From The Jumble To eBay – How To Buy To Sell

Posted on January 10, 2013 by clairelouise82

Firstly, I’m not one of those mad nutty spammers talking about how to make money online… But I do have some tips on how to make money via eBay and it all starts at your local jumble sales, bootfairs and the odd charity shop.

Its all about shopping to sell, not on the high street (well that is unless there is a great little charity shop there). Jumble sales are your best bet though, whether held at the local church hall or in the school playground, these babies house a treasure trove of bargains. Every jumble sale i’ve ever been to, I’ve never left with no less than a few black bags that are normally bursting at the seams. You can bet your life on it that I’ve also spent no more than a fiver. I recently filled a huge black bag for £3 and I’ve almost ebayed the lot. Items from this bag that instantly spring to mind that sold well on eBay are that of a Boden dress (women’s) £16, river island jeans £12, tweed girls coat from monsoon £22, Jane Norman jeans £10 and a pair of infant converse that sold for £18. Look at the statistics here… This is all from my £3 bag of jumble sale finds.

Of course you have to know what your looking for. I suggest you scan eBay to find whats selling well at the time. But there are always certain items and brands that never seem to let you down. Here’s some I suggest…

Children’s Clothing…
Next (I’ve found that girls items do particularly well as do boys coats and knits).
Mini Boden (kids jeans are a winner as are girls dresses)
Brand Tracksuits (Nike and Adidas, especially in baby and toddler sizes)
Monsoon dresses & coats
Ralph Lauren (especially baby and toddler sizes)
Converse ( mainly high tops and rare pairs).
John Rocha and other designers for Debenhams
Popular Character wear (whatever is big at the time, example… Peppa pig, bob the builder, Thomas the tank engine, mike the knight).

Women’s clothing…
Boden (again especially jeans)
Donna Karen
Zara
Jane Norman (I’ve done well with coats and jeans)
River island (jeans do well)
Coast (dresses)
Lipsy (dresses)
Onesies are currently selling well (even those from Primark)
Levi’s (vintage, cut offs)
Vintage & Retro items of clothing (examples… denim, retro printed tees, Sequinned tops)
Festive wear in the summer time (includes vintage finds, floor sweeping dresses, boohoo inspired fashion)

Men’s clothing…
Levi’s (Vintage Red label 501 are a winner)
Ralph Lauren (especially the tops with the big logo)
Vintage leather beats
Rare converse

Accessories…
Vintage leather bags
Oversized vintage weekend bags
Cath Kidston bags and purses
Vintage costume jewellery
Shoes (Dune and Office do great)
Ralph Lauren Green Holdall (the one I’m actually referring to was given away with aftershave from the fragrance store back in June. It can fetch between £70-£100 on eBay)

Ralph Lauren Bag given away free with fragrance.

Toys…

Vintage toys… Old matchbox car, Barbie, Sindy, Lego sets (rare) Play Mobile, Dr Who, He Man, Thunder Cats, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Lucky Trolls, Toy Dummies on necklace… 80’s toys (All boxed and unboxed)

Current Toys…
Whatever is Highly popular at the time of selling… Currently I’ve found these toys to bring in good money… First edition monster high dolls especially that of Holt Hyde. Others include… Gillington Gil Webber (Skull Shores) Torelei (first edition) Jinafire Long (hard to find new character) Jackson Jekyll and Deuce (Scaris). I have witnessed all make a good amount of money on eBay, Holt Hyde more so than any.

I’ve not personally sold any monster high dolls, my daughter is a huge fan and I just seem to be buying them hence the reason I know.

The differences when buying items to sell on eBay at Jumble Sales, Bootfairs and Charity Shops

Jumble Sales… Its in my opinion that Jumbles are the best places to find great selling items at very little spendage (yes, I’m aware that isn’t a real word). Vintage clothing and accessories are relatively easy to find at car boots and jumbles as are well known high street and even designer brands. Jumble sales normally sell items of clothing for around 20p-50p an item with a lot of the time that sum often being less. This is regardless of the brand name or condition. You will often find that sellers at the jumble sale will do you a great deal on filling a bag or two (example £1 a large bag of clothes). Most jumble sales are made up of donations, often given by those wishing to get rid of items quickly for lack of storage or those who have more money than sense (I only say this as I’ve picked up newly tagged expensive items that eBayers have snapped off me in a heartbeat). Its not just clothing that jumble sales are great for but toys, brick a brac and pretty bone china.

