Hall cluttered with shoes

It is always good to start with something easy as it gives you a boost.  My son is now at university and is renting a house for the next two years.  He is very unlikely to live at home again so I found the few pairs of shoes he had left behind and put them in the bottom of his wardrobe.  That still left another 18 or so pairs of shoes to find a home for.  We have tried using the cupboard under the stairs before but it is too small and poky so family members tend not to bother replacing shoes once freed.

No-one else in the family had room in their bedrooms for their shoes so I finally decided that we needed to buy some purpose built shoe storage.  It turns out there are loads of options out there!.  Having spent hours researching, I decided that shoe storage that looked like a cupboard or chest of drawers would be the best solution for our hall.  I found that Made.com had a good looking and not too expensive shoe cupboard (we went for the Jenson style) and this is now installed.  It is easy to use and everyone now puts their shoes away without being asked.

Hall with shoe storage

So, my tips for choosing shoe storage:

1. Choose something that suits the style of your home.
2. Count the number of shoes you need to store to make sure the solution is big enough.
3. Make sure that your intended solution takes the size of your shoes. The largest shoe size in our family is a Men’s size 8, so not that big; you may need to check with the seller as to the maximum shoe size that will fit into their storage.
4. Ensure the storage is easy to use and conveniently situated – or it will be ignored.

Happy shoe tidying!

I researched shoe storage on the Internet and have found that there were loads of options available from cheap shoe racks to high tech wall hanging shoe cupboards.  However finding something that was sturdy, not too expensive, fitted into our hall as well as with the overall look of the house and was able to store more than 10 pairs of shoes proved difficult.

So I  decided to regroup and tackle the problem one step at a time.  It occurred to me that I was the only one of the family who had room in their wardrobe to store shoes. Therefore, if I could find a way of getting some of my shoes upstairs, there would at least be slightly less to deal with! Years ago, I invested in plastic shoe storage boxes that were all the rage in the heyday of shows like Changing Rooms.  The only trouble was that I never did add polaroid photographs of the contents so finding a specific pair of shoes was always a bit of a chore and, as with my temporary storage solution above, I found that it was always more of an effort to put the shoes back than take them out.  Not only that, but I found that shoes that were only worn during one season such as Summer sandals invariably had to have mould washed off them before use each year. We do have a damp problem with our wardrobes which I control successfully with hanging dehumidifiers but shoes need air. A few years ago, I decided to try use the original cardboard shoe boxes which worked better but was still not ideal.  Paper attracts moisture so the shoes were ok but the boxes always felt dampish. Not nice.

I had a big think and suddenly realised that a shoe rack in the bottom of the wardrobe would make much more sense.  The shoes would be much less likely to go mouldy as they would not be enclosed, I would be able to easily spot which shoes I wanted and, very importantly for me, I would be able to easily put them back!!!

I ordered a shoe rack from Amazon and my lovely son put it together for me.(I probably could have done it but he is really good at self-assembly!). I went to my wardrobe and took everything off the floor.  It was a good opportunity to have a general clearout.  First to go were the jumble of plastic boxes (mostly empty owing to a big shoe clearout about 18 months ago) and old cardboard shoe boxes.  Then I decided to get rid of some posh sandals that I never wear, old clothes I kept for decorating but haven’t used for years and some books I purchased as gifts but then decided were unsuitable.  Once everything was out, I cleaned the wardrobe floor and then put in my new shoe rack.  It looks soooooo  much better than the boxes. I wish I had taken a before and after photograph but never mind.  Here is the shoe rack in all its glory.  What I also like is that it is a simple solution which Is what I prefer – no polaroids, no stacking, just easy.  Best of all, I was able to remove all my shoes from the hall so there were  a few less pairs to store there.

Tidy shoes in my wardrobe

Next step was to tackle everyone else’s shoes!!!

