I’ve been spending quite a lot of time on Rightmove recently. As much time as I can, given I have a toddler, work part-time, study part-time, and have pursuits outside of these things too.
It’s a bit addictive. Almost as addictive as that ridiculous Hay Day game (note to self, must check on my cotton; it takes forever to grow). Continue reading
I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve just opened a shop on Facebook. It’s initially selling prints of baby names and birth details, and will go onto sell babies’ and children’s clothing shortly. If you remember the sewing hassle I had with the supergirl boots, worry not, Barry, being the lovely husband he is, is giving me the lovely gift of a sewing machine for my birthday at the end of next month, so no more trying to handcrank the machine and guide at the same time! I did have a bit more success with the nursery chair reupholstering (with Charlie’s electric machine).
I’ve called it Baby Brain because that’s mostly what I have at the moment, and I’m sure other mums will appreciate the feeling! I also have my baby on the brain most of the time, and making clothes and prints for her and other babies would make me happy.
So, if you have a spare minute to come and like my page, I’d very much appreciate it. I’m hoping to run a competition soon for a free print, so watch this space. Well, not this space here. This space… www.facebook.com/BabyBrainBoutique. See you on the other side!
You may recall that we have an Ikea Expedit unit in our lounge, and back in… ooh, February, erm, 2012, I expressed a desire to pop some little white baskets in those gaps. Those little white baskets cost £15 each, and as we wanted to fill 10 of the holes (the bottom two rows), that’s a hefty trip to Ikea without all the random napkins I pick up on the way round. And the meatballs, of course.
Well, we’ve been forced into buying something for them, mostly because our five month old has just started rolling and I swear she was eyeing up those DVDs.
Our first stop was musicmagpie.co.uk, which is one of those sites that buy your stuff for next to nothing and undoubtedly sell it on for a huge profit. I couldn’t be bothered to eBay all the stuff, with all the Post Office faff and my track record in buyers (I had another one recently with a dress I sold to a person who clearly can’t read), so I downloaded the app onto my phone and zapped the CDs and DVDs with the barcode scanner. That was fun for a bit, but it gets a bit depressing getting £0.21 for your childhood. We’ve also kept really random ones (we couldn’t possibly give everything away), so I couldn’t sell Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill as I clearly remember buying it with my own money, nor could I allow Barry to pimp Con Air. He’s kept Bad Boys I and II (naturally) and Ghostbusters, but wasn’t bothered about any of his CDs.
In the end, we sold 185 items for £61.07. Don’t work out the average, it’s so depressing it’s unreal. The most we got for an item sold was £3.00 for a series of Friends. Sob!
Anyway, off we popped to Ikea, but those eagle eyes among you will have noticed that £60 will not 10 baskets buy. We’ve ended up buying two lovely baskets, and the rest cheap white cloth boxes, a veritable bargain at £2.50 each. I think they’ll get dirty fairly quickly, but they’re a good placeholder for more baskets or drawers later down the line.
Two good things happened yesterday, kitchen-wise: the joiner made a start and a man with a van came to pick up the old kitchen! Hurray!
I’ve included four photos from yesterday morning, before I went to work, and then five from when I got home and the man had taken all the bits away. The worktop has all been cut (including a hole for the sink), it just needs fixing. Richard the Joiner (RtJ, as he shall henceforth be known), broke several jigsaw blades on the solid wood and had to get some more! There’s enough of the worktop left for us to have a little bit of surface coming out of the wall by the door – we’ll just need to get a brushed stainless steel post.
RtJ has also cut some plinth for underneath the oven so you can’t see the bodge job of making it higher, but it means we’re going to run out of plinth, so may need to have some further bodging of using end panel for some of the plinth area. Barry and I nipped to Wickes last night to get some glue and silicone so he can continue today. Barry also spent a lot of last night preparing the pipework for under the sink so he can do that quickly once RtJ’s finished today.
The man who collected the old kitchen couldn’t believe how many parts there were to it. He was glad he’s not the one putting it back together! I’ll be very surprised if I don’t get at least one call from the eBay woman with questions about it.
I’m beginning to think that the woman who bought our kitchen from eBay is some kind of online Jeremy Beadle. The latest update is that her computer has crashed, her husband is ill, and her landlord is in hospital with pneumonia, so she can’t pick up the kitchen yet. I haven’t made any of that up. I couldn’t.
I’ve been asked previously if we can deliver (no), and she’s made me tell her three times that it’s evenings or weekends only, which makes me look like I’m being really awkward. She also text me today to ask if I can print the photos from eBay. I said no initially, but Barry’s said I am now just being awkward, so I’ve done it.
I asked her if it was still Wednesday that she’s picking it up, and she said hopefully. I’m this close (my forefinger and thumb are being held about a millimetre apart) to reporting it to eBay and relisting it.
I’m so ready for this weekend. We’re not doing anything special, it’s just two days of being at home.
The plan for this weekend’s DIY is for Barry to sort out the gas and electricity points for the oven, and build up the legs of the oven so it meets the same point as the worktop. The joiner is coming on Sunday to tell us how much he thinks cutting the worktop will be, and Barry might ask about a couple of other things, like making the boiler cupboard.
