Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"Vintage" is now code for both "anything and everything that isn't neon" and "absolute tatt". Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I've been a charity shop addict and lover of all things old and kitsch for a bloomin' long time and WELL before it got popular. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So anyway, I've been thinking about the internet. As a concept in shopping. I bet you all have really. You're just too shy to admit it.

I've shied away a bit from internet shopping preferring to "shop locally", and don't get me wrong, you've gotta love and support a local shop. They're there when all the roads are blocked with snow, for a start, but increasingly I think people are turning to the internet to boost their company's profits, and I don't think that can be a bad thing.

Take for instance around here. There's not a lot of industry any more, Welsh valleys, decline of industry and the coal mines, yadda, yadda, yadda, but there's a thriving business here on one of our little industrial estates (that is all boarded up predominantly) that sells spares and stuff for caravans. Yes they have a shop, yes we've shopped there, (when we had our 'van) but without it's online and ebay stores - it would have closed down. There just isn't the footfall to sustain them without it. Now it doesn't employ an army, just a couple of people but isn't that better than another boarded up unit?

The internet allows people to set up and have a go at businesses to see if they are viable before they commit to paying the rent on an expensive commercial premises. Those rents are why we are having towns relegated to rows of charity shops. The internet allow's people to be competitive on a national level, which is really what business is all about, supply and demand, competition, all that. Now don't get me wrong, I don't advocate the total abandonment of the high street, far from it. I love and support my local high streets, but I also support the people providing me with services not available on my high street. And let's not forget about the jobs that all these packages whizzing about the country generates - Post Office and couriers. I personally have 13 parcels to take to my local Post Office tomorrow. That can't be a bad thing.

And think of the recycling that goes on every day on ebay! Brilliant.

I guess after all it all comes down to the same thing. Everything in moderation, support the little people as much as the big people and there's room for all.

Dresses to follow ...

Skip Diving

It's been a couple of weeks of sorting the house out hopefully before packing up to move. And I have a new obsession. My skip.

Him indoors wants me to get shot of it sooner rather than later as I'm so obsessed with it I keep waking him up looking out of the window in the middle of the night just in case someone tries to put stuff in it!

It's not without good reason, I caught a local pikey trying to deposit a fridge in it, I caught next door's landlady putting stuff in it and the new tenant this morning putting stuff in it. I'm not paying for other people's junk to be disposed of.

Last time we had a skip it was a big badger. A builder's skip. Cost about £75, two years ish ago. This time I have the smaller variety and it's cost me £120. £120!?!?!?!

So I've been dealing with the fall out from the consumerism free year, I think. Because of the extraordinary generosity of lots of my friends and family I was given a tremendous amount of "useful stuff" and I mean that seriously - It generally was all useful (excepting my Grandmother, of course, she is a bonkers, tat obsessed magpie with a penchant for picking junk up off roads), but the reality of it is that as a single individual determined to "reduce, reuse and recycle" I simply could not plough through the amount of useful stuff I was given, no matter how useful. But through sheer terror of needing something I couldn't purchase, I kept it all.

In days past, we did make full use of every single little bit of everything useful, but we also HAD an awful lot less. In actual fact each and every one of us could probably survive most of the rest of our lives with the belongings and possessions we already have as they are so well made and plentiful that we'd had enough. The fact that we don't do that means that all of us have generated a massive amount of surplus belongings, and it's just impossible to get the full amount of use out of them that they're capable of.

So, I've had a lovely bonfire, thanks to the gorgeous Rawcliffe boys, filled a skip, took 9 bags of clothes/shoes/soft furnishings to charity in Africa (I sadly did not get to take it to Africa, just Swfrydd Primary School - bit of a let down, if I'm honest), gave 4 boxes to Lou for "Glamping" (I know - I thought that was called Premier Inn too), have another 3 boxes in my car, a living room full of stuff on Ebay (gwynsmummygwynsmummy1 if you fancy a punt) and I haven't even got to the attic yet.

Seriously. Ridiculous. That is all.

Value Added

Value. What is it?

–noun

1.

relative worth, merit, or importance: the value of a college education; the value of a queen in chess.

2.

monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade: This piece of land has greatly increased in value.

3.

the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium ofexchange.

4.

equivalent worth or return in money, material, services, etc.:to give value for value received.

5.

estimated or assigned worth; valuation: a painting with a current value of $500,000.

A perceived worth, is what it is.

So how come things have a higher perceived value when they're in a shop?

What am I talking about? The value of articles is higher when they are still in the shop, the second you take them out of the door, they loose monetary value. We all new about the new car syndrome, how many hundreds of pounds does it cost you to drive off the forecourt?

On selling a bracelet I had years ago, the Mumatron took it into a leading gold retailer for valuation, looking at selling it for me. The Jeweler gave her an example of how the price of gold works, and it has stayed with me because it actually applies to everything.

If you spent £1000 in the most reputable Jewelers in town, walked out of their shop and immediately into the most reputable second hand goldsmith in town, he'd only be able to give you £300 for it. The value is diminished upon leaving the store from which it was purchased.

Think of buying something on ebay. Even if it's boxed and never been opened, it's value is only as good as someone is prepared to pay, approximately 25% less immediately, however, if you return it to the shop, it becomes worth it's full value again! It's insane!

So next time you're tempted by that massively over priced article of must-have shineyness, think to yourself "If I was to put this unused article on ebay today, how much would I get for it?" or "how much money am I prepared to part with just to take the article out of the shop?"