BOOTIES, BARGAINS & FLEA MARKETS 03/092015

Well, after discovering Widnes Flea Market last Wednesday I hardly expected to be told of yet another car boot sale that takes place on Wednesdays (and Sundays) in Leigh, just off the East Lancs Road https://www.facebook.com/eastlancscarboot http://www.eastlancscarboot.co/East_Lancs_Car_Boot/Welcome.html

Weather was ok yesterday (can be cancelled at very short notice if there is the threat of rain) so we set off bout 09:30, getting there just after 10:00 - wasn't very well signposted yesterday but we found it LOL  Apparently on a Sunday or Bank Holiday there are signs on both sides of the East Lancs, giving you ample warning.  

This is the sign they should have had LOL

The car boot sale takes place in a big field away from the main road, be warned the "road" is terribly uneven but I thought it was worth all the ups and downs.  I was surprised how many stalls were there, to be honest, with it being midweek.  There were a couple of regulars who said it was normally a bit busier but it still took me a while to get round all the stalls - there was certainly an eclectic mix of wares - I left just over an hour later £15 poorer hee hee

I'm looking forward to this Sunday when I hope to visit again when there are a lot more sellers and buyers - hope to see you there too!

COMPETITIONS

These are little competitions I find whilst I should be working LOL



Marquis & Dawe | Luxury Bedspreads Online | High Quality Bedlinen In Stock

Ends 30/09/2015

GIVEAWAYS FROM OTHER (MORE SUCCESSFUL) BLOGGERS

Here I will post and promote other bloggers giveaways - please be aware that, I too, will be entering these giveaways as these are of interest to me - the obvious reason for following their fab blogs in first place - I will put an end date if I know it - lastly, I wish us all lots of luck and, as usual ...

Be Good, Be happy, Be Lucky ♥



SUZE LAVENDER GIVEAWAY - DECODELIRE SIDONIE JEWELRY - ends 16/09/2015

SUZE LAVENDER GIVEAWAY - RED DREAMCATCHER NECKLACE - ends 12/09/2015

 

BOOTIES, BARGAINS & FLEA MARKETS 26/08/2015

MISSION

To fill our car boot with collectibles, childhood memory items and bits for business

BUDGET

Zero (ideally) to £40

TACTICS

Haggle, haggle, haggle (with a smile and a final price already agreed between us)

TIMESCALE

In and out before one or both of us loses our temper with crowds, kids and other mad collectors

In case you haven't worked it out, myself and my better half are prolific collectors of items related to our childhood as well as TV/film memborabilia, both old and new as well as lots of "tat" (my better half's technical name for most of my collection) that we collect along the way.

Anyway, with today being a weekday, ie Wednesday, you would think it would be difficult to find anywhere to find treasures and bargains in our local area but you would be wrong! 

Today we went to Widnes Flea Market http://www.widnesmarket.com/flea-open-market/ that is held every Wednesday next door to the main indoor market http://www.widnesmarket.com/

As usual it was busy with both traders and customers, even though it had rained during the night.  The stalls were filled with a huge array of "goodies" and "treasures".  Some stalls were laid out with military precision, each item having its own space, whilst others looked like they had just poured the contents of their van out onto the floor.  

There are some regular stall holders who seem to know everyone and keep the place alive with their banter, insults and cheeriness.  However, each week there are some "newbies" who have queued very patiently since 6am for a chance of being able to sell there wares (each week the Flea Market regularly turns away people hoping to sell, as it's a very popular venue).

Furniture, books and vintage clothes are highly sought after but we know what we want and what we like.  

Ideally, we like to go up and down each aisle together looking on the tables, behind them and underneath as you never know what you will find.  Stuff on the floor or under tables tend to be what the stallholder thinks are of little value - you would not believe the items we have found to be worth ten times and more the asking price.  

Then there are the stallholders who know the value of their items and will not budge on price - it's still good to have a chat, a giggle and a bit of a barter with these guys as you never know, do you?  