Once you have decluttered, you need to get rid of your stuff as quickly as you can. I always try and throw away as little as possible as so much is still usable.  Clothing and other items can go to Charity shops or be sold on Ebay or a car boot sale.  But what about other things that are more difficult to recycle but still useable like redundant juicers or furniture.  For these kind of things, I tend to use Freegle.  There are also Freecycle groups and others that do the same thing.

Freegle and Freecycle

Freecycle started in the US in 2003 and since then has spread throughout the world, including the UK.  However in 2009, there was a falling out between the American organisation and those running groups in the UK.  The result was that many of the UK Freecycle groups left and formed Freegle.  To find a local group go to either the Freegle or Freecycle website; they both have location finders.

How do they work?

Essentially, Freegle and similar groups are an online noticeboard often run through Yahoo Groups where you can Offer whatever you have to the rest of the group.  You can also post ‘Wanted’ notices if you think someone may have something you want.

How to post

Once you have joined the Group you can start to post either by clicking on New Topic or by following the Message Maker link to the Freegle main site.

In the Subject line, you start with either OFFER (things you want to get rid of), WANTED (things you hope someone will want to give to you) or TAKEN (for when the Offered item(s) have been collected and you want to stop people requesting them}.   Then you add a short description eg ‘Tall bookcase’ or ‘Garden pot’, followed by usually the town or area you live in and the first part of your postcode.

You can give a more detailed description in the body of the email and you can also upload photographs.  I usually add a request to let me know when the item could be collected.  At this point, do not add any personal details like your name and address.

Once you have uploaded your post, it will be checked by a moderator and, if everything is ok, will then appear on the group page.  You should start getting replies from people interested in the item fairly soon.  I usually give it a day before deciding who to offer the item to.   I try and go for people who tell me why they want it and when they can collect as I have found them to be the most reliable collectors.  I have occasionally had people request an item and then not reply to my offer email but this is very much the exception. Once I have confirmed with the collector that they still want the item, we then arrange a day and time for collection.  And it is only at that point that I give my address.  Most people that have turned up have been polite and friendly and I have felt that my item was going to a good home.

As soon as the item has been collected, you should post a TAKEN notice where you simply use the same info as in the Subject for the OFFER but precede it by TAKEN.  In the body of the post, you just need to say that the item has been taken and thanks to all who replied.  I used to email individually everyone who had replied but I just do the TAKEN post now.

Trash nothing

If you join up to several groups, it is worth looking at Trash Nothing which enables you to manage all your groups in one place online with only replies to your postings being sent to your normal email address.

Conclusion

Freegle and similar groups are a great way of recycling items that still have life in them but that charity shops won’t take.  It’s minimal effort and items are collected from you which is brilliant. Saving the planet couldn’t be easier!

We all have those items on our to do list that remain determinedly undone.  Day after day you think ‘ I really must do x or y’ and yet by bedtime you haven’t managed to do them.  Often this is because the tasks are seen as boring or as things that will take hours to do.  I have all kinds of favourite excuses such as :

• I ran out of time
• I really will do it tomorrow..
• I’m too tired
• I’ll have a cup of coffee and then I’ll do it
• If only I had got up earlier

I was putting off a number of small tasks recently until I suddenly remembered some good exam advice I was given years ago which was to do the hardest question first and wondered if it would work for Procrasticlutter (great word, invented by A Slob comes Clean).   The chores I had been putting off included deadheading the pot plants, taking the holiday suitcases back up to the loft and phoning for a doctor’s appointment.

I decided I would do one task first thing every day with NO excuses!  And it worked.  What was a real eye-opener was that each chore only took 5 minutes or less.  So much for the ‘I ran out of time’ excuse.   Now all the perceived painful tasks are done, my decluttering halo is shiny and back in place.  An added bonus is that the rest of the day seems so much better when you have done the difficult thing and realise that you no longer have to do it!  Try it – your future self will thank you for it.

