Spring Cleaning 2014 style

Spring Cleaning 2014 style.

In my experience, few things give a better sense of achievement than a couple of hours turning out a cupboard, deciding what needs to be kept and what can be safely be discarded. It may be a shed with tools tidily stored or a kitchen unit with dusty herbs discarded. This is sad to admit, but I usually have to open the door a few times over the next day or so just to enjoy the sight of my successful labours. (Well, it has usually taken many months for me to find the time to do the job at all!)

Annual "Spring cleaning" may have religious origins or just date back to an era of open fires, soot and candles but in 2014, perhaps we should change the term Spring Cleaning to Spring Sorting? It was William Morris who said we should have nothing in our homes that isn't either beautiful or useful, but the truth is most of us have a lot of what a friend of mine calls "stuff"….

The High Tech Way to " Spring Sort".

Whenever the subject arises, you hear stories of online auction success.

“I've had two experiences of eBay profits”, PR and Communications officer, Viv Maunder explained. “One was selling a pair of snow boots bought in Norway that rubbed my heels. They were bought for £49 and then sold for £79 a few months later. Then we sold a second- hand North Face jacket my son bought in Sweden for £20, when he first moved there, then later decided it was too big. We sold it on eBay for £120!”

A similar story came from Phil Archer, an expert on Worldwide Web standards, “We bought our first caravan through a newspaper ad in 2004 for £3,000. And 18 months later we sold it on eBay for £3,500 so you get what people are prepared to pay which can be more than you expect.

The advice for new sellers on Ebay is to have a good photograph of what you are selling, and a full and accurate description. ….

The full article is in the Februray 2014 edition of Suffolk Norfolk Life magazine or online at http://www.suffolknorfolklife.com/