All in the name of charity

Last week I spotted a stall in aid of Parkinson's disease. I always take a closer look with these type of stalls as it combines a love of car booting with a donation to charity and so is a double win in my mind.

Two nice ladies were manning the stall and it was well organised with lots of interesting stuff. Nothing was priced up so I had a little look through the boxes on the floor and found a bit of stationery and some white labels. There were decorated pads of paper and some Basildon Bond amongst the stationery, a red letter folder with some postcards in and an old box with a draw below with more Basildon within.

I asked for a price and they asked for £2. Which was a bargain as there was a lot of stationery there. It was all perfect for my comping (entering competitions) hobby so I gave them a fiver and told them to keep the change.

When I got home and went through it properly there was a swimming certificate in the red letter folder amongst a couple of letters from 1980!

The Basildon Bond paper is beautiful quality, some white, some cream and some a light shade of green called 'Azure'. There's a lot there to get through!

I know not everyone gets so excited about stationery but I love it so when I find postcards and envelopes, cards and papers at the car boot I get palpitations and have to steady myself to get that essential nonchalent facial expression that says "I don't really want this but if you were selling and I was buying what would you want for it?"

When I bought this little lot the ladies said between themselves "We wondered who would buy these, they are useful but no one seems to write proper letters any more." So I told them what I'd be doing with it which led to the usual conversation about 'What's the best thing you have ever won?' It's hard to answer that question as I've been comping for 16 years now and have won some wonderful things.

Edited highlights:

• trip to Rome
• Year's supply of lager
• Year's supply of condoms
• Silentnight king size bed
• £750 cash prize
• DVD player
• My husband's suit hire at our wedding
• Various hampers from Christmas to Vegetables
• Games console
• Posh cutlery set
• Weekend(s) away
• Celebrity meet and greet - Dan Fairbrass (he used to be on Eastenders)
• Two pairs of Jeans
• £200 to spend in La Redoute catalogue

... and many many more weird and wonderful prizes! I keep trying but the last few months have been a bit quiet.

So to round off this post, thank you to all those people out there who raise money for charity. Getting up at the crack of dawn is never fun so to do it for someone else and remaining cheerful and chatty- you know who you are and you deserve a big pat on the back whoever the fundraising is for.

Enough gold ribbon to sink a ship

Hello my lovelies how are you?

I wasn't disappointed at this week's car boot. I found some great bargains which I can't wait to tell you about. First of all, the gold ribbon... it's on 250 yard reels so the stall holder said. He had a sort of market stall for clothes but these two reels were sat on a side table and at £1 each I snapped them up. Christmas is sorted for gold ribbon now (and for the next 10 years!!).     If anyone has any idas for what I can do with all this ribbon feel free to shout up.                                 

Another lady was a clothes party planner and she had all brands like Per Una and Ann Harvey. All her clothes were brand new. I bought a coat made of soft fleece (but with a strucured shape) for£5 and whilst it's not lined, it's going to be lovely and warm for Chrismas. I also got a pink Per Una jumper for £3 and a leopard print Ann Harvey top for £3. They are all perfect condition too.

For the baby I found a box of clothes in the right size all 20p each. I cherry picked the good stuff, including a fab warm jumper by Next and a cute velvet dress and some tinkerbell disney leggings - all for 20p - you can't go wrong can you. I always chuck everything straight in the wash just in case, you never know where or how clothes have been stored and it freshens them up and once ironed they really feel like they are 'yours'.

...she wouldn't stay still for this pic but there are cute bears on the front!
I have a few more items to catch up with that were bought at the car boot that I'm sure you'll like so please come back and visit me. If you enjoyed reading, feel free to click the sponsored links as every penny helps towards next week's bargains!

Happy hunting fellow bargain-seekers. Take care of yourselves. xox

PS. Found a use for the gold ribbon ~ I think this is quite Gucci-esque!