My first eBay purchase

I registered for eBay a couple of years ago but to be completely honest found it all a bit overwhelming so never really got into it or bought anything. Today I needed to make a payment through PayPal which turned into a big pain in the neck as my account was in Ireland and you can't change your address to another country, you have to open a new account in the new country. But, since I've changed my address with the credit card company to my German address I definitely couldn't use my Irish account as the details would no longer match. So, after faffing around getting the German paypal account set up I thought I would just have a quick look at eBay. That was when I realised I couldn't remember my log-in for eBay so I decided to go ahead and create one straight away.

After all that 'admin' work I decided to see if the pottery set I have was up there. I have more than enough dishes but one thing I am missing is a butter dish. I've been meaning to buy a butter dish for a couple of years but wanted to take my time choosing a really nice one rather than just a generic one from the kitchen reject shop or somewhere like that. So I've been checking charity shops and the like for something a bit special and thought if I could find one from the set I have it would be perfect. There is one posted but it's up as a rare collector's item so I'm not sure I'll even bother bidding on it - will wait till closer to the end of the auction to see if the price has gone mental or stayed reasonable. It's really nice too - I like the shape of it.

While I was there I decided to see if I could find a dehydrator as that is something on my list of things to get someday. And in my search for that I came across a yoghurt machine, almost brand new and with the auction about to end in seven minutes. So, I am now the new owner of a yoghurt machine (something else I've almost bought several times in the past but thought I shouldn't as it's so easy to make without any special equipment - the only problem being I've never been quite able to make it work!). For the very reasonable price of 2 euro I have to add and even adding the 6.90 for shipping it is a bargain I think.

I have set myself an eBay limit of 20 euro (including shipping) and a commitment to only look for things that are on my list of to-buy anyway. If I ever have a big purchase to make I can reconsider this but as a general rule it should stop me getting in trouble. One of my sisters developed a bit of a bad habit of buying stuff left, right and centre and often paying more than she would have in a shop, often for stuff she didn't need at all. I have more than enough money issues without going down that route. But, for today, I am pleased with my purchase and will in future try to emulate one of my other sisters, who just uses eBay to keep an eye out for stuff she needs, presents for the kids etc and so is able to get some very good bargains and put stuff away for when it is needed. I think the important thing is being able to let stuff go. The butter dish will be a good test for me. 20 euro would be a bit expensive for a butter dish but if I were to buy a new hand-painted one (which I had contemplated for a while) I would more than likely pay more than that. We shall see.

In other news I used my Mooncup for the first time today. Will post about that later in the week but fair warning now to anyone who may be a bit squeamish and prefer not to read about that kind of thing - I make sure to put mooncup in the post title so you can avoid it if you prefer.