Bootfairs… These are also great places to visit and bargains can be easily obtained. However, sellers normally sell their own personal items rather than donations and therefore ask for more money as a result. I find that by visiting stalls on a cold wet day when sellers are just itching to get in the car and leave (round about packing up time) is the best time to grab bargains. Sealed makeup, good handbags and collectable toys have been some of my greatest finds.

Charity Shops… These can offer great little finds but are likely to offer the least selling profit of all. Charity shop workers are much more on the ball these days when it comes to brands and what people are looking for. However, this does tend to be seen more across the big store chains such as Cancer research or Mind. There are still some great little charity shops out there that are selling children’s clothes for a quid and adults £2 an item…. You just have to find them. Villages and slightly remote places have fabulous little charity shops. Those outside of the big town centres will always offer more for your pennies. My best charity shop buy recently, was infant converse (2 pairs) for my 3 year old. These looked almost new yet I paid only £1 for each pair. I plan to sell these on eBay once Harley has grown out of them and although they will likely sell for less, these will probably fetch more than a quid a pair.

So… Have you ever spotted anything for a bargain at any of these places and then gone on to sell them on eBay making a tidy profit as a result? If so I’d love to hear what! It might sound crazy but some people are actually making a good income this way.

Would you buy to sell?

A Look Back On 2012 Festival Fashion

Posted on September 7, 2012 by clairelouise82

Anyone who knows me will know I’m passionate about festivals. Whether local or further a field, I’ll be their if I can.

This year I visited a handful of festivals and if expenses would have allowed it, I would have quite happily visited more.

It’s not just the music side of a festival that draws me to it, there are so many more elements that combine, make a festival worth experiencing. This year for me the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire’s Cornbury Park was the perfect example of this and was therefore one of my summer highlights. You can read my recent Wilderness Festival review over on my other site HERE

Festivals are a great way to unwind and set yourself free from the stresses that are part of everyday life. It’s also a great way to express your inner boohoo chick.

The Wilderness Festival in particular, was a vintage catwalk this year. As I sat in front of my tent absorbing the summers rays, the path that lead from the campsite to the main festival gate acted as a runway to some pretty well dressed festival folk. I had front row tickets so enjoyed a bit of style spotting.

So, here’s a quick style roundup of what was 2012 key festival looks.

Floor Sweeping Maxi Dress: Ok, I know the maxi dress has always been a much loved festival trend but this year there were some spectacular floor sweeping Maxi dresses on the festival scene. These were easily dressed from day to night with the addition of one or two accessories. I love the Aztec Paige Mish Mash Artec Print Maxi Dress from Boohoo.com at just £20

Photo from Boohoo

Hunter Wellie’s: This year Hunter had some stylish Wellies working their way round the festival circuit… The Hunter team even had a style den at the Wilderness. We all know that Hunter Wellies don’t offer the cheapest price tag, however, as the festival season begins to slow… Now’s the time to check eBay and snap yourself up a bargain! You can find Hunter Boots online by Clicking Here

Denim Cut Off- When it came to cut offs, For many it was the shorter the better. I spotted everything from shop brought cut off, to those do it yourself types. Vintage customised pairs of Levis and Wanglers were everywhere. Yet no two pairs were the same as each customised cut off displayed its own unique stamp. I love this pastel pink pair below, just £22 from the high street store TOPSHOP

Image: TOPSHOP

Sparkly Sequinned Leggings: Bling could be seen sparkling all over the place! There were super sequinned scarves, bags, waistcoats and more. However, it was the Sequinned Legging that truly rocked it this year. I saw these worn on women, children and even men. I’m actually surprised how little of a mention the sequinned legging has received in other popular festival style guides. These were worn during the day and could be seen twinkling in the the sun rays, while at night these rocked when paired with some awesome accessories. I checked these out online and I kept being directed back to the same site “Rosa Bloom” who does the most stunning clothing and accessories. Her Leggings have been so popular this season that she’s still completely sold out on these my favourite pair.

photo Rosa Bloom

Flowers: A classic festival trend is the floral hippy chick look. Whether its a vintage floral playsuit, floor sweeping maxi, or a headdress, flowers are a key trend for the boohoo loving festival babe. It’s also a pretty look for the little ones. Girls look pretty in floral dresses, headbands and sandals, while the little boys look great in a floral shirt. Below is a picture of my daughter sporting a flower headdress.

