

Not in this town. Here, some people consider boot sales to be their job! In amongst the hundreds of Freegle offers that come through every week, there are always a good handful of offers of 'items for car boot sales'. I went to our local market last Sunday, which includes a boot sale, and some of the 'stalls' were massive walk-into affairs. It's serious business here. If they don't sell it one week, they'll be back with it the next week along with even more stuff.

[boboff]

Just last week, we we on the way into town to buy a Demi John, I needed one, and had tried the tip with week before, so I was going to get a new one for £6.50. Anyway I just thought, lets look at the Car Boot sale we were passing, and low and behold, a Demi John for £1....Well not that good really, but then the lady said she was clearing out he sisters house, and her brother in law, who I assumed had dies or what ever, had lots of stuff, so we went to their house on the Sunday and picked up 15 demi Johns for £10. They said they were having a yard sale the week after, so we went to that, and I got another 20 demi Johns for £10, a lovely wine rack, a creamware mixing bowl, a lovely Dresden meat platter, six hand blown glass bowls with the colours in it, six lovely bergudy glasses, and the promise of 6x5 gallon brewing containers, some still with 8 year old wine in, and all for allot less than £10!

So the way I look at it, I got 35 demi johns, for the cost of 4 new ones, with some lovely bits for free!

The only down side, the chap had sold two boxes full of air locks, hydrometers, cappers, corkers, heat belts etc for £8 about 20 minutes before we arrived!

Still, I count my blessings on this Serendipitous stop on the way to Launceston!