Thursday 26 November 2015

Photo Medley - November

We're heading towards the end of another month so it's time for another round up of the photos which haven't yet made it on to the blog.

Plants and trees are losing their leaves. The blueberry bushes turn flaming red before their leaves fall to the ground.


Flowers have been hanging on providing some much welcome colour despite rain and high winds.


We had our first snowfall. The roof of this car shows what was left of it by early afternoon.


I used to sell lots of things on ebay but it's years now since I listed anything. I found it so time consuming and the fees increased so much that it didn't make selling worthwhile. I recently received an offer inviting me to list up to 100 items for free and giving me a discount of 50% of the final value fee on any of the items which sold. I thought this sounded like a good offer so I had a bit of a sort out and listed some things we didn't use any more, nowhere near 100 though. So far, I've sold thirteen items and made in excess of £120 after fees and postage have been deducted. I don't think that's bad going. Here's the lastest couple of parcels which are waiting to be posted.


It's that time of year again when washing isn't drying outdoors. I hate having it hung up around the house but needs must. I don't have a tumble dryer so it's got to dry somewhere.


Eleanor bought me these socks for Christmas a couple of years ago, they're my favourites. She called them my Monday socks as somehow I always seemed to get them out of the drawer on a Monday. I've worn them so often that they've got a hole in the heel and they're now only fit for the bin. Oh well, something else to put on my Christmas list.


That's it for another month. Thank goodness the wind of last weekend has dropped and the temperature has increased slightly. Rain's forecast for this weekend so instead of spending time outdoors, I'm hoping to make a start on my Christmas shopping.

28 comments:

  1. I stopped listing on eBay a couple of weeks ago as they now don't relist for free. They used to give you 3 free relistings but now, if you've gone over your listing limit (mine is 20 in a month), they'll charge you to relist. 35p a time. There's not much point in listing small things when you're going to pay them most of what you make. Grrrrr!!

    Mmmm, seems I am more annoyed at ebay than I thought I was. Sorry for that rant, Jo! *blush*

    I hope Santa brings you some new Monday socks! :o)

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    1. I agree totally. Ebay isn't for the small seller any more, you don't make anything out of it, it's geared towards those who want to make a business out of it. I thought the offer they sent me was pretty good but I won't continue listing once the time's up for these.

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  2. It is a shame that ebay has become an expensive way of selling things. I'm inclined to try the local facebook selling page first then it try Gumtree, lastly Ebay.

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    1. Ebay used to be great for selling unwanted things, now it ends up costing you half of anything you make. I'm not on Facebook but I've heard that the local selling pages are pretty good on there.

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  3. Hi Jo I have started Ebaying again for some extra pennies and done very well the last few weeks, I have also had time wasters as well who bid and don't pay, which makes me so mad.
    We do have a tumble dryer but I don't use it very often at all, I have washing out today but I don't think it's going to dry much, I hang it in the spare room on the clothes horse.
    I must say I love that quilt cover very pretty x

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    1. That's the other downside to Ebay, time wasters. I've listed all my things as Buy It Now, people tend to pay straight away then. We used to have a washer/dryer but the dryer was so rubbish that I never used it. When the washer broke earlier this year, I replaced it with a washer without a dryer. All my washing is drying on clothes horses at the moment. The quilt cover was from Dunelm about three years ago when we decorated Eleanor's bedroom. I just said to her yesterday that she could do with some new bedding. I do like Dunelm, they have some lovely designs.

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  4. I use my favourite socks to make lavender bags or my lesser favourites to make catnip sachets.

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    1. What a great idea. Hmmm, I'm thinking lavender bags now, yes, I shall definitely give that a go.

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  5. I've never sold anything on Ebay but I've bought lots & always pay straight away. I'd be horrified if I forgot otherwise. Along with Rocky hound we inherited Mikes dads tumble dryer last year too, I still like to use the airers though. I've posted my 12 days Christmas parcel off to Susan today so it should arrive next week. Take care xx

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    1. I always pay straight away whenever I buy anything too, I know as a seller how annoying it is when you're waiting for someone to pay. It's easy enough to complete the full checkout whilst you're buying something. I hate having washing hung around the house but there's always things I wouldn't put in a dryer anyway, even if I had one. Thanks for letting me know about the swap parcel, I think there's a few on their way now, very exciting.

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  6. A varied selection of pictures. I've never used Ebay, and don't think that I've ever even looked at the website. Flighty xx

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    1. Very varied, as usual for my Photo Medley post. Goodness, I think you must be in the minority where Ebay's concerned. There's some great bargains to be had, and the thrill of the auction.

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  7. I gave up on ebay for much the same reasons. Our garden is much the same, just a few blooms which won't last too much longer. I do love it when the leaves have gone from our tree, we can see all the birds at the feeders.

