Car Boot Booty

Pile O' Stuff to Sell

Feeling the penny-pitch quite keenly, I decided to raise some much needed cash by clearing out the cupboards and going to a car boot sale.

The plan got off to a disastrous start last weekend.  When I got up at 6am to head up to Kinross Car Boot Sale, the biggest in Scotland, only to discover that it has shut down.  A sign of the recession indeed!

Feeling a bit miserable about the whole enterprise, I spoke to my friend AJ, who suggested I try a local market, in a multi storey car-park in the centre of town.  And am I glad she suggested it!  Greenside Car Boot Sale, in the Omni Centre Car Park, here in Edinburgh, turned out to be fantastic.  I took along a giant pile of stuff, pictured above, and got in the queue at 7am yesterday (Sunday) morning.  At this point I was just glad that the Car Boot Sale was on, and that I hadn't got up early at the weekend again for nothing!  I had read up about the ins and outs of the sale on a few websites, so knew what to expect.  So when I had finally made it through the queue and ushered into a very tight parking spot, (with an audience of people standing watching!), I knew that I could safely leave the car for an hour or so before it was time to set up the stand.

So, after a bracing walk in the November air to get the paper, I settled down with my flask to await the sound of the hooter to tell us we were off!  It duly sounded at 8.30am and from then on it was an exciting rush to get my trestle table up, my boot emptied and to get my bits and bobs sold!  There were crowds of people right from the off and it was fun to get those 50ps and £1s in, while bargaining over the stuff that was worth a bit more. 

Everyone was really lovely and friendly; there were lots of folks from Russia, Poland and Eastern Europe, as well as plenty of Edinburgh locals looking for a bargain.  And good for them too!  I will definitely go back as a buyer, especially for children's clothing and equipment which was being sold for a song and was all in tip-top condition.  The car boot next to mine sold a great little buggy for £3!  And was offering a lovely wooden cot for £2.50.  I saw people walking around with all sorts of treasures from Guitars to Golf Carts!

A pretty empty stand come closing time

You can imagine that Magpie Me was having a great time among all the piles of stuff!  Thankfully, I was too busy selling to do any buying and by the time the hooter sounded again at 1pm, I had sold almost everything on my stand.

I have to say all the staff at Greenside were great and made sure the whole event was very efficient and ran smoothly.   And the grand total of cash in the door, was........ £100!!  Not bad for a morning's work.  I am already thinking about load two for next month!