It's the "one offs" or "newbies" that catch our eye as you never know what they will have - they are instantly recognisable as the ones who look like they don't want to be there (by the end of the day they are hardened sellers ready and willing for the same onslaught next Wednesday).

After over an hour of pushing (I start to feel like a ball in a pinball machine), admiring, smiling, laughing, joking, buying and vowing never to come back (that's a total and complete lie hee hee) we finally leave with our bags of goodies, bargains and our memories.

Did we get what we wanted, for prices we were willing to pay?  Most definitely!  Do we have regrets?  Only on items we felt, at the time, too expensive but now after doing some research we soooooo wish we'd bought but that's how it goes - you win some, you lose some!

A quick reminder - it's 120 days until Christmas - don't panic, don't panic!

We'll be back to Widnes Flea Market next Wednesday, will you?

This post is NOT sponsored - these are my own views, feelings and observations.  Any and all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are the result of a poor education (correction - lack of attention and attendance)!

Be Good - Be Happy - Be Lucky ♥ 

A to Y Oh Y of a Budding Business 18/08/2015

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Another sleepless night and guess what?  My better half starts throwing out name ideas and then it happened   That moment that grabs you by the throat and shakes you silly!  The name, the name!  At that moment it all fell into place - my business has a name, an identity, it is born! 

A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS


The business has a name so now it needs a logo, a letterhead, a strap line - where to start?

My better half used to be involved in a lot of design work in his job so was the obvious choice for this part of the process.  After doing some research on the 'how did we live without this' worldwideweb we found almost perfect images but they all required payment (for images anybody with the right materials and a camera could do) and I'm not known for my financial generosity hee hee

Tomorrow,  we set the scene ...

A to Y Oh Y of a Budding Business 16/08/2015

CHOOSING A NAME

How hard can it be?

Hmmmmmmm harder than you think!  I wanted it to be a memorable name so when potential customers searched for it via social media it could be found with ease.  Simple .... not!  After over a week of sleepless nights and pages of possible names, keywords and doodles I was ready to give up.  I thought the name would come to me instinctively, in a flashbulb moment of inspiration, that I would just know!  Nothing leapt at me, grabbed me by the throat and shook me violently - that's how I know when I've made the right choice as that's how the moment feels in my very cluttered mind.  

And that's how come I'm sat here writing a blog post (at 5 am on a Monday morning) about how I can't pick a suitably, wonderful name for my new, fab, super memorable business (with a logo full of bling and pazzazz - I'm so tired ... LOL).

I do have some interesting news of sorts but I can't really give too much away other than to let you know that I am developing a new line based upon a couple of conversations I had today whilst browsing Warrington car boot sale (held every Sunday and Bank Holidays http://www.warringtoncarboot.com).  

I love going to 'booties' because you never know what 'treasures' you can find or interesting and often very knowledgeable people you will meet.  It was very busy today (both sellers and buyers) because everyone (but me) knew it was going to be the perfect day for catching a tan hee hee!

I had gone with a mental list of items I was looking for today but, as usual, I got distracted by the vast array of books (I can't help myself - my bookcases already groans under the weight of all the books I already own but I always think 'one more won't hurt'), small pieces of furniture and 'unusuals'.  Unusuals, to me anyway, tend to be homemade wooden objects, obscure TV/film related items or childhood toys that evoke such memories that make me smile and often laugh out loud - the sellers fall into two categories when I do this - either they totally understand and they now grieve the loss of their item as that's exactly the same reason they bought it in the first place OR it's an ex (who is selling their stuff out of spite) or wife/girlfriend flogging their current spouses childhood (memories) and who don't care so long it's out of their lives plus they now have cash for shoes (just kidding! They may buy other things like perfume, make up, Michael Kors handbags .... I'd love a Michael Kors handbag but that's a whole other post LOL)

Anyway, I digress ... what was I saying?  Oh yeah I still haven't got a business name but I chatted today with a young lady who sells her products predominantly on social media and does a car boot sale once a week for the social interaction as she's so busy at home creating, packing and advertising that she barely leaves the house (but she does know the post office and delivery companies staff very well). She highly recommended social media as an avenue for selling my creations and offered lots of other advice that I will certainly be taking heed of over the next few weeks.

