Last weekend I crossed another “I keep saying I want to do this” thing off my list  – we had a flea market stall as part of the Great Purge.

I’ve had a bag of clothes under our guest bed for a while now with the classic  “I-don’t-really-like-this-but-I-can’t-bring-myself-to-part-with-it-because-it’s-still-in-such-good-condition” clothes alongside the “I-can’t-fit-in-this-right-now-but-someday-maybe?” outfits. Like many other people, 20% of my wardrobe   Given the impending move (and the need to acquire winter great- polar vortex yikes!) I decided it was finally time to take no prisoners in my closet.

We trotted down to the flea with a suitcase of clothes, some handbags,  a basket of books and some assorted games and kitchen stuff.

Since we’re getting close to Chinese New Year here, I hung my brightest and most festive dress right in front to act as a siren call. She did get a fair bit of attention but sadly I didn’t close the sale on that one, I really should have cajoled the nice lady who bought 2 other dresses!

Our initial outlay was $85 (leaving sweat cost completely out of the question of course..) – booth rental were $50, I bought a rack off Craigslist for $15 and we paid around $20 cab fares – so I was hoping to sell $100 worth to make a bit of cake money. Thanks to John’s old violin, we managed to make a bit more than that so I was glad, but the flea market was a good illustration of the importance of location to retail. The mall was in a quiet part of town, and we found out later from another vendor that there was another flea in another mall less than 500m away which had better footfall.. At the end of they day I think the only person who made a profit were the organisers, but I’m still glad we did it before January ended!

Once it became clear that no one else was coming, we packed up and headed straight to the Salvation Army donation centre. They have a very clever “drive through” donation concept where large trolleys are cling wrapped on 3 sides, with 1 side left open for the donations.  We offloaded nearly everything ( although I did save that red dress… I know, I know) and headed home with our near-empty suitcases.  I managed to donate another bag today  to our local recycling bins so we’re on a roll, but I suspect the c. 200 books left will all be moving with us..