On the eBay front, our kitchen hasn’t been collected yet. Despite the listing clearly stating collection only, she asked if we could deliver. No. There’s a 3m worktop in there! She got a bit huffy and said she’d have to book a man with a van. Go do that then. I contacted the woman again to see when this may be (a, we need the space, and b, we need the money); it will be either this weekend or next Wednesday. Helpful.
The auctions have ended; the bids have been counted and verified (drumroll please)… we have a dazzling £343 from our old kitchen to spend on the new! Note to self: never bin anything again ever.
It’s so much more than we were expecting that we don’t know what to do with it (don’t worry, it will be spent!). The joiner is the first item on the list, and then I suppose the rest may go to flooring (or lights/tumble dryer/coffee machine/mixer/photo frames for the living room/yesterday’s hair cut/anniversary meal).
The lady wanted us to deliver, but we don’t have the facilities to transport 3m long worktops, etc., so she’s going to have to book a man with a van. Hopefully she’ll sort it this week so we can carry on painting.
As I already mentioned, yesterday was our fifth wedding anniversary, and so we had to get wooden gifts.
Panicking in Boots, I originally bought Barry a wooden Botanics nailbrush, but then had a proper think about it and bought him some of his favourite aftershave ever – Marc Jacobs Men. He hasn’t had any in ages and it has (wait for it) top notes of cypress and base notes of cedarwood. I am the master.
Although Royal Mail are currently holding Barry’s gift to me hostage, he’s shown me a photo of what I can expect – it’s this lovely wooden jewellery box. I’m looking forward to receiving it!
Hi, everyone. My names Michelle, and I’m addicted to eBay.
Specifically, selling our old kitchen on eBay. It doesn’t help that my iPhone alerts me every time I receive a bid – I can’t wait to see what items have shot up to. Barry’s been in London all week, and the only news I have to share is the current price of our three items and what the latest stupid questions I’ve been asked are.
I’ve been asked several times to stop the auctions and sell outside eBay, to which I respond with a polite, but firm, no. The worst one I’ve had so far was the gentleman (I use that word in the loosest sense) who insisted £40 for my oven was a good offer and I should just take it, two days after the listing started. At the time of writing, it’s already reached £112. I did have an enquiry from a lady who wanted all three items, which was unfortunate as bidding had already started, but all I could suggest was that she bid on them all.
I found myself writing strange clauses into the listings. “Please bring correct change” is one that springs to mind. The guy who came for the doors ended up owing something odd like £3.56, and brought a £20 note. We didn’t have any change, and Barry was about to just give him the doors. I suggested the man go to the shop for change and hissed at Barry that we were getting charged selling fees, so the buyer would definitely have to pay!
eBay also tells you off if you write the words “don’t bid unless…” because you’re not supposed to put people off bidding. Personally, I think “don’t bid unless you can put this kitchen back together from the photos shown as no instructions are provided” is an acceptable clause.
They all finish tomorrow, and we’ve had much more interest than we thought for the items – our main goal was to clear out the old so we could see the new, but at this rate it will pay off a hefty chunk of the joiner’s bill as well.
Or so Liza Minnelli tells us.
We’re selling everything we’re ripping out of the kitchen/bathroom on eBay to recoup some of the costs of renovating and decorating. Barry’s started everything at 1p though, so we might not get enough to pay for a tin of paint! So far we’ve listed the loo (which I thought would get no bids as it’s used, but strangely, several people have shown interest!), sink, three radiators and two doors. We’ll list the kitchen, oven and hob as soon as we’ve taken them out.
Like most people, we’re having to prioritise what we want to pay for each month, as it’s not realistic to buy everything all at once. This month’s big buy was the downpayment on the kitchen, and we’ve also stretched to the radiator as well as paint for the living room, and bags of plaster. As an aside, we’ve put up the radiator we bought and Barry’s discovered it has a hole in it, bloody eBay! Trying to sort that now, but it will involve bleeding all of the other radiators, and then doing it all again when the new one arrives. I hope it’s soon, my toes are looking a bit frostbitten.
Back to money! Next month will probably be more paint and the kitchen flooring, and the month after we’ll be able to get the living room flooring. This doesn’t even include the annoying inexpensive but numerous items like radiator valves, paint testers and sandpaper. Not sure when we’ll be purchasing the tumble dryer and microwave and the myriad accessories we need (ok, want).
It’s maddening for me not to be able to complete a room at a time: the living room just needs the skirting boards and doors painting, new flooring and the photos and frames sorting and it’s mostly done (still got those pesky units to sort). In the meantime, we’ve started on the kitchen because of the time constraints with the units. I think there may have to be a break at some point (mental or otherwise). Although we’ve got tester paint on the bedroom wall, we might have a month off after all this (although that could be four or five months down the line).
When I get to that point, what will I write about? I’ve asked one of my friends to give me a picture of her heinous patterned carpet (her opinion, not mine, I haven’t seen it!); I think there’s at least one post about what people could possibly be thinking when they buy them.
K -5 days…