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    1. We've been very lucky this year to have so many blooms hanging on for so long, I think their days are numbered now though. I understand about seeing the birds at the feeders, it's the same here. They're very camouflaged when the leaves are on the trees.

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  8. Jo - what a great result from Ebay ... you must be so pleased.

    I just love the colour of those leaves in your first photo, we were out earlier today and the park beds had all been planted out ... ready for some colour during the coming months. It looked good - should have taken some photo's of the flower beds, but I didn't ... never mind!

    I do like the socks Eleanor bought you ... there is such a great variety now, the pair I have on today are mid grey with pink hearts - they are great and very comfortable too.

    Enjoy your Thursday evening and thanks again for the nice photo medley.

    All the best Jan

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    1. I'm thrilled with the Ebay result. I've sold something else today so that's more to add to the kitty. I'll share whatever I make with Daniel and Eleanor of course, some of the things I'm selling are games they had when they were younger. I wait every autumn for the blueberry leaves to change colour. This year there were red leaves hanging alongside berries, the plants went on producing for a long time. I'm always drawn to socks, not sure why. I knit them too so I'm not short of them, but I do have my favourites.

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  9. I've never used Ebay, though I did think about it many years ago when selling my APQS quilting machine and found the money they would make out of it was ridiculous, so I sold it through a Melbourne paper at a fraction of the cost. I use our local paper mainly for selling things or give away to charity. The leaves look gorgeous and just think my blueberries are fruiting whilst your are losing leaves! Lavender sock bags sound great. Have a good weekend and take care.

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    1. I would never sell such a large item on Ebay, as you say, the fees they take are ridiculous. There used to be a large classified section in our local paper but I don't think people sell that way so much these days. My blueberry bushes were fruiting and turning red at the same time, their fruiting period went on for such a long time this year.

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  10. That first photo is pretty with all the pinky red hues of the leaves. It's nice to have a few blooms still lingering in the garden giving some colour. My rudbeckia has died down now, but I still have a few roses. Thank goodness we haven't had any more snow since the sprinkling of last weekend, although it's quite windy and cold at the moment. Well done with the selling of unwanted items scheme. I haven't got a tumble dryer either and drying is a problem in the Winter. Our daughter has one now which she bought from the owners of the house she moved into so if I'm stuck with bedding I could use that especially when guests come to stay in the holidays. As for socks - it's odd how one of a pair always seems to go missing when doing the laundry - ha ha. I like getting colourful socks as a Christmas gift.

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    1. It's amazing how many flowers are still blooming this year, a sign of the mild autumn we've had so far, just a small blip last weekend but I'm glad it's warmed up again since then. I used to have a tumble dryer which was well used but changed to a washer/dryer to save space when we had the kitchen redesigned, it was a big mistake as it never worked very well. I'd definitely go for separate machines if I were to get one again. As you say, it's the bedding which takes lots of room up on the clothes horses, I have to do it in batches otherwise I wouldn't have enough space.

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  11. What a good deal Ebay sent you and you;ve made a nice amount of money from it too, very handy at this time of year.
    What a beautifully rich colour those leaves are.
    No tumble drier here either so we've been making good use of the space on the landing.
    Such a shame about your socks, it's a shame when our favourites get worn out.
    Lisa x

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    1. I thought Ebay's deal was a good one, their fees are so high now that I haven't used Ebay to sell on for a very long time. I've got my washing hung all around the house, there's just so much of it when there's a family at home. I'm wearing my lovely ice cream socks today which you bought me last Christmas, they're very snug and keep my tootsies lovely and warm.

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  12. We haven't sold anything on eBay for ages, I didn't realise their fees had gone up by quite so much! We tend to used gumtree or preloved more these days :). Your offer sounds good tho' and well done for making the most of it, hope everything sells!

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    1. I've done really well with the sales so far. I used to use Ebay an awful lot for selling on clothes when the kids had grown out of them but the fees got silly and it just didn't make it worthwhile any longer. The offer I got was too good to turn down though, I shall be watching out for more like this so that I can get rid of some more things.

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  13. Mum and Dad passed a heated clothes rail on to me, with the boiler in the utility area I can just about get my clothes dry in the winter!

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    1. That sounds like a good solution, it certainly beats having clothes hanging around on clothes horses in the dining room like I have.

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  14. Well done on your eBay sales Jo. I buy from there but gave up selling after a bad experience last year. Lavender sachets out of old socks is a good idea, isn't it? I don't have a tumble dryer but I do have an old fashioned maiden clothes airer in the cellar over a storage heater which does the trick. I much prefer pegging it outside, like you, but not in this weather! xx

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    1. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with ebay, I think everyone has a tale to tell when they sell on there, not everything's quite so straightforward as they'd have you believe. We definitely don't have the weather for drying washing outdoors now and I hate having it hung about the house, it sounds like you've found a good solution.

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