Festival Tails: Yes… I do mean tails, cute animal tails that attach to your clothing.This wasn’t a festival trend just for the ladies, but it was most definitely one for the guys (both big and small) I really can’t decide who they looked cuter on. Even the tiniest festival goer wore a festival tail and some even matched them with ears. It took me a while to uncover an online site that dedicates itself to the selling of festival tails! Given I’m very persistent, I eventually discovered festivaltails.com I know what your thinking! With a name like that, how could it possibly be hard to find? I assure you… It really was.

image: Festival Tails

Vintage lace: Pretty lace embellishments to full lace dresses and skirts.This was a pretty girly festival look this 2012. The beautiful piece below is from the wonderful Fashion Bible

Image: Fashion Bible

Doctor Martians: The more funky the better. I loved the bright pink Docs and the super floral designs.These look fantastic with denim cut offs and leggings, but also give playsuits and short floaty dress a great funky edge.

Image: DR Martians

Palazzo trousers: Sometimes referred to the pyjama bottom, palazzo pants were a chic festival must have. One of my favourite summer styles, I’ve shamefully acquired a least 5 pairs (I swear I’ll kick the shopping addiction next week). These can be brought in various designs and patterns but one must be careful not to end up looking like they are out in PJs. Pattern Palazzo’s teamed with a simple vest top or plain tee looked best. House of Fraser currently have some plain black ones with a massive reduction attached. The pair below are currently on sale for £35 (reduced from £120).

Image: House of Fraser

Harem Pants: This year the boohoo, hippy look was easy to achieve. The cropped leg extra baggy Harem pants were everywhere! I love the look and If we were a country who experienced all year round sunshine, I do worry I may just end up living in these extremely comfortable pants. These come in all sorts of style, whether patterned or plain these baggy pants remain super sexy.These Harem pants from Bang on Trend are exactly that and for the fab prize of £6.99

Ray bands: Lots of festival goers were sporting retro style Ray bands in block bold colours or funky rare prints.Those who couldn’t bear to part with their hard earned penny’s for expensive sunnies, still sported some pretty awesome look-alike’s. I love the glasses below with their really funky print. You can grab these online from the Ray Ban online UK store

Image: Ray Ban

Woven Jewellery: Dangly earrings were a must. Statement woven designs made a big statement in a indie chic kinda way. Below are a beautiful handmade pair of woven earrings I purchased from eBay.

My eBay buy

Hats: Both Trilby and floppy sun hats were big winners on the festival scene this year! Quite a number of these were also customised with its owners unique stamp. Check out the stunning red sequin Trilby from Amazon

Image: Amazon

Parka: This festival favourite is still high up there on the festival trend list. If you haven’t got a parka don’t wear a coat at all! I love this multi tone parka from ASOS

Image: ASOS

This years key prints seemed to be Ethnic, Aztec, African tribal and Retro style prints!

Another big trend was and still is skull inspired designs. Whether this is worn as a print on a t-shirt, bag, jacket or even a key feature of an accessory, such as necklaces, bracelets or belt buckles, this funky trend looks awesome. For me the best of the best can be found over at Spoiled Brat! I’ve not long discovered this online store but already I love it! Checkout the stunning necklace and T-shirt below.

Photo: Spoiled Brat

This is not a review post and I haven’t received any payment or review items for writing this post.

A few camping essentials

Posted on September 6, 2012 by clairelouise82

This year I attended a number of festivals and enjoyed camping at the Wilderness in Oxfordshire.

It was during this trip that I tested a few essentials given to me by a lovely PR I know through twitter.

