Speculate to Accumulate - Flogging Sand To The Arabs..

Ok.......... I aint much good at most things in life, I dont have any talents.... though, I do remember all the words to that famous British tune 'Land Of Hope And Glory' when Ive had a bottle of red wine, I dont know the words when sober LOL... may I just add here, that it has been many many years since I got rat-arsed, let alone tipsy even.....

So Im not much good at anything, I can still hear the words 'YOU GOOD FOR F'IN NUFFIN' shouted at me by my father as he boxed me ears for some misdemeaner I might have done as a child....and 'YOU'LL NEVER AMOUNT TO MUCH' LOL...

Ive failed at most things in life..... being a daughter, a wife, even a friend sometimes and often Ive failed at being a mother...

But one thing I KNOW Im good at, something I have a canny knack for and that is surviving.... and making money...... not pots of money, but enough....most things in life I look at way different from me maties.... I always wear, just under the skin, me 'business head' me 'there's gold in them there hills head'......it drives me maties mad.... but they are not, and never have been put in positions of survival, they have always had a hand to hold and family around them and a net under them to catch them if and when they fall.......... me, Ive never had that..... not even when I was married to the tosser LOL.... its hard always being everyone elses net, especially when one aint to keen on fishing lol.....

Anyways..... me, I could sell sand to the Arabs.... me maties always roll their eyes when I mention some of the ways I make that little extra bit of dosh.... but then, they wouldnt understand what drives me, no one does really..... I stand alone, not many really know ME, and they most certainly do not know about my life in years gone by or how I tick.... somethings are not for sharing until that someone special stumbles into my life....

So...... Selling sand to the arabs.....ya see, I use to own a pre-school, I sold it about 3 years ago, and I do actually now regret that decision, but tough tittie on me on that one...... but ya see, I still get the pre-school catalogues with equipment and stuff one needs to run a successful pre-school......

Three weeks or so ago a SALES CATALOGUE dropped through me door from one of the many school catalogues that I get throughout the year.... only this sales catalogue was a tad different, this one promised up to 75% off.... and I know all the stuff in the catalogues are top quality cos they are made for schools etc and are very tough and hardwearing.......



This is the now well thumbed catalogue..

In my job, unlike in doodleland land, we have very very high standards and rules and Inspections and policies we HAVE to abide by, and one of those inspection rules is that we HAVE to have multicultral toys and equipment, depicting black people and chinese people and as many different cultures as we can incorporate into the teaching equipment of the kids in our care...we have to have black dolls and puzzles and also items showing different occupations etc .. also toys etc showing people of varying disabilities..... and so the list goes on.. oh did I forget to mention we HAVE to have books and puzzles and items to do with different religons so that the kids in my care know about all walks of life and countries and the people that live in them.... see, I told ya our rules are not like in doodleland lol.... if we dont have these things readily at hand then we dont pass our inspection....

On my last inspection when they asked about what multicultral things I had for the children I replied that I have a black friend called black Michelle that the children often see and I sometimes buy a chinky take-away on a Saturday night and I also had a draggy leg which the kids often commented upon ....... it did NOT go down to well, if fact they told me off bigtime lol, but at least I was being honest lol and certainly being myself ... I was told I needed to get some items that showed these things.... like culture and crimpleness....

So the arrival of this sales catalogue got my 'business head' turning over :)....... I had an idea and what a great idea it was lmfao....... ya see, not many people have access to these catalogues and certainly not the bog standard childminders LOL..... this was my chance....

I flicked though the catalogue with my childminder head on thinking of all the new rules that came into affect at the beginning of September, and what I KNOW many childminders would be lacking......



And this is what was making my brain go kerrr-ching lol

There was stuff that I needed for home here, and I have loads of equipment, so if even I needed it then I know for sure that other childminders would need it, and they dont have the easy route to get it like me, but now they would LOL........

So, this is what I did........ I ordered over 300 quids ($600) of items from the catalogue...remembering I was getting this 75% off so 300 quids worth was actually more like over 1000 quids ($2000) worth of stuff..... knowing I was onto a winner........ yep 300 quids worth of sales stuff lol.... I actually couldnt lose... no way no how.... it was impossible to actually lose LOL....

This is how it works..... I ordered 300 quids worth of items, from puzzles to multicultral dressing up clothes (chinky boy, african child, japenese girl), many many boxes of different play foods, chinky, japenese, italian, french playsets, little black play figures and little figures with disabilities, there was a blind figure, leg brace figure, woman with crutches and top it off an asian figure in a wheelchair which was great for two of the set categories - multicultral AND a crimple.... :) oh and some special cusions for home here.... I ordered what I needed for my own use plus tons to flog on Ebay.... I did let me matie Sharon have a butchers and order what she needed for herself as long as she only order her needs and no more.... this was MY idea and she agreed cos she was mega chufted to be able to stock up on all she needed with 75% discount...



Japenese play food set...



Froggie.. opps.... French play food set...

I knew by buying it with up to 75% off, I would at least make double if not triple what I paid.....

Three days after ordering a HUGE UPS van arrived out the front, I didnt even know we have them over here lol, and delivered the first two of 4 boxes of goodies......



This is Sprite sitting on the first of the boxes lol....

I so couldnt go wrong, ya see, ya have 30 days from receiving ya invoice before ya even have to pay, that means I would have 30 days to sell as much as I could on ebay before my bill would have to be settled....



