NCT sale bargains galore

Not many posts recently as I’ve been trying to get my jewellery website up and running which is now is, so hopefully will have more opportunities to do my Day Zero tasks as well as make jewellery, and update things on this blog.

N’s now 8 months old and although he’s not quite crawling yet (he goes backwards or just gives up and rolls!), he’s into everything and manages to get about through reaching/moving while sitting or rolling.  At the moment we’ve not had to baby proof as we can keep ahead of him, but I’ve bought the stairgates in preparation, and then need to get some cupboard locks.

Yesterday was our local NCT (National Childbirth Trust) nearly new sale.  I was volunteering (and selling), so Grandma was on babysitting duty…usually N’s quite happy with other people, but he screamed for quite a lot of the day – we think due to teeth, as he wasn’t impressed much when he was picked up by mum and taken home either.

The volunteering was fun but seriously hard work.  8am-3pm, setting up, taking buyers’ boxes of sales items in, unpacking, then I was a snipper so working at the tills with packers to sort the labels to get back to the buyers, and then clearing up afterwards.  I thought sorting out all my items to sell following the instructions was hard enough work, but it was a killer actually being there.  Don’t think I’d want to be on the organising committee as it must take a lot of work alongside another job to get things organised and ready to go.

I definitely recommend volunteering to help at your local sales.  As well as meeting other mums and getting lots of exercise (I’ve got a bruised hand injury and had a sore backside from all the bending/kneeling down), there are usually other benefits if you’re also selling. At our sales, you pay a small amount for a sellers pack (they have a limited number available), then you receive 70% back from whatever sells.  If you volunteer, you get an extra 5% back, plus you get to buy before all the other buyers turn up getting first dibs on what you’ve seen.  And you’re helping out a charity.

I don’t think I did that well as a seller – very few clothes were sold (but I wasn’t surprised given the piles of clothes available that didn’t even fit on the rails), but most toys and all the books went.  There was just so much stuff.  Unfortunately, it seemed that there was an awful lot of big items left (mine and other people’s), despite the fact they were real bargains.  Note to self – baby clothes don’t really sell as there’s just too many of them, unless they’re vest bundles (and even some of mine I saw left thanks to them being put on hangers instead of in the bundle that I’d put them in as they were meant to be in bundles on a baby vest/sleepsuit area).  We also got some of our items back (and an item belonging to someone else) even though they were marked to go to charity…v annoying.  Volunteers need to be less sloppy in their boxing up correctly at the end!

Got some great bargains though.  It was definitely worth getting the early opportunity to shop.  As we were putting items out on rails/tables, it was good to check out what we were looking for.  Some people went with lists, I just had a vague idea, and then was looking for anything nice that was a good price.  So, I ended up with disappointingly only one pair of trousers in the next size up (poor offer in the 1-2 year boys clothes), but got some reins for when he’s walking, lots of books and toys including some that were on my wish list for him if other people wanted ideas for Christmas, plus goodies for when he’s a bit older.  Was really pleased with my haul, although I didn’t manage to get some of the safety equipment I was looking for – it was just too expensive, when you can get such items in cheap shops and on ebay.  I also got a second stair gate.

If you’ve never been to an NCT sale, I definitely recommend it.  As a buyer, you can buy pretty much everything for babies, and clothes/toys/books up to age 5.  As a seller, it’s a way to pass on your children’s old toys & clothes as well as making a bit of cash.  The structure depends on your local NCT (some are like ours, you pay for a pack of labels and leave your stuff like at a jumble sale, in other areas, you pay for a table and turn up to sell your stuff).  They’re open to everyone, but members get in early.

I’ve definitely got the March one booked into the diary already.