1. Car boot sale – there is more about car boot sales in an earlier post but in summary, these are great places to make a bit of money out of your clutter. You can’t charge that much but if you take a load of stuff you should emerge with a profit. Don’t forget the bacon sarnies and flask of coffee!

2. Charity shop – the obvious one but always useful and there is usually one convenient for dropping off bags of stuff. I always take in anything that didn’t sell at a car boot sale as well as clothing, books and bric a brac. If you pay UK tax, you can register for gift aid with most charity shops. It means they make a bit more on our donated goods and is an easy way of helping out your favourite good cause.

Beware of charity plastic bags that come through the letter box.  Most of them are private companies that only give a small proportion of the money they make to the charity. Some sources estimate that companies can make £300 a tonne of which the charity may receive between £50 and £90.  And sometimes the charity itself is either bogus or unaware that their name is being used.  Giving your clothing directly to a charity shop ensures that they get the profit from each item.  If you want to use a bag, you can check whether it is genuine.  Here is a useful article: http://www.charitybags.org.uk/how_to_tell_if_a_clothing_collection_is_genuine.shtml

3. Textile and other recycling banks – you can also donate clothing to textile banks. They pay the local council to have their bins in the area so you are both keeping clothing out of landfill and helping to keep your council tax down. Quite a few councils now have small electricals banks as well so you can get rid of broken items in a green way.   For larger items like furniture and white goods, your local council website should have information about which charities will take them.

4. Freegle and Freecycle – after a dispute with the US parent, many Freecycle groups are now Freegle groups. Whichever one operates in your local area, they both enable you to Offer your unwanted items. You post details of the item on the Yahoo Group and then choose who to give it to from the replies received. I usually wait a day just to see if there are any genuine sounding hard luck stories or someone who sounds like they will use it.  They are coming to your home to pick up the item after all.  I have not had any no shows and the majority of takers have been really nice people.

5. Sell your stuff online – I use Ebay (see this post) to sell unwanted items if I think they will get a good price. I have disposed of a never-used steam iron and an equally unused hand blender via auction as well as Kpop CDs and other items belonging to my children. They are always thrilled with the money and I get a clearer house so it’s a win win. Watch out for the Ebay and Paypal charges as these can turn a small profit into a loss by the time you have packed up the item and posted it.

I have never tried Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree so would be interested to hear from anyone who has.  Or if anyone knows of anywhere else to sell items online.

6. Specialist items – books, CDs, DVDs and even Lego will be bought by companies like WeBuyBooks, Zapper and MusicMagpie. I have used Momox to sell computer games and WeBuyBooks several times for books. I can recommend WeBuyBooks as they pay promptly and don’t mysteriously claim that the more expensive items are damaged.    And you can even recycle your childhood stamp collection!  Check out the website Reduce, Reuse, Recycle [http://www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk/index.php] for where to recycle all kinds of things.

There are usually several reasons:

• It is too large a task – it will take ages and I just don’t have that kind of time
• I wouldn’t know where to start, there’s just too much
• I will have to buy loads of storage and I don’t have any spare cash
• I might need [insert the thing you have kept for ages] one day
• Messiness is a sign of creativity

Too large a task

If you think about a whole task, then it can seem overwhelming. Help out your mind by only focusing on one part of the mountain – sort out the junk drawer, triage your t-shirts or shake out the shed.  Just do that one thing and worry about the other areas of your home later.

Where to start

As above – it doesn’t matter where you start as long as you start.

Storage

When you declutter, you often find that you can re-use what you already have.  Less stuff means less stuff to store.

Might need….one day  Your home is not a warehouse or a shop.  If you haven’t used something for a year or more, then the chances are that you are not going to use it in the future. Or. if you do, you find it is out of date, not useable (plastic, for example, gets brittle) and you go and buy a new one anyway.

Messiness is NOT a sign of creativity, although we all have our own definition of messy!  Even the most inspired artist can’t work if they can’t find their stuff.

