This Sunday, was the day that LB and I had decided to spend selling at a Car Boot Sale out of town. We hadn't done a car boot sale for around 15 years or more (since LB was quite young and ran the battery down on the car playing her music on the car CD player, or so she tells me as I can't remember!). As I'd mentioned in a previous post, I was half looking forward to it and half dreading it in equal measure.
We'd both spent the last week or so, sorting out stuff to take and sell. We then packed the car the night before, so we wouldn't make lots of noise in the morning setting off at 7am.
On the day of the car boot sale, we got up at 6 am, had breakfast, packed the last few things into the car and set off. The car boot we decided to sell at, was one that was held on a Park and Ride Car Park and didn't start until 8 am, which was great for us, as we didn't want to get up at a ridiculous hour to get to the alternative boot sale for 5 am.
We set off at 7am as planned, with a packed lunch in a cool bag, bottles of frozen water and a full car. We were given a pretty good pitch with plenty of room and set to work setting up our stuff for sale. A few people came around early, very politely looking at what we were putting out. In fact, we found that everyone we came across was very polite and friendly. Some people did make lower offers, some of which we took, some we didn't.
The footfall was pretty steady for the first few hours and LB did particularly well, as she sold a couple of more expensive items quite early on. She was also selling Pokemon Cards, as she collects them and was selling off ones she no longer wanted. This brought quite a lot of people to our stall to be honest, so I was glad of her being there with me.
My sales were a lot slower and smaller, the most expensive items I sold being priced at £5. I'd gone into it thinking that if I made £50 on the day, I'd be very happy, as I figured I'd be earning money and getting rid of stuff I no longer wanted. Most of my sales came from clothing and a few house bits.
By 12 noon, some stalls were starting to pack away and leave, but we stayed on until 1pm, when there were no more customers, then started to pack up the car. Unfortunately (for OH), we still went home with quite a lot, but we were very happy with how we'd done, as we had exceeded our expectations. I'm afraid I didn't take any photos, as we were so busy setting up, selling and then packing away, that it didn't really occur to me.
We were quite lucky with the weather too, as it was warm, sunny at times, but mostly cloudy, so the heat wasn't too overwhelming. We couldn't have asked for better on the back of a heatwave here in London a few days before.
When we got home, we added up all the cash we'd taken, worked out how much we'd made, minus the entrance fee, which was £13 per car, and which we split between us, making it much more affordable.
So, how did we do? Well, I made £65 (£55 if you deduct the £10 I'd spent on some camping chairs to use on the day). LB did a bit better and made just over £100. We were both really happy with these results, especially as it had been good fun too.
We probably won't do another one for at least a year, if at all, but it was definitely a good way to make some cash from things we no longer wanted. Also, I only spent 40p at a nearby stall, as we were both so focused on selling, that neither of us took the time to wander round and look at the other stalls.
We then just need to empty the car and unpack everything that was left, but we took a breather before doing that. Some of it can just be donated to the charity shop and some will have to wait for another opportunity to be sold or maybe just be put out on the street for people to take for free.
Have you ever done a car boot sale?
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