Great day out, new stuff and didn't spend anything!

[Alice Abbott]

We went to a reasonably nearby "vide grenier" today and introduced a new concept - selling without actually using money!

This is what we did:

We packed up all sorts of things for our stall. This included:


- potted-up herbs, beans, cabbages, peas & tomatoes we have spare (I've been growing too much of just about everything since we were given some polytunnel hoops last year. This has been warm all winter thanks to solar panel system Mack rigged up with unwanted central heating radiators painted matt black plus a pump and lots of pipework etc so I have lots of things ready to plant out as soon as the weather picks up). I round up the pots from various neighbours and we made our own compost. Lots of the seeds are our own too...

- bags of baby clothes and equipment (the twins are now huge)

- all my surplus jars of jam, bottled fruit, tomato puree, fruit cordials and dried herbs etc

- unwanted books and toys etc

- anything else we decided was surplus

We then made a long list of things we need/would like, too long to list but I thought I would give people lots to consider.

The kids make a big banner saying we didn't want to sell any of the things we had taken, we wanted to exchange them for other items, either something from our list or we would be prepared to consider other ideas too. It wasn't a particularly good day weatherwise but at least it didn't rain and it was warmish so we set up our table and had a lovely day chatting, drinking a bottle of our own wine and enjoying the atmosphere.

We have come home with:

- a few odds ands ends of our own stuff which can go out next time

- Lots of new clothes for all the children plus good quality BRAND NEW shoes for Luca

- three tins of paint

- five fruit trees/bushes

- a lovely old set of garden tools

- a wooden garden trellis

- a big box of mixed English books

- a bag of DVDs

- a microwave oven ( didn't ask for that but I'm sure we will make use of it...)

- 2 glass demijohns plus airlocks

- six heavy old-fashioned wine glasses (I swapped five slightly mismatched ones of our own for a huge scented candle too)

- 10 old wooden seed trays

- an oil lamp (I didn't really want that but the guy REALLY wanted four jars of blackberry jam and I thought I was getting a good deal...)

We didn't get the cider press I really wanted but someone offered us one for €10 (an absolute bargain) so I expect we will be taking him up on that next week sometime.

Obviously most of the items were from other stall-holders or people who could go back home to pick up whatever they had but we're hoping to do a few more round and about the area this year and perhaps the ideas will spread. All those things and all we spent was €2 for the stall - and we had a great day out too!

[Green Aura]

Sounds lovely, Alice. I'm guessing that as people get used to it they'll start bringing stuff they hope they can swap with you.

[trinder]

I really like this idea. I was comparing to to Freecycle (in my mind) and thinking that you don't actually clear out because you get something back! But unlike wandering around and simply buying what you fancy. You aim to get something that you have pre decided that you want.

[Millymollymandy]

That's a great idea - glad it worked for you Alice!

[Milims]

Love it! There should be more of it!

[MuddyWitch]

Brilliant idea...

MW