So there you have it – no excuses left to not declutter!   We all need a bit of help now and then though so if you would like help with your stuff, contact me on love2declutter@gmail.com so that we can chat through how I can help.  I help people declutter in person in the South East London/North Kent area and by Skype elsewhere

Are your mornings really stressful with everyone rushing around at the last minute, running out of the door with forgotten PE kits and work bags, arriving at school with no time to spare?  If this sounds like you, it may be time to take a long hard look at your morning routine.

Sit down with pen and paper and work backwards.  For example, if you have a school run, write down when you need to leave the house in order to ensure that you arrive calmly and panic free.  Then work out how long it takes to get everyone up, washed, dressed and breakfasted and work backwards to give you a getting up time for everyone. In our house, we need to leave the house by around 7:50 which gets us to school in 15 minutes before the traffic builds up.  My daughter then has about 10 minutes sitting in the car, listening to her music and generally chilling before walking into school.  In order to achieve this, I get up at 6:30am and get her up at 7am.  This gives her time not only to get up but also to pack her school bag.  If I got up at 7, it would make the whole morning very rushed.  Sometimes just getting up half an hour earlier makes a big difference.

Ideally of course her school bag would be packed the evening before but some battles are not worth fighting!  Having said that, there are a few things you can do the night before to make the whole getting out of the house thing less stressful.

• Get as much ready the evening before as possible. If you make packed lunches, make sure the bags are visible for the morning and pack ahead anything that doesn’t need to be refrigerated like crisps.  It gives you a head start and you get that warm, organised glow when you totter down in the morning.

• School uniforms can be hung up ready to go which also means you can check that your child has a clean shirt, socks etc.

• Put anything that needs to go out with you the next day by the front door so that it isn’t forgotten, anything from musical instruments to ‘own clothes day’ money.

This can all be part of a written down evening routine which I find really helpful at the end of a day when you are feeling tired.  You can just look at your routine and work your way through it.   See my previous post about routines here.

Having an organised morning gets the day started off right and can make a real difference to how everyone feels.

When you are busy, it can be easy to forget things in the morning rush or the evening exhaustion.  That’s when routines come in to save your sanity.   Following them each day will give you peace of mind and take some of the stress out of the everyday.  They can make the difference between making dinner because you have defrosted the chicken and getting yet another take-away with all the expense and guilt.  And they can help you keep your home on the right side of clean.

So, how to get started?

1. First of all, grab a couple or three sheets of paper and a pen or pencil. I always find good old pen and paper work best for planning as you can cross out and rewrite easily.  Using a different piece of paper for each routine, label them Morning, Afternoon, Evening.  If you never have an afternoon at home, then just leave it out.

2. You can start with either the Morning or the Evening. Start with the Morning and write down everything you currently do at that time, from getting dressed to leaving the house.  My morning routine includes making packed lunches, checking what’s for dinner in case I need to defrost anything, putting on the washing machine as required, and washing up the breakfast things.

3. Once you have everything you currently do, add in the things you know you ought to do but often forget such as putting on the washing machine or unloading the dishwasher. That might be something like ‘Put daughter’s snack and drink in book bag’.  When my daughter was at primary school, the pupils had to take in a snack and drink and if I didn’t put the ‘Put in bag’ bit on my routine, it would be the kind of thing I would forget to do until we were going out to the car.  I would then have to rush back inside, adding to school run stress.

4. Now do the same for the Afternoon and Evening. The Evening routine is really important as a good evening routine will set you up for a less stressful morning.  For example, my Evening routine includes checking what’s for dinner the next day so that I can defrost any meat or fish required overnight in the fridge rather than desperately soaking it in hot water just as I am about to start dinner – oops!  If you add clearing up the kitchen after dinner, the following morning you will come down to a nice clean and clutter-free kitchen.  Putting out younger children’s school uniform ready for the next day means you have time to quickly wash a shirt or socks if they have run out.

