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Show me the MOOlah!

Posted on 10:01am Monday 28th Jan 2013

Listed under: 'Moo'Cycling

cashpile I don't know if it is the chaos of Christmas – new toys, a house full of decorations – or whether its the prospect of a new year – new beginnings, BUT January always makes me want to spring clean. Spring cleaning is great but what do you do with everything once it's cleared? We sorted lots of stuff from the children's room, books, toys clothing and then it was in a big box in our room!! Not helpful! So here are my top 10 tips to make money from your unwanted items.

Children's toys, clothes, books and DVD's can be sold in one hit at a nearly new sale – try Little Pickles Markets, your local NTC Group and schools – the price of a table will vary from group to group but on average it's £10-£20. Organise everything neatly in age, sex, season and price accordingly to make it easier for potential buyers.
Facebook– this is a relatively cheap way to sell. There are lot s of local based groups. You start an album list add photos and prices – you can sell almost anything but just check the group rules. If someone wants to buy it they will collect from your home. Always private message them your address don't put it on a public forum.
Gumtree also allows you to sell (or buy) individual items – buyers will come and collect from your home.
Ebay– you can sell practically anything on Ebay but you will have to pay fees – listing fees to Ebay and paypal fees. So do look out for offers – free listing weekends etc.
If you have tried Facebook, Gumtree and Ebay had no luck but still don't want to give them away for free then try We Buy Books - they actually take books, CD's and DVD's. You type in the ISBN or bar-code number into the box if they take it they will give you a price you can reject or accept. The maximum total sales is £15. I found a 10% code on Google+ which increased each books price by 10%. Free postage – what more can you ask for! There are a few other similar sites I just liked this one as it took a variety of items.
Any unwanted books from We Buy Books take a long to your local Book Exchange – Moo took a pile of books we've grown out of along and was given £5 of in-store credit. Which he spent £2 of on information books about castles and pirates.
Pre-loved clothing boutique's – in Dorset there are a few pippabelles and Ollie's Closet so have a hunt around for one near you. You sell on your designer children's clothing to them or if you want to squeeze a few more pennies out your t-shirt sell on commission – so they hang in the shop and if they don't sell at the end of the season you get them back.
Been to nearly new sales, tried the pre-loved boutiques and listing like mad but still unsold clothing left over? Try Cash4Clothes – they only pay 50p per kilo so for me it was a last resort.
Any left over toys and baby/children's equipment (pushchairs, beds etc. ) find out if you have a local Toy Exchange – much like the book exchange you receive in-store credit.
Do you have one of those draws? Mine is in the kitchen where you find the oddest things? We found 4 yes 4 old mobiles, one didn't even have a battery! I loaded the details on to a comparison site and then sent free post the phones to the best offers. One of the phones I chose to have an Argos voucher instead which gave me a slightly higher price.

And finally if you have tried and failed on all of the above … take it to the charity shop!! You gain space and a charity makes some money win win!!

I've been putting all the pennies away in a money box as I'm saving up for a special surprise for the Moo's. But I hate to admit that I am still finding an abundance of unwanted items!! Oh the joys! I'd love to hear what you do to make extra cash from your unwanted items.

NEW Paper made from POO! Only in Wales!

Posted on 8:40am Tuesday 6th Jul 2010

Listed under: 'Moo'Cycling, Charlie Moo's News

We are so excited top announce that we are now stoking Sheep Poo Wrapping Paper from the fabulous guys who make our Thank You Seed Tags. Wondering what on earth sheep Poo Paper is? Well here's your answer.

For those wondering if the products on this page are actually made from sheep poo then YEP, they sure are! The finest Welsh sheep poo is collected from the valleys and turned into paper.

For details of how the Sheep Poo Paper is made, read on. It is quite a long laborious process, but we shall try and squeeze this into a paragraph or poo. However every item of Sheep Poo Paper you buy comes with an explanation of how the paper was made, so you can always give the paper to someone else to appreciate its qualities.

For those that do have a bizarre interest into how you make paper from sheep poo then here you go:

Sheep poo is carefully cultivated and selected from the rainy hills of Wales. Of course only the best and super-fresh poo is harvested.
The sheep poo that has been collected is completely sterilized by boiling it in a specially designed pressure cooker at over 120 degrees centigrade (using only the purest Welsh mountain water, of course) and then washed repeatedly over a period of days until it has lost approximately half its original weight (Sheep Fact: a sheep only digests 50% of the cellulose fibres it eats)
Using only traditional papermaking techniques the pulp is made into sheets using special sieves (called a "mould and deckle") and lay them out in stacks using felt in between each sheet to keep them from sticking together.
The stacked and felted sheets are then pressed under huge pressure to remove most of the remaining water and encourage the cellulose fibers to bond at a molecular scale - this is what gives the paper its strength. Hanging the paper up in the roof rafters of the mill to season them finishes off the drying process.
A machine sprays the liquid pulp onto a continuous moving mesh and the water is squeezed out between heated rollers - this gives a stunningly smooth finish, although you can still see the flecks in the paper that come from the sheep poo.