The Other September Car-Boot Finds.

  For a Christmas present £1 - My Essex friend likes traditional ways of doing things, including using proper handkerchiefs.

Pack of 6 suet blocks for the birds £2

2 Christmas Bags, 50p each for Granddaughters who will probably get a bag full of crafting bits.

A pack of 5 new flannels £2 - they were wrapped and tied with a ribbon but I forgot to photograph

Exciting..........a new loo brush! and a bag of heavy duty rubbish bags - £1 each.

50p each for two shower scrubby things - do they have a proper name? Don't think I saved much money for these.

And something from a charity shop that will be part of YGDs birthday present. £2.50 for a pretty photo frame.

All useful without breaking the bank.

Other Boot Sale Finds From July and August

Car boot finds this summer weren't very exciting. So many people just bring the same old stuff every week and it's often just the House Clearance people who have different things each time.

I've already mentioned the most interesting but these were the other small finds.

Two books - one for Grandchildren (because I'm sure one of our children enjoyed one of these Usborne Puzzle books  when they were 8 or 9 and yes, that is possible because this is dated 1990) and a book for me that I used for pictures for my scrapbooks as it had lots of pages stuck together but enough interesting pictures to cut out. Paid 50p for both -  from house clearance boxes as usual.

A bundle of postcards with pictures of commemorative stamps . Some of these were also for the scrapbooks. 50p for the bundle.

Another 50p on this suet block for the birds - I'm only feeding sunflower hearts and Nyjer seed at the moment but this will go out for them in Autumn. This also came out of a box of house clearance stuff.

50p again for this new jug, a replacement for a very old one that no matter how often I gave it a scrub, it still looked nasty.

The book below I bought because it was only 20p. It's all about the old businesses in Stowmarket. I could have borrowed it from the library there but now there's no hurry to look at it. At another boot-sale I saw volume 2 but the girl wanted £3 - I said " No Thanks"

Christmas Wrapping Paper 50p

Pack of notecards 50p, a couple will be used in the scrapbook and the rest for birthday cards.

An old crime fiction book  and a small watercolour pad 50p each again

And finally this little pack of three turned wood garden cane toppers were £1 which I will add to the hanging plant pots for my sister and her husband for a Christmas gift.

Which makes a total spend of £5.20 for all sorts of useful bits and bobs

Shopping Early For Christmas............. 2026!

I had a post earlier in the month about buying things from charity shops that would make good presents. So through December I looked to see what was in the charity shops and in the Home Start shop in Eye that I popped into on my way back from Diss, I found two things for next year.

First was this box that is holding a very lovely ceramic olive oil jug/pourer (£4.50). I know one of the local farm shops has unusual flavoured olive oils that I could add and then I spotted all sorts of flavoured olives in the Co-op. That's one present planned. 

And this box has a mini potting tray, trowel, gloves, twine etc and was also £4.50. Other gardening things could be added to this to make a gift.

And then another from  Stowmarket RSPCA charity shop - a Robin nesting-box shaped like a tea pot. The outer box is faded and dis-coloured but I can wrap the inner box, this was £4.

And then another............a tin of 10 lovely notelet cards by Whistlefish for £4. Coincidently in the cupboard I have another but different tin of cards that I found in a charity shop last year and thought would be a draw prize when it's my turn to take one to Over 60's group but then I took something else instead.

So now I have a tin for both sister and sister in law.

Add the hot water bottle found at the one-off Christmas car-boot sale and I'm doing well for next year already.

Then, when I was in Stowmarket for the Christmas trees in the Church, I found the new East Anglian Children's Hospice charity shop had reduced their Christmas cards already - a whole week before Christmas. 10 cards for £1.87 - half price.

 I've put these into next years accounts in my accounts book. So I can remember what I've spent when it gets round to Christmas shopping next year.

Back tomorrow with the annual photo Review of the Year