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

ivyleaf

There don't seem to be jumble sales in this area any more i can't remember when I last saw one advertised!

valk_scot

I love jumble sales though there are a lot less now than there were even five years ago. Three main reasons for this...1) Folk are less and less likely to volunteer to help out with these events 2) Folk tend to sell more of their unwanted stuff themselves at car boots and on Ebay and 3) After the jumble sale there is the problem of disposal...used to be the local charity shops would take it and sell it on for rags or rag merchants would come and collect, but now it all has to go to the dump where you have to pay to dump "commercial waste" or you have to hire a skip.

Shame, really, because I still love a good jumble sale. But gone are the days when I would get the local papers at the library on Friday and have a choice of six. I would get good toys for the kids...lego, Playmobil, bikes even; huge amounts of clothes for them for the garden and camping holidays; kitchen stuff like Le Creuset and accessories for my Kenwood Chef; retro house things a la shabby chic like feather quilts, wicker baskets, ornaments and china; books and videos etc etc. I even bought a canoe for my Hubby and DS at a jumble sale once!

Top tip though...look out for Scout jumble sales. These are the best ones!

rosieben

valk_scot wrote: »

... 3) After the jumble sale there is the problem of disposal...used to be the local charity shops would take it and sell it on for rags or rag merchants would come and collect, but now it all has to go to the dump where you have to pay to dump "commercial waste" or you have to hire a skip.
... !

our local jumble sells what's left to a ragman; they throw it into black bags and he collects at the end of the sale; my dsis is one of the regular jumbly helpers and she says he pays very little for it but it saves them having to cart it off to the tip; ragmen and ragladies are still around doing a great job of recycling - in fact we have one on this board

janejustjane

I used to love helping out at the Guides' jumble sale when I was young. One week we'd deliver leaflets and the following week people would leave jumble out on their door steps for collection. One year my friends father collected a box full of beautiful new cotton sheets and towels - this was in the days when people had their laundry collected and delivered. Happily, after a bit of detective work the people were reunited with their laundry!

ChapelGirl

I was brought up on jumble sales in the 60's and 70's. I remember queuing up outside the village hall and everyone rushing in like it was the New Year sales. I always made a bee-line for the bric-a-brac stall, then the books.

When we lived in Norfolk I was a charity shop hound. There were 8 in our local town, which says a lot for the state of small town shops, I'm afraid. Charity shops don't have to pay business rates I don't think, so they are the only ones who can afford to take the premises on these days. This town has 3 supermarkets. Need I say more?

I bought loads of stuff from the charity shops, and when we were getting ready to move I took loads of stuff to them as well!

Here in France they don't have charity shops at all. There is the Emmaus, which is an organisation for the homeless. They have a hostel in our nearest big town and there are 2 large sheds beside it, one for bric-a-brac, books and furniture and the other for clothes and bedding etc. The hostel dwellers work in the sheds sorting and making the donations ready for sale. I think Oxfam would turn their noses up at most of the stuff in there, frankly. They are only open Saturdays and Wednesday afternoons.

In the summer months at weekends you often see notices for vide-grenier, which is when a village has a table-top sale. Everyone puts a table outside their front gate with the stuff they want to sell, and the visitors park outside the village and walk round. It's like a car boot, but the sellers stay at home!
I think on the busiest weekends some people make a whole day of it, going from one to the other.

Lady_Aitch

In these days of e-bay and car boots I did not think anyone held jumble sales. I certainly have not seen any advertised in my area. They were very much a part of my life in the 70`s when, as a young mum, money was short. My mum would travel to the more affluent areas and would come back with lovely clothes for my daughter. It gave her the joy of providing gifts which she would not have afforded otherwise, and my daughter a wardrobe full of pretty dresses.

lbt_2

Bitsy_Beans wrote: »

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!

Even better than that, everything starts at 30p, then everything is reduced to 10p for the last half an hour. :j

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

TurkishDelight

Adored them when I was a kid

Nothing like fairy cakes from a mad old woman in a church hall.

Don't see them anymore though- nearest we get is "craft" fairs, and they're universally rubbish.

lbt_2

One of the best parts of the evening was when a little boy only had 30p and couldn't decide between two Dr Who books, so I told him to take both and I put the money in for him (he didn't know) and he was so delighted to get both books.

That alone made the effort worth it