The Joy of a Jumble Sale

What do the words jumble sale make you think of?

For me, they instantly transport me back to childhood weekends in church halls with my mum. I can picture it perfectly - parquet floors, green cups and saucers, white plastic cups filled with squash, and plates piled high with biscuits. While mum browsed rails of clothing and tables of bric-a-brac, I’d make a beeline for the book table.

Recently, Ruth (Ruth Bagnall - Organised Living) and I decided to run our own jumble sale at Kings Heath Community Centre, and it brought all of those memories flooding back.

The idea came from two places. Partly, we wanted to raise money for the World Scout Jamboree, but it was also born from something we see every day through our decluttering work - people wanting to let go of items they no longer need, but struggling to know where those things should go.

Very quickly, we realised that jumble takes up an astonishing amount of space.

Neither of us had suitable storage, but thankfully a family member came to the rescue with an empty, boarded loft. We spent some very happy hours up there, sorting and organising piles of donations into categories - clothes, toys, books, games, kitchenware, bedding, jewellery, craft supplies, shoes and homewares - so much wonderful stuff.

One thing we’ve learned through working with clients is that it’s much easier to part with belongings when you know they’re going somewhere useful. Whether it’s a charity shop, a family in need, a fundraiser or a community project, people want to know that their items will continue to have a purpose.

Nobody wants their possessions to end up in landfill.

But sometimes the challenge of figuring out how to dispose of things sustainably feels so overwhelming that the box simply gets pushed back under the bed for another day.

The good news is that there’s an incredible ecosystem of people, charities and organisations working hard to reuse, recycle and rehome unwanted items - and we absolutely love being part of it.

So far, we’ve discovered charity shops desperate for stock, schools looking for soft toys, artists like Sarah Bagshaw who create beautiful work from leftover paint and reclaimed materials, and organisations like The What Shop, offering repair sessions and clothes swaps to help extend the life of everyday items.

And we know there are many more amazing projects out there.

For us, the jumble sale became about much more than fundraising. It was about community, sustainability, nostalgia and giving beautiful things a second life.

Perhaps that’s the real magic of a jumble sale.