One of my most prominent childhood memories is being dragged round car boot sales at stupid o'clock on a saturday morning. My mother (an antique dealer) used to spend hours at the things, and my sister and I would have to entertain ourselves running in amongst cars and random strangers (ah, the innocence of the 80s). However, since I started living frugally, I suddenly get car boots (the sales, not just hanging out in car boots, obviously).
There's a pretty good one at Ford Airfield, just a couple of miles away, which I frequent, still with my sister (although she can now be trusted to shop without a warning not to wander off with strangers). In fact, she enjoys them so much that she makes a living from buying and selling wonderful vintage bits and bobs from charity shops and boot fairs (and evil imported crap from Thailand, but I gloss over that in my head). If you particularly want to, you can read about her lovely vintage finds here, as well as find a link to her shop.
Despite looking less than joyful to see me at 7:45am when I bounced up to her doorstep, she was a bit jollier by 8:45am, after a huge bacon roll and a bunch of bargainous suitcases:
Of course, when attending a car boot, it's always important to remember that you don't need absolutely everything there. I have a permanent vague list of things I'd like to buy, which currently includes, among other things:
1) A cast iron skillet
2) A chest of drawers for Teddy's room
3) A Kenwood Chef mincer attachment.
Although I will occasionally go off list if there's something particularly good (the other week I bought a massive roasting tin for 60p, which I didn't have on my list, but will come in useful for the few of times a year we roast a huge chicken or whole lamb leg. Did I mention it was only 60p?), I am quite strict with myself about not just buying everything that looks vaguely nice and/or remotely useful for some distant point in the future.
It's wonderful seeing the things people buy at car boots. It really shows that what you might consider absolute junk will almost certainly be valued by someone. Stand by the exit long enough and you'll see people wandering out with torn lampshades, three toy prams, a broken jug, a park bench, a set of legless dining chairs, countless broken tools, and anything else you can imagine.
Speaking of off list, I only just resisted the temptation to ask how much this fellow was:
There's a pretty good one at Ford Airfield, just a couple of miles away, which I frequent, still with my sister (although she can now be trusted to shop without a warning not to wander off with strangers). In fact, she enjoys them so much that she makes a living from buying and selling wonderful vintage bits and bobs from charity shops and boot fairs (and evil imported crap from Thailand, but I gloss over that in my head). If you particularly want to, you can read about her lovely vintage finds here, as well as find a link to her shop.
Despite looking less than joyful to see me at 7:45am when I bounced up to her doorstep, she was a bit jollier by 8:45am, after a huge bacon roll and a bunch of bargainous suitcases:
Of course, there are downsides to going car booting with someone who loves vintage junk as much as you. I bought this plate before she could get her grubby mits on it:
But she pounced on this one the moment I pointed it out and bought it from under my nose!
She'll probably make a good profit on it too (not hard when the outlay is only £1).
Of course, when attending a car boot, it's always important to remember that you don't need absolutely everything there. I have a permanent vague list of things I'd like to buy, which currently includes, among other things:
1) A cast iron skillet
2) A chest of drawers for Teddy's room
3) A Kenwood Chef mincer attachment.
Although I will occasionally go off list if there's something particularly good (the other week I bought a massive roasting tin for 60p, which I didn't have on my list, but will come in useful for the few of times a year we roast a huge chicken or whole lamb leg. Did I mention it was only 60p?), I am quite strict with myself about not just buying everything that looks vaguely nice and/or remotely useful for some distant point in the future.
It's wonderful seeing the things people buy at car boots. It really shows that what you might consider absolute junk will almost certainly be valued by someone. Stand by the exit long enough and you'll see people wandering out with torn lampshades, three toy prams, a broken jug, a park bench, a set of legless dining chairs, countless broken tools, and anything else you can imagine.
Speaking of off list, I only just resisted the temptation to ask how much this fellow was:
(Yes, he was alive and no, he wasn't for sale. As far as I could tell).
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