This month flew by honestly, I had the feeling it was just three weeks ago that we went to the local flea market held every first Sunday of the month. When I checked it, it was really 4 weeks ago so I was quite excited that this Sunday we were in for another treat of possible treasure hunting.
The catch so far on this local market hasn't been too great honestly, I mean, we have noticed that those that know what they sell are not willing to let go of things for a price that you could make a bit of money on top of it. The only possible ways to find a treasure for resale is simply getting lucky that the seller has no clue what he has and nobody beat you to it (but many sharks are there checking everything) OR you find a seller who had a horrible day, needs to sell something today and prefers to part with something for a lower price so he at least made his money back for the day.
I miss the good old days when we were strolling over flea markets with people having no clue about the value on their stalls. Or those thrift store days, my gosh, I would love to go back in time to feel that feeling again when you find something for 2 euros and sell it for a few hundred in auction.
Today it was just me and the little girl going to the flea market because dad had another attack of his gall bladder Friday to Saturday night, which he's still recovering from as these attacks feel like you've been hit by a truck. Sadly, I know the feeling as I had them too right after my firstborn, but my gall bladder was removed so that was the end station for me. He's been struggling with this for years but they never find anything. Thankfully for him, they occur very rarely since we moved to Spain, compared to almost weekly the years before.
I didn't feel like going through the same cans of coin garbage this time, so I tried to find a spot between all the interested people to check the display folders with coins instead. I had a few that I was interested in but I was boiling in the sun and when I did the first quick check online, I saw they were asking too much for the state they were in so I let it slide and didn't bother to bargain. Thankfully, I still have a few left to write about so better luck next month, I hope.
Although I was not looking for a box in particular, I found a cute little box which I bought from a nice Belgium lady who surely had a lot of nice antiques. I didn't ask about the box neither did I really care as it was not meant for sale but just to have it myself. A little gift for a few euros..
I have a thing for green stuff so it seems, I love this type of green and I find myself being lured to any little treasure that has the green colour that I love so much...
The bottom...
The inside fabric is nice but it's not cut well and doesn't seem to fit it perfectly but that's fine, it's still a cute box.
Look at the pretty green glass? gems above.. I love it. The lady asked 3 euros for it and I was trying to make it work with my spare change.. when I was counting 1 euro, 2 euros, she said three and I was like oh you speak Dutch, but it was a Belgian lady, close enough!
My daughter reminded me of the fact that I still needed another keychain because mine is way too big (read: annoying to carry) and she really wants to have it as it's a fluffy one. Ok let's see surely we should be able to find a keychain with all these stalls, not all of them are old, there are also quite a bunch of stalls with handmade items. Quite good artists too to be fair, but often too expensive for me to buy anything from them.
There was a friendly guy with a bunch of keychains, a few I checked but decided against. Then I noticed a little cat keychain. That was the one! For two euros it was mine and again, I didn't even bother to bargain because I know it's often a huge struggle to even earn back the rent if you sell handmade items. A lot of people are there only to kill the time or hoping to spot a true bargain, not those handmade items. I've been there myself in the past so when I see something handmade for a reasonable price, I won't bother to bargain but just respect their price instead.
As per tradition, we have a German "brattwurst" there with some French fries because this guy seems to be one of the few that doesn't serve out soaked in fat fries but just serves them as they should be. I'm a sucker for potatoes and fries so this monthly visit, I'm having this lol. I think I can handle some of that as I only drink water anyway.
Normally when we drive to this town, we combine it with something in that area, such as visiting the Carrefour there, but it's closed on Sundays during the winter. The gas station from Carrefour is open, and we normally fill up the car there as we get 8% cashback and I have not seen any other gas station with a lower price before. I'll be honest, I only checked on the road, not online.. Until today.
I accidentally found a gas station closer to home but 25 cents cheaper per litre of Diesel, a little math made me realize that even with the 8% cash back into savings, the Carrefour is still more expensive than this gas station. Guess we found our new gas station and started saving a bunch more every month, great! I love finding these things, better late than never right? We don't even have to drive as far as to the Carrefour for it because it's just 4 minutes from home, while Carrefour is more like 15 minutes depending on traffic.
So that was my Sun(ny)day, how was yours?
All pictures above are mine..