This is the contents from the first box lol.... my sofa is 3 foot deep so you can see how many little boxes there are :)

I had ordered at least 4 of each thing I thought would sell.... and one by one I started to load them onto me ebay account.... over the past 3 weeks Ive sold 33 items and received 315 quid ($630) in money, which has now paid for all goods I had orginally ordered, so the other 43 or so items I have left is now pure profit...... some of the items sold for 4 times what I paid lol and some for at least double.... ya just type CHILDMINDER in the title and they swarm around like flies on poo :).... but get this..... the first week a couple of the items like the puzzles didnt sell as well as I wanted, dont get me wrong I STILL made money from them...... but not as much as I forsaw...... the best selling was the chinese play food sets etc....and the little crimple figures went for ridiculas amounts of money.... I paid 4 quid for the set of 4, I advertised them seperately and quadrupled me money on those alone lol good job I had/have 4 sets to flog :)........



This is one of the little figures.... that we HAVE to have within our childminding setting...

When I advertise things like this Im not so crazy with the description lol I CAN be professional as and when I so choose lol

But get this lmfao....... after a couple of weeks, I rang the catalogue up and asked if I could return some items that I realised I didnt really need......... sure they said, just box up what ya dont need/want and a bloke will come tomorrow and pick it up and we will reinvoice ya :) BINGO...... so Ive already paid off the whole invoice and still will make at least 400-600 quid ($800-1600) on the things I have still to sell.... I have 37 items still active on there this week alone and still more to put on during the coming week:)........ see I can sell sand to the arabs lol - whilst on the phone I also mentioned that the little chinese and japenese playfood sets where slightly different then in the photo in the catalogue and that even though I liked what I received I thought there would be slightly more bits..... to which she said..... let me check in the catalogue, I could hear her flicking through it and she then said, your right it is slightly different and thats not good ( I WAS MORE THEN HAPPY THOUGH) so she said, I will send you 2 more chinese sets and 2 more japenses sets to make up for the inconvenience LMFAO....... oh cripes so I have 4 more sets coming which will sell at least for 80 quid ($160)...... bring it on lmfao..... shaking me head....



These nuts and bolts look innocent enough but they are so very very educational to the younger kids... 4 different colours, 4 different shapes, 4 different sizes and only the right shape fits the right size which fits the right colour... and eye hand co-ordination to boot :)

Also, the woman opposite me whose 2 kids I just walk to school for her and for that she pays me 40 quid a week ($80) gave me a big bag of clothes and asked if they would be of any use to Sprite, as she is younger then her girl...... I tried all I could on Sprite and gave her mum all those items that fitted her, the rest of the stuff I shoved on ebay lmfao it was/is all proper makes like gap and marks and spencers and next.... they cost me nuffin, and already it looks like I will make loads on them lmfao....



Mama mia... Italian playset lmfao

I love selling on ebay and Im quite an old hand at it now with over 520 buy and sell transactions with 100% top feedback.... ya see, Im very fair with the postage and always only sell top stuff.... I could so easily make a living from ebay alone lol..... me and Colin, who is one of the nippers dads that I childmind for, have often talked at pooling our resources and just making a living from ebay lol.... we both get a buzz from it and he like me can sell ice to the eskimos.....



These threading beads shaped like fruit are just lovely, and wooden, I dont have no crap educational equipment in my house so I wouldnt sell anything crap either....

A few years back I sold a handful of little play figures that were just spare in the toybox.... they went for about 4 or 5 quid I think, and when I send the invoice to the person that bought them, I got quite a shock....... quite a shock indeed, you see, when I sell things from home, be it little toys or items surplus to need from me cupboard I ALWAYS put a witty description, I cant help it, its just me....

So when I was selling these little fairytale castle figures; king queen princess knight dragon wizard, I wrote a little story about the characters lol about how the princess wanted to marry the stableboy but the queen wouldnt allow it so she was running off to get married else where etc etc.... just stupid stuff.... well it must of caught the eye of someone very special cos the buyer not only bought the figures bur emailed me asking if I would write scripts for an animation company that he was executive animator producer on..... it was only the same company that did 'Flushed Away' and 'Wallace and Grommit'...his name is on the DVDs as one of the animators so I know it was really him..... and he sent me some wonderful photos of all the behind the screen going ons (which are all on me old computer and which I will have to get off and show ya) and loads of information, and he asked me to write little stories about different characters that he could incorporate into short animation stories........ IT COULD OF BEEN ME BIG CHANCE lol...... but I never thought I could do it..... ya see.....my father always said I was a 'GOOD FOR F'IN NUFFIN and I'D NEVER AMOUNT TO MUCH'..... so maybe he was right after all :)

When I sold some Denby plates a few months back that I no longer used but were part of a wedding gift back in 1981 lol and a very expensive gift I will add.... I knew there would be others out there with the same set with parts missing.... each plate went for about 15 quid ($30) each..... but I must of got at least 20 or more emails from people just laffing at me description lol...... I put something like 'Denby Gypsy Plater for Sale.... 1981 Wedding gift... no longer needed, seeing as how I have got rid of the husband I thought I would get rid of these plates to... but unlike my X these plates have faired much better, no cracks or chips where as he is old and decrepid and wrinkled with chips and is very much broken'....... LMFAO..... the emails I got from people just laffing at the descriptions were well funny.....

Anyways.... ya see, Im a surviver, and I always seem to be able to make money, its a knack I have..... I wish sometimes I didnt have it..... cos if things aint screwed down I will probably always think about flogging it on ebay lol......

I will shove the money I make in me travel savings account for maybe travelling to the states next year..... and Im weird cos once I put money in certain accounts I DONT take it out for any other reason then for what its in their for....

Waffling on way to much now lmfao.....boring stuff that I know no one but me is interested in lol..... but I aint bovvered.....if you have read down this far you are either mentally challenged or just plain crazy lmfao

x