Jumble Sales - my eyes have been opened .....

lbt_2

.... and now I can't get enough of them!!!

I volunteered to help out with our school jumble sale this week, which involved a couple of hours sorting jumble in the afternoon (with my little one in tow under strict instructions not to play with any shoes), and an hour and a half in the evening to help with selling (with both children helping too).

While we sort the jumble we can put aside anything we would like to buy and everything is sold for 30p, just as it would be in the evening. Anyway, I ended up with some modelling balloons, a GR8 gear knitting machine, a Ditton Hill bag, numerous dressing up clothes, an upopened jigsaw puzzle and a lovely boxed mini wardrobe used for giving jam as a gift - all for £2.10. I was so tempted by the little people castle that my little one played with while I was sorting but I resisted ... very OS I thought.

Anyway, my two talked me into the castle ... not so OS I know, but I figured it was all in a good cause and my girls agreed that I could sell one of their farms, so all in all a good deal all round.

This is the best fun we have had in ages. Is this sad? While we were waiting for the jumble sale to start my girls and I spent ages blowing up the modelling balloons that I had bought earlier, and I was trying to fill their requests for various animals (I think they think I am some kind of magician :rotfl:)

I know jumble sales have a reputation for being a bit grubby, but don't let it put you off. If you haven't been to one yet, you MUST go asap, there are so many bargains and it is such good fun if you are helping out. Some of the people there were really short of money and I really loved helping them find their 'treasure' for next to nothing. It gives a great feeling.

Anyway, sorry to waffle on, but I really wanted share this as I know that there is a silly stigma about jumble sales, and I think some people might be missing out as a result.

Olliebeak

I think it's also good for kids to get used to the idea of 'doing something for charity' and that life should be about giving as well as receiving.

I worked in our local churches' charity shop in the 80's while my kids were quite young and they often came with me in the school hols/saturday mornings - even if all they did was help to tidy up the toys/books and pick up clothes that had fallen off coathangers.

lbt_2

I completely agree. My girls' school and nursery have just had their harvest festivals and I always go completely overboard with those. As a child I used to be on the receiving end of them, so I can't help but give some really lovely treats as well your basic cupboard bits and pieces.

I told my three year old that we were giving the food to people that don't have much money for food, and after thinking for a while she said "I know Mummy, I have got lots of money in my Peppa Pig purse, I will share it with them so they have money for food."

I am not ashamed to say that it really choked me, but I feel pleased that both of my children know that not everyone has it easy, and we should help as much as we can. My girls now assume that I will be one of the 'helpers' whenever the subject is mentioned . Whenever we do help though, I always explain how our contribution helps towards whatever the cause is.

lbt_2

On the subject of charity shops, I do think that some have changed their approach in the last few years. Our Oxfam shop are very choosy about what they will accept and they sell everything for quite a lot more than you would expect to pay from a charity shop.

I am all for charities, but if I want to give money for nothing, I do that via my monthly direct debit to the NSPCC. I love charity, but I also LOVE a bargain

33pelter

I've been to a few school/Church ones when I was younger, good way to recycle and stop our economy losing money to middle-eastern manufacturers!

[Deleted User]

I love a good jumble sale .I can remember my late Mum sticking me at the front of the queue whilst she went off to charm our local butcher,(no she wasn't being a floozy,its just that during rationing which didn't end until 1954 apart from your husband, your local butcher was the one to bat your eyes at in the hope of getting a little bit better meat.Often he would throw in four sausages if you were a regular customer) Not much chance of that happening today
But Jumbles were serious business for housewives in those days ,no such thing as charity shops back then. Even a past its best wooly jumper was worth getting if the clour was o.k. as it would be taken home ,unpicked ,washed carefully and dried and reknitted into something else.
I once had a horrible jumper knitted in yellow and brown stripes, and looked like a little wasp!! There wasn't enough yellow or brown to make a one-colour one so my lovely inventive Mum compromised as she wouldn't waste anything and produced this stripey monstrosity.Didn't argue with Mum,just had to wear it, though I was glad when I grew out of it. It got re-knitted into one of her blankets eventually as I recall.
I know scour jumbles for wool myself as I knit blankets for a childrens charity.Great place to get stuff for very little cost.its quite suprising what people chuck out, good for picking up odds and ends for crafting or small odd gifts for Christmas stockings. For some reason its a good place to find small guest soaps that folk get rid of. I snaffle them and gift wrap them for my two granddaughters, I usually make up two Christmas carrier bags of lots of
make-upy bits and pieces for them as they are both at college so talc,soaps,and sometimes if I'm lucky even nail polish end up at jumbles on the white elephant stall. The girls love opening up lots of tiny parcels on Christmas morning

theesel1994

When I was young (about 35 years ago) my mum got rid of some stuff at a jumble sale that I liked so much I went and bought them back when I saw them on sale. I hardly hear of jumble sales any more. I also had an obsession with suitcases back then. Later when I joined the scouts we had first choice on buying anything as we sorted the stuff for sale the night before.

Bitsy_Beans

I didn't think jumble sales were still going. Everywhere round me it's car boot or table top and certainly nothing goes for as cheap as 30p!
Shame really - my attitude has changed over the years. whereas I would have been a bit sniffy in my 20's about it I am rather disappointed I can't pick up a bargain

rosieben

we just have one regular jumble sale here for a local charity and its very well supported; When my kids were small you could find a jumble sale practically every week somewhere around the village area. I used to buy items for the buttons and zips, much cheaper than shop prices!

maybe jumbles will come back into fashion as things are tight for so many of us

culpepper

Almost everything we wore came from jumble sales when I was a child. Christmas always yielded a pile of books bought cheaply by mum over the year.
Our town has very few but then there are quite a lot of charity shops.
I do miss the long queues outside for sometimes half an hour before they started, the elbowing through the crowd and mad tussle at the tables then the triumphant return home with the booty.

lucy*locket

I love a good jumble sale too, I was brought up on them in the sixties and they seemed to take place all the time....it was the highlight of our weekend and I can remember coming home with huge bags of clothes, sorting through them, Mum washing them and proudly wearing my "new" clothes.
I was always very embarrassed that my friends might find out I was wearing jumble sales clothes though (we were one of the "poor" families in my area), but got over that once I grew up!

When my children were younger (they're 17 and 21 now) I was very involved in fund-raising and volunteering at their school. A small bunch of us organised a couple of jumble sales each year for several years (we called ourselves the Jumblies:D), we usually made around £300 for school funds for not too much effort. We sorted on the Friday night and one of the perks was that we could buy anything we liked, we always paid more than we needed to because we appreciated having first dibs!

I was amazed at the quality of some of the donations, there were beautiful clothes in some bags. Equally there were bags of filthy clothes, why anyone thought someone else would want them is beyond me......I really enjoyed doing them doing them though and would love to help at jumble sales now. Jumble sales aren't quite so common these days in my area, probably due to boot sales and Ebay, more people must be selling their stuff rather than donate to jumble sales I guess. But I did go to two last week, one at 10am, one at 12 noon so timing was perfect, and picked up some great stuff. Mostly clothes at 30p each, also some nice books for 20p each. I'm avidly checking the local paper each week for any more Jumble sales over the winter now the local boot sale has finished, to get my "fix"!