5. Remember, these are your routines and no-one else’s so they must work for you. If the idea of creating one is sending you running for chocolate and a lie-down, make them really simple to start with.  You can build on them as you go.  Here are some examples to get you started.

Simple routine – Evening

Load dishwasher

Clean kitchen sink and sweep floor

Lunch bags out ready to pack in the morning

Set out school uniforms

Check diary for appointments, school activities etc

Check what’s for dinner tomorrow – defrost?

Anything I can do now to make tomorrow easier?

Simple routine – morning

Unload dishwasher

Pack lunch for children and put by front door/in bags

Breakfast for all

Put breakfast cutlery and crockery in dishwasher

Load of washing in machine on timer (to finish when I am home)

Simple routine – afternoon

Unpack and clean lunch bags

Check homework plan

Snack and drink for all

Homework to be started

Dinner prep if required

Check diary in case anything needed for eg school trip

6. Write up your routines – in whichever way you like. I usually create mine in Word using a large font size.  When the children were younger I used to add in a column so that I could tick as I went along – the routine was in a plastic folder and I used a washable felt tip.  But once you have practised your routines for a bit, they become automatic and it is difficult to remember that you once had to write it all down.

7. Put them somewhere you will see them! – this is the most important. I file my routines in an A4 folder which I leave open at the next page I will need.  Other ideas are to print out and stick on the fridge, put them out on a kitchen worktop where you are bound to see them or keep them near your house diary.  Your life will get easier if you follow them, I promise!

Since I last used it a few years ago, Ebay has changed in a couple of major ways:

• It has become a lot more commercial with many more professional sellers and EBay shops. There is still room for personal sellers but you do sometimes feel that you have a bit of a disadvantage compared to businesses.
• Ebay now charges fees on POSTAGE & PACKING as well as on the winning bid price. (see Fees section below for more information).

But I still think it is worth using for higher value items as you will probably get more for them than selling at a Car Boot Sale for example.

So, how to sell on Ebay?

1. Starting off – You have to register as a seller which is quite a simple process.  You are also recommended to have a Paypal account in order to receive payments.   Once you are set up, click on Sell to the right of your name on the top of the screen and Ebay walk you through the process.

2. Number of items – You can list up to 20 items for free every month and the typical personal seller is unlikely to need more than that. You only pay if your item sells which is good.  Ebay has some  on how to list.   What follows is my personal experience of using Ebay.

3. Photographs – try and take as good a photo as possible, avoiding glare off surfaces if you can. And don’t forget to use editing software to crop your picture so that the item fills the frame.  And keep bits of you out of the photo – hands and fingers can easily creep in. If there is any fault with your item, then it is a good idea to include pictures of it – the more honest you are, the better.  Again Ebay has some great advice for taking photographs.  They recommend using their App and adding photos directly from your mobile as you list.  I have never tried that myself as I prefer to list using a bigger screen, but it would definitely save a bit of time.  I always try and take photos against a plain background. It is easy to do, using whatever you have lying around, white printer paper, for example.    You can add up to 12 pictures for free and I usually include photos of the back and front of an item as well as any parts or accessories.  It all helps sell.

4. Titles of listings – include as much information as you can in the 80 characters allowed. For example, we recently sold several of my daughter’s Kpop (Korean Pop Music for the uninitiated) albums. I gave a detailed description of what we were selling, eg ‘BTS Skool Luv Affair CD plus photobook & photocard Kpop’ and also included the term Kpop which is what most fans would be looking for.  I avoid Subtitles as they cost £1 and I don’t think it’s worth it if you do a good title and description and your item is not high value.

5. Description – here you can give more details such as all the songs on an album as well as giving more information on any issues, for example any damage to an album cover. It is always better to be honest about the condition of an item.  Buyers leave feedback and ideally you want as many positive reviews as possible so the fewer surprises for your buyer, the better.

