Accumulation and Speculation

I wish I wasn't a putter-off of things.

Sometimes I put off emailing a friend because I think I must spend some time on a 'proper' reply, and then I end up not sending any kind of reply for days or even weeks. Sometimes the housework piles up until it seems to be this daunting, enormous task that I can hardly contemplate. And sometimes I stop blogging for a while, and it gets harder and harder to start again.

But here I am, deciding to just get on with things, for a change. One task I have been tackling in a fairly undaunted manner is the attempt to reduce the amount of vintage 'stuff', piling up in the house. It was getting hard to move in the place, but just over a month ago, I did A Bad Thing. I went to an auction at a props company that was closing down, and I went a bit crazy, and bought even more stuff. Far too much stuff.  I have to admit that, in places, our house now looks (and smells!) like a seedy old charity shop...

But there's some really great stuff in there, and I just need to get selling! So the creative side of my work has been taking second place, and I've been focussing on selling vintage. It's been nice to concentrate on the one thing for a few weeks, but I'm not sure that vintage selling is really my forte.

I'd never call myself an entrepreneur, but I now have an even lower opinion of my business acumen after my experience selling at a local flea market last weekend. I thought it would be okay, as it's a monthly event that has been going on for years, with regular traders who seem to do okay. Surely I could sell a bit there? Well, I sold a bit. By the end of the day we had taken a grand total of £20. By a lucky coincidence, the cost of the table was ... £20. My profits were nil, nada, zilch. A big fat zero. I could have speeded up the whole process by just throwing twenty pounds worth of stock into the bin. Oh well. Oddly enough, I didn't mind that much - I was happy just to consider it 'a learning experience'. You never know unless you try, do you?

That experience also made me even more appreciative of the great events organised by other bloggers. A few weeks ago, I went to the Vintage Bazaar at Frome, which was a super event, with lots of fantastic stalls, and lots of visitors. (If you didn't get a chance to visit, I recommend going to the next one in April.) And in just 10 days time on Sunday 28th November, there is the Vintage & Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury. I have been saving lots of great stuff for that one!

However, even with these great events, the mountain of vintage stock is so large, that I am also selling stuff on Ebay at the moment. (I also have my Etsy shop, but buyers in the UK don't seem to use it, so I'm selling some stuff on Ebay.) I currently have some very kitsch Christmas ornaments for sale, and some vintage toys and dolls, so please take a look if you're interested. If you mention this blog when you buy anything, I'll include a small free gift with your purchase!