CarBootJunction Blog

De-Clutter By Car Boot Sale

 

It’s one of the great unsolved mysteries of life you know. Learned people have spent years and enormous sums in Government grants researching the phenomenon. Actually that last bit might not be exactly true but you can bet that some university, somewhere in the USA, will have such research in progress! What is this phenomenon, this unsolved mystery?


It’s clutter, or rather the speed with which clutter accumulates in human dwelling places. If mankind could only isolate the true cause of the phenomenon we’d be on the way to discovering how to prevent it in the first place. As it is, all we can do is try to keep up with it by means of periodic clear-outs, which is where the car boot sale can help.


The phenomenon is not new by any means. I’m quite old now and I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have clutter and I’m sure it goes back very much farther than that. In fact I suspect the Romans of introducing it to these shores after 55BC. They would have arrived bringing chariot loads of clutter with them and before long it would have spread to the native population like a disease.

 

Have you noticed that when you move house you get rid of most of the clutter that has accumulated since your last move, but nine times out of ten you take with you some stuff that you haven’t used in ages but can’t bear to get rid of?

 

Therein lies the possible cause of the problem. It would have started when you first moved out from your parents’ home to live independently. Just one or two items that might come in handy one day, that’s all it takes and you’re doomed!  From then on, each time you move you do the same thing only the number of items grows each time. These are the seeds from which the next lot of clutter grows.

 

Of course, it’s all very well saying that our own actions may be the possible cause of the phenomenon but finding the cause of the cause, that’s what baffles even modern science. It seems to be something in the human psyche and maybe one day, years and millions of pounds down the line scientists may find the answer, but don’t hold your breath!

 

Meanwhile,   the car boot sale is one the more recent additions to our armoury of weapons to combat the dreaded clutter and it’s a very effective one when properly deployed. The car boot sale has a long and distinguished lineage as we’ve explored before. I reckon those Romans probably held Chariot Sales up and down the country.

 

Whether they did or not, we now have the car boot sale to help us de-clutter our homes and we should use them to the full. What better way can there be to rid yourself of unused items than to sell them on to other people for money? Buying at car boot sales as well as selling may mean you end up with just as much clutter as you started with so be careful to buy only what you can actually use or to stock your car boot for the next sale when you’ve sold all your original stuff.

 

In car boot sales have we finally found the answer to the clutter problem? Maybe, maybe not, maybe all we’re doing is moving the clutter around to different people, spreading the disease as it were. But hey! Who cares anyway? It’s great fun doing it and doesn’t actually harm anyone and it just might save someone from serious injury or worse. Remember the reports quite recently of the chap who was crushed in his bed by 25 years or more worth of yachting magazines stored in his loft when the ceiling collapsed under the weight.

 

The moral of that story surely is, don’t let things like that keep accumulating until they bury you. Get them to a car boot sale in good time and make some money from them. You can always start collecting again!  


Article provided by freelance copywriter, Pete Hopper of Write for You

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Car Boot of the Month April 2013 - Ashley Heath, Dorset

Now over 25 years old, Ashley Heath Car Boot Sale (nr Ringwood in Dorset) is perhaps the best known car boot fair in the Poole/Bournemouth area and attracts an average of 300 sellers per week. It regularly sees between 2,000 and 3,000 enthusiastic buyers through its gates on a Sunday morning.


Originally started to diversify the farm’s income it has seen a steady increase in buyers and sellers from all walks of life and now employs 12 people to assist with it’s smooth running.


The operators say that their biggest challenge in running a car boot of this size is getting everyone on site on a busy day without causing disruption on the roads….something many car boot operators can relate to.


Furthermore, being an entirely outdoor carboot, with little protection from the elements, their weekly success is rather weather dependent, leaving them wishing for nice weather for the weekends. Their busiest weekends tend to be in May and September but with the British weather being as it is these days it is becoming more and more unpredictable.


They advertise only in the local press and on CarBootJunction.com, as well as relying heavily on word of mouth. However, that word of mouth clearly works as the car boot sale community is usually quick to pass on information about professionally run car boot sales such as this.


So, if you are looking for a car boot sale on the edge of Dorset and not too far away from the New Forest then consider the Ashley Heath car boot sale.  A well organised, flat and level site with good toilets, a large selection of sellers and buyers (the largest in the area), plenty of parking and good access and egress from the site.


To find further information click here: http://www.carbootjunction.com/car-boot-by-county-listing.php?id=7987  

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March 2013 - Warrington's Favourite

 

This car boot sale runs alongside the private Sunday market and provides entertainment for all the family, with rides for the children and refreshments for all. It is the one-stop shop for all your needs, including meat, veg and baked goods.

 

Now in it's 14th year, operating on Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays from 6.30am, it has expanded and now runs all year, but despite the extra expense this has incurred there has been no increase in pitch fees for the last 5 years! There is still no fee for buyers to park and enter.

 

With easy access from the M62 and M6, it can be found opposite B&Q on the A49.

 

Further information can be found at http://www.carbootjunction.com/car-boot-by-county-listing.php?id=3916



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February 2013 - Victorian Open Market, Preston, Lancashire

 

At the Victorian Open Market, and part of a a larger market, the car boot is one of the longest established car boots in the North West, operating since the early 80s. Open on Tuesdays and Thursdays for car booters it proves that successful car boots are not just limited to weekends.

 

Unlike many operators they are a 52 week of the year operation and even the ravages of snow, rain and winds haven't stopped the Market operating. The event is held under a large canopy that not only provides good weather protection but during the summer months provides a very airy and well ventilated facility, where traders are found using deck chairs. Not bad for a market undercover!

 

They provide a variety of accommodation to suit different trader's needs, which includes large van spaces, car spaces and traditional tables only.

 

Located right in the heart of the City Centre they are also close to all the other amenities that punters require including banks, cash machines, cafes, a great food market, lots of parking and much much more.

 

To find out more about this great car boot go to http://www.carbootjunction.com/car-boot-by-county-listing.php?id=85

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Car Boot Sales, Where Did The Idea Come From?

 

Back in May we looked at the history of car boot sales from their beginnings in the early 1970s. It's true that that's when the car boot sale as we know it today first began to be a feature of life in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries but actually the roots go back much farther than that.

 

Markets were probably the earliest form of organised trading in communities all over the world. Well, sort of organised anyway. The council Markets Inspector with his clipboard came very much later! Markets probably existed before money so they would have been sites for bartering goods. John had more corn than his family needed but they wanted a cow. Oscar was a bit short of corn and his cows had had calves so a deal could be struck and so on. Maybe the story of Jack trading the family cow for a handful of beans dates from that time.

 

You can see where this is going can't you? Using surplus goods to buy stuff you needed. Money came into the picture and changed the way trading was carried out but didn't change that basic concept. Down through the ages most people who didn't become merchants didn't have much in the way of spare items to trade. Come the industrial revolution the new middle class began to have surplus goods that were no longer considered good enough to use themselves. Sometimes these might be given to the poor or their own servants. These might well have found their way into markets in poor areas.

 

Content provided by freelance UK copywriter, Pete Hopper of Write for You, the Dorset Copywriter

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