6. Starting price & fees – you can decide to sell your item at auction or for a fixed price. I have always used auction as I think you usually get a better price. If you are unsure what you might get for an item, add similar items to a Watch list from the EBay control panel and check when how much they went for at the end of the auction. Bear in mind that Ebay fees (payable at the end of the month your auction finishes) are 10% of both the final list price and the postage & packing.  And, in certain categories, there is a ceiling to the amount of postage and packing you can charge, whatever its real cost to you.  The Kpop albums we sold had high gloss photobooks included with them so weighed far more than a normal CD album.  The p&p cost me £4.89 (£3.40 postage and £1.49 for a size 5 jiffy bag) but I could only charge a maximum of £3.50.  High volume sellers can take advantage of buying packaging in bulk but it is tough on personal sellers in these situations.  People regularly complain about this in the Ebay user forums and the usual advice is to make sure your starting price plus postage covers your expenses and fees.  I must admit I was quite shocked when I realised that I had to pay on p&p as well but it is to stop sellers avoiding Ebay fees by having a low selling price and whacking up the p&p. There are other options for your listing but bear in mind that they all cost extra.  For more information, see https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/private/what-fees-youll-pay

On the subject of pricing, you also need to bear in mind that Paypal charge 3.4% plus 20p on the end price plus p&p so you end up paying 13.4% plus 20p on all sales which is worth bearing in mind when deciding on your starting price.

7. Auction length – I usually go for 7 days so that the auction ends on the day and time you originally posted. It’s easier to remember and plan for. I try and post my items at about 8-9pm as I reckon most people have finished their evening meal by then and are more likely to have time to bid. I also avoid posting on a Friday or Saturday as you want people to be IN when your auction is reaching its last exciting bidding moments!  Of course, people can use the app and bid from anywhere but I reckon people are less likely to forget to bid if they are at home.

8. Communicating with the buyer – Once the auction ends and you have (hopefully!) sold your item, communicate with your buyer via the Ebay messaging system. Send them an invoice (available via the My Ebay control panel) if they haven’t paid.  As soon as the buyer has paid, you should post the item as soon as possible and definitely within the number of days you stipulated when you set up your listing.  Don’t forget to mark the item as ‘Dispatched’ via the My Ebay control panel.  Your buyer will automatically get an email to let them know the item is on its way.  It’s all part of providing a good customer service and hopefully getting positive feedback from your buyer, which in turn will encourage others to buy from you next time you list.  Don’t forget to leave feedback for your buyer as that will encourage them to leave you feedback as well.

And that is my longish guide to Ebay.  As stated above, I like to use it for items that I think are likely to make a bit of money.  And as usual, Love2Declutter’s tip is to recycle any items that don’t sell by taking them to a charity shop so that they aren’t cluttering up your house!

1. Finding a Car Boot Sale in your area

Good old Google works well. You can also check your local paper (I found our most recent one in there). Car Boot Junction has an area search you can use. I’ve found it works better with a town name than with a partial postcode.

2. Go it alone or take a friend?

It is great to have company at a sale as you are standing around a lot. And it really helps having someone else to keep an eye on the stall while you are busy with a buyer and you can take a loo break! My sister has come with me to all the boot sales but she has always had stuff of her own to sell as well.   I wouldn’t ask a friend to help unless they were also selling as it is quite a chunk of a Sunday morning and can be an early start. If you go on your own, you won’t be able to take a loo break or go round the other stalls. That having been said, there have been plenty of solo stall holders at every Boot Sale so it is doable! Just make sure your cash is not easily accessible and watch that no-one steals smaller items.