I also chatted with a guy who sells mostly on a well known online auction site as well as car boot sales and Toy Fairs.  He explained that for immediate cash he does the car boot sales (at least once a week) and he makes his biggest profits online but it takes longer to get the returns.   He also told me he sells at Toy Fairs where sellers will pay a premium and recommended adapting a line of my products that could be sold at these fairs for a large profit.  As he said, I already had the basic idea I only needed to focus on a large, specific target group that frequent these fairs which take place regularly in the North West. 

Funnily enough I was chatting to (my confidence has soared since I decided to launch my business) a lovely man at Widnes Flea Market who told me he sells his items for a greater profit when he attends Fairs at air bases around the country as that is his target market. He also recommended personalising some of my items for this audience too as he thought they'd sell exceptionally well.  

So .... it's confirmed my items will sell with tweaks here and there for target audiences as well as my basic lines selling at car boot sales and via social media - now I just need to get samples together over next couple of weeks ... and think of a name!!!!

I did spend £27 on lots of 'stock' including board games, jewellery, MDF and items that will make my products unique or personalised so it wasn't a totally wasted day, was it?

Now I just need to think of a name ... back to square one eh?


Be Good - Be Happy - Be Lucky ♥

Be Good - Be Happy - Be Lucky ♥

OWLCHEMY WAX MELT WARMER

I was recently lucky enough to win an OWLCHEMY WAX MELT WARMER 

from D B REVIEWS.

I've had a rotten cold for the last week so decided what better time to test a product relying on a sense of smell!  

   Last night, while I was getting ready to take a bath, I plugged the warmer into the socket next to my bed.  There are 2 warmers to choose from - Morning Glory and Sunflower.  I chose the Morning Glory one - I do wish there was a greater choice of warmer designs, shapes and colours and hope they will introduce new alternatives soon (hint hint).

Cleverly, it is the bulb that heats and melts the scented wax (instead of a tealight in classic oil burners).  In my opinion this means it is a far safer alternative but still needs to be monitored because of the hot ceramic and melted wax.

I added a little block of vanilla scented wax into the dish which I placed on top of warmer, making sure both the warmer and dish were level (to avoid spillages and accidents).

Whilst enjoying my lovely bubble bath (sorry no pictures hee hee) my other better half was assigned guard duty as we have a 12 month old cat that knows no fear, is accident prone and very stupid LOL  When I got out of the bath he said there was only one problem - he was now craving vanilla ice cream because of the delicious aroma wafting round the room - it smelt like the air would taste yummy if you could eat it!

I left the warmer on for a couple more hours while I read a book called ELEVEN by CAROLYN ARNOLD (currently free on Kindle from Amazon and which I will be writing a review about over next couple of days).  Even after I had turned the warmer off I could still smell the scrumptious vanilla as I drifted effortlessly off to sleep zzzzzzzzzz

I suffer from a very disjointed sleeping pattern so wake often during night - this was still the case but the sweet smell of the vanilla eased me nicely back to sleep each time.  It was lovely waking to gorgeous (and rare) sunshine and a sweet smelling, slowly dissipating scent.

 As you can tell I was very impressed with this item - it will be getting lots of use and I can't wait to try other FRAGRANCES, of which there are many!!!!

My only gripe is the price - it's not going to be in a lot of peoples' reach or budget (speaking from my current experience) which is such a shame as this warmer, wax melts and the concept deserve to reach a wider audience.

This post is NOT sponsored - these are my own views, feelings and observations.  Any and all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are the result of a poor education (correction - lack of attention and attendance)!

Be Good - Be Happy - Be Lucky ♥