One of the items I testing was of the alcoholic type. Only the “No Glass Bottle Rule” put a spanner in the works! I wasn’t about to give up the alcohol, the security already had a table full and I’m guessing there was no plan to bin them. I’m a girl who drinks only once in a blue moon. My drink of choice is normally white wine and I certainly don’t drink beer! So, as these drinks were bottles of Chang beer you can be forgiven for wondering why I was even bothered?

My friend and fellow festival goer was looking forward to a chilled bottle of chang and the few others we had, we had planed to delight some fellow campers with a bottle. As I insisted my friend didn’t crack one open before we’d even arrived at destination Wilderness, she was now looking none to impressed at the prospect of me handing them over. With this, the decision was made… We’d plot on the grass outside and try them out before entering the campsite (after all the sun was shining and it was one hell of a beautiful day)! Well, it didn’t take long for a few festival goers to become interested in the offer of a few free bottles of beer. We sat on the grass with our new found friends (that we technically paid to endure our company) and with the exception of myself and my lemonade, everyone else enjoyed a bottle of Chang.

Chang is a beer produced in Thailand. It’s 5% in vol and available in 330ml bottles. The beer put a smile on every bodies face (with the exception of the unimpressed security) so I’m sure it was pretty good and worth a try.

It’s worth noting that Chang is a very light and refreshing beer. My friend Donna commented that in a strange way… It was a really famine beer, that could be drunk easily.

Another product we put through its paces was ‘Nakd’ a range of healthy snacks that came in the form of packed infused raisins and health food bars. These healthy treats come in some exciting flavours to delight all taste buds. Choose from flavours such as infused raisin, Crazy Cola and Tangy Lime in the raisins or a whole host of exciting flavours in the health bars.

‘Nakd‘ offer a great way to treat yourself to something sweet without the calories!

Of course I was totally up for testing something claiming to be both sweet yet calorie free. Yet, as always I was a tad suspicious of these common claims and suspected they may taste more rabbit food than anything else.

I was honestly surprised. The packaging is really vibrant and inviting, and although once opened the Health food bars reminded me of a squashed teard, they actually tasted rather yummy.

Nakd are great to take along with you to festivals or just long days out. They are handbag friendly and supply a great energy kick in a really healthy way. These gets a big thumbs up.

Last but by no means least, we have the e-cloth, an environmentally friendly cleaning brand who have recently developed their latest Barbecue Pack. It eliminates the need for chemical cleaning products as it needs nothing but water alone to clean effectively & efficiently – keeping your green conscious clean.

Well, given we would be camping in a very green place and I consider myself a green kinda girl… These were perfect. I didn’t just use the e-cloth to clean the barbecue but found them great for washing the plates (who want to go back home with smelly, dirty plates in their rucksack)? Admittedly we had a little trouble with our barbecue and one of these damp e-cloths did a good job to put out the fire! 😉 Not only are they environmentally friendly, but a life saver too.

These are currently reduced at Lakeland ( from £8.99 down to £2.99) why not get yours ready for next summers barbecue?

Disclaimer: This is a review post that I was NOT paid to write. I did receive samples of the above products in-order to write this review. All thoughts and words are my own.

The Plum Pixie Is Festival Ready

Posted on July 26, 2012 by clairelouise82

The temperature is rising, the children are officially off school and this mum Is on a mission to keep them smiling not fighting!

For once I’m slightly organised in the fact that I’ve been scheduling! Day trips have been noted for all to see, little man especially (his love of structure is a trait of his Aspergers syndrome).

On the days we are home I’m busy trying to keep their little minds stimulated, I don’t want to hear no “Mum I’m bored” in that pro-longed tone of voice that kids do.
Luckily for me my daughter is rather independent when it comes to keeping herself busy. She prefers to make her own entertainment

We are a family who love a good festival, actually I’m festival mad! We have a few festival trips lined up this year and this gives Alice-Sara the perfect reason to dress up.

When I received an email from the lovely guys at Jokers’ Masquerade asking if the children would like to review some fancy dress costumes, it was Alice-Sara who instantly found hers in the form of the beautiful Plum Pixie.