Car boot sale pitch

3             Timings

Admission times for sellers and buyers varies from Sale to Sale. For some reason, most of them prefer an early start and gates open at 6am. At least, that’s what they say. Usually you can get it earlier. We turned up at 5:40am at the Boot Sale last year, expecting (naively) to be waiting in a traffic queue until 6, only to drive straight in and we were nowhere near the first. Be warned, dealers and other stall holders start coming round almost as soon as you’ve parked! And some places allow buyers in at the same time as sellers so you have to unpack quickly so ensure you have allowed for this when packing the car. Ie make sure your table or ground cover is easily accessible and have your float ready to use. The sale we went to this year started at 9am and sellers weren’t allowed in until 10am. Even so, stall holders were shopping before 10 but overall it was less stressful.

4. Pricing

Seasoned car boot buyers will usually haggle a bit so be warned. And pricing can depend on the location of the Sale. At the one we went to last year, people were just not prepared to pay very much. I even had someone turn down a perfectly nice mug at 20p! On the other hand, at the sale we went to last week, people obviously expected to pay a bit more. We didn’t realise this initially so were asking lower prices than we could have. The upside of that was that we did manage to shift a lot of stuff! It’s good to have in mind what you are going to ask for items but I have never really bothered with labels. I did buy some for last year but found people asked the price anyway. And prices can put off some buyers.

Be warned though, if you want top whack for an item, don’t sell at a car boot sale. Buyers are looking for bargains. For example, at a Sale last year, I was selling my son’s bike which we paid over £300 for new and it was still in good condition.. At 6am I was asking £50 and one guy offered me £40 to which I countered £45 which he refused. In the end I sold it a few hours later for £30. The Microscooter (worth over £100 new) sold early on for my asking price of £20 amazingly. My son’s old scooter I was asking £5 for and the couple of people interested just walked away. Eventually at about 10am a Mum asked the price and I asked for £2 which she paid. Other items we asked for between 50p and £1 and mostly got it although we did go as low as 20p for some stuff. Even some brand new still-in-their-packaging pillow cases only sold for 50p each. Overall at that Sale, I sold nearly £80 worth of stuff and minus the £12 entrance fee and petrol and labels I cleared over £60 which was brilliant. At the most recent Sale I took about £30 which gave me a small profit of £20 once I took off the shared cost of the entrance fee and hanging rail. There were much less people at the most recent sale and we felt we would have sold more if we had gone back to the one we did last year. People were probably put off by the thought that the field would be muddy after torrential rain the day before. In fact it wasn’t but you do have to take weather into account.

5. Float

You will need to take some change with you. We usually take £25-£30 in float but I am sure I could cut it down as most buyers seem to have stocked up with coins which is handy. I usually take about £20 in pound coins, about £3 in 50ps and £2 each in 20ps and 10ps. I don’t bother with anything smaller. It might be handy to take a couple of £5 notes as well in case of larger notes. WRITE DOWN the amount of your float somewhere safe where you won’t lose it. You need to take away the float amount from the total takings to work out how much you have made. Sounds obvious but don’t rely on just remembering. (Well, I can’t anyway!). And take a bum bag or similar to keep the money in. Unfortunately, not everyone at a Boot sale is honest and you don’t want your takings stolen.

6. Snacks

There is nothing like getting up early and setting up a stall to make you hungry! We usually take a flask of coffee and either bacon or egg sandwiches. They taste soooo good in the middle of a field at 10am! And it is better than spending your hard-earned takings at the burger van that is at all Boot sales.

7. Equipment

This section should probably come before the Snacks but, hey. I am a bit food obsessed!

a) Table – you can use a tarpaulin or some other kind of ground cover but it is definitely better to have a table so that buyers can see your stuff more easily. Thankfully my pasting table that I bought for a boot sale years ago was still fine. If you need to buy one, go cheap or you will spend all your potential profits before you start. Homebase has one similar to mine here and it’s about £10. http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/hardboard-top-folding-pasting-table—1780-x-560-x-740mm-027611

b) Cloth – you need something to cover the table to help display your stuff. I took an old, rarely used, white tablecloth but a sheet would work as well. The tablecloth looked good on the pasting table and, as it was quite wide, it covered the struts and table legs. White works well as a background for displaying items but any pale colour would probably work as well. When we got home, there were no marks at all on it so I just gave it a wash and iron and it was fine.

c) Ground cover– we could have done with extra room to display stuff at the beginning. Several of the stalls around us had blue tarpaulins. Some people used a waterproof picnic blanket. If you have one at home, great, but I wouldn’t invest in new if you aren’t going to do boot sales regularly. Take boxes (see below) instead or as well.

d) Display boxes – plastic or cardboard boxes to use to display smaller items. Plastic look better but cardboard is fine if you don’t have any plastic ones. Again it is not worth spending your takings before you have any! I took CD sized ones when I was selling off my husband’s CD collection (with his permission of course!) and they worked really well. I think the more you look as if you care about your stuff the more interested the buyers will be.

e) Hanging rail: if you are selling a lot of clothes, try and get hold of a hanging rail. I borrowed one for the first Sale I went to and it worked really well. We didn’t have one last year and ended up piling clothes at the end of our table and then eventually hanging a couple of items on a music stand (also for sale!). I wouldn’t buy one just for one sale but if you are planning to do it regularly, it might be a good investment. We decided to take the plunge this year and bought a clothes rail from Argos for 9.99.. And, of course, don’t forget to take coat hangers. And to bring them back (unless you are happy to give them away!).

f) Plastic sheeting I also brought along a plastic dustsheet in case it rained. In the event, everyone packed away when it rained so we didn’t use it. Again, it may not be worth buying if you haven’t got one as the more you spend on equipment beforehand, the less you will make overall

g) Bags and packaging stuff – we brought along some plastic carrier bags and I also had a load of tissue paper from some mugs I had bought. Most people had their own bags but it was useful for anyone who didn’t and the tissue paper was used a few times for mugs and other delicate items. It all helps sell.

h) Sales log If you are sharing a pitch with someone else, you need to record who has sold what. We didn’t have a way of doing this last time apart from givng the other the money but it can get hard to remember to do this when it gets busy. This time, we took an exercise book ruled into columns, one for each name, and jotted down each sale in the appropriate column as we made them. It worked really well and at the end, when we had counte dup the money and removed the float, we were only 50p adrift.

i) Pens, paper, felt tips, sellotape – useful to have just in case you feel like a quick label or need to attach instructions to an item.

8. Marketing

This probably sounds obvious but it is a good idea to try and display your items as well as possible. When you have a full stall at the beginning, it can be difficult. However, as you sell stuff, you will have more room. For example, at the Sale last year, the clothes were being ignored in their pile on the end of the stall so we hung a few things on a music stand and they sold quickly. It also gave us room to display t-shirts on the stall more easily and they also sold soon after. A monogrammed cloth bag went on the edge of the music stand and sold almost immediately. Once we had room, we took jewellery out of its boxes and arranged them artistically on a jewellery box. Once the jewellery box was sold we put the necklaces etc directly on the table and they looked good against the white cloth. We found that each time we changed layout, there was more interest in the items. Looking around, the stalls that looked busiest were those who had tables, boxes to bring together similar items and had made an effort to display items nicely. If you don’t care about the stuff you are offering for sale, why should a buyer?

9. Any downsides? Most Boot sales mean an early start but once you have your stall set up and you start to sell, it is really enjoyable. We liked talking to buyers and there is a little thrill every time you sell something. However, you are unlikely to sell everything so you have to have a disposal plan for all the unsold items. We always take unsold items to the charity shop either same or next day. That way you aren’t tempted to hold on to anything ‘just in case’. Offering an item for sale does help lessen any emotional attachment! So trade on that and get rid of the unsold stuff as quickly as possible. Your home is not a storage area.

My sister and I are planning to do a Car Boot Sale every year as we enjoy it once we have got over the pain of an early start on a Sunday. As long as you have enough sellable stuff, you should make a profit.