Knowing Alice-Sara had just found the perfect festival costume I couldn’t wait to order it and get some snaps to share with readers.

The costume arrived just a few days later so I was impressed with the dispatch and delivery times.

The Child Plum Pixie Costume is really good quality yet offers good value for money! Your costume pack has everything your little girl needs to become a little magical pixie. Included is a pretty flower dress in purple, cute purple flower headpiece with ribbon detail, pretty glittery ribbon wand and of course a stunning set of pixie wings.

Alice got out the tongs, face paint and glitter and we got to work transforming my princess into the perfect pixie fit for an enchanted woodland.

As you can see this plum pixie isn’t camera shy!

I love the prettiness of this dress and given Alice-Sara is growing up so fast, I’m making the most out of these days. Soon it will be all GHDs and lipstick which I’m not ready for yet.

As you can see from the above picture, the detail on the dress is very pretty, especially of that on the wings.

The Plum Pixie costume is available online at Jokers’ Masquerade who do costumes for every occasion whether your young or old. They have plenty to choose from if your planning to take little ones to a festival this summer. Alice-Sara will be wearing her Plum Pixie when we head to the Lollibop festival next month.

Plum Pixie is available in three sizes…
3-4 5-7 & 8-10
I find that often fancy dress costumes consisting of fairies and pixies only stock very small sizes! It’s the sizes age 8+ that I find are not readily available. I’m pleased we managed to find such a great pixie dress in the right size at such a reasonable price in time for this festival season.

The Plum Pixie cost just £20.99 and it’s my opinion that for what your getting this is great value for money.

If your looking for something for a special holiday occasion then you’ll be sure to find something from the themed areas of the website. They currently have a huge range of Halloween costumes and Little man will be reviewing one of these over on my other blog A boy with Aspergers during this next coming week.

Disclaimer: This is a review post. I have not been paid to write the post but was sent a costume sample free of charge. Regardless of this it was my decision to post my honest views and opinions which all remain my own.

A muddy affair

Posted on July 13, 2012 by clairelouise82

Last Sunday was the day of Danson festival despite the sun shining the rain failed to stay at bay but in true festival Spirit myself, friend and two of my three monsters dragged our wet butts to Danson park.

Little man really didn’t fancy getting wet amongst the crowds, so he stayed at home with dad.

Sadly the toddler refused to put on his Wellies which resulted in some very muddy new trainers… But that’s life.

Despite the on and off rain the festival had remained pretty busy. We had a look around the large number of craft stools as we munched on hot donuts… Yes i know, So fattening but extremely yummy!

The toddler usually has this fear of getting dirty (well his hands more than anything) however, somehow the trip to the festival seemed to have cured him. I’ve never seen so much mud nor have I ever seen one child so interested in the stuff!

I’d quickly turned from a mad crazy mother, continuously wiping mud of her 2 year old, to one who had given up and could now be seen quite happily jumping in muddy puddles as she danced with him. Yes… I had somehow found myself in muddy heaven

The festival was a blast and all seemed to be enjoying themselves. My 9 year old daughter included.

I love a good festival. Each with it’s own unique vibe but all as laid back and carefree as one another. Yes it’s July and I should be wearing my flip flops as opposed to my Wellies but this is England after all.

The best part of the day had to be the dancing over at the main stage ( in the mud of course). Even the toddler was giving it some of his best moves.

There was a large fun fair and plenty of stalls to keep the family entertained. Nonetheless we didn’t do much walking around, choosing to instead stay by the stage dancing till we could dance no more.

At one point, right towards the end, my daughter who had managed to remain reasonably mud free, accidentally slipped while getting her groove on! The result… A very muddy monster.

As the sun began to set and the band sang its last tune of the evening the heavens suddenly opened and OMG did it rain…

Did we run for cover? Hell No! I wiped out a umbrella shattering the toddler as he continued to do his groovy moves in possibly the muddiest puddles I’d ever seen. My daughter Alice tried sharing her umbrella with a somewhat very wet and muddy Daisy (my friends dog) and me… I just quite happily got soaked as I danced in what some may refer to as a monsoon (yes I did resemble a scary panda, what with the running mascara round my eyes).