Charity shops

tiff

I'm glad to see so many likeminded people. Off to my voluntary job in the charity shop tomorrow, I will be trawling the 5 other CS's too.

shammyjack

I am a devil for buying old books.

One of my best buys was an illustrated version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam printed by George G. Harrap & Co. around 1934 and worth about £70 which I got from a 10p clearance box .

Doingmybest2bgoodhurrah

maman wrote: »

I also took two big bags of things to donate. I was a bit cross as woman just barked at me 'nothing electrical is there?' and when I said no she just took the stuff with no smile or thank you. I know they're volunteers but haven't they heard of customer service? I won't be donating there again. My shopping was in another CS.

I did laugh at this, it reminded me of a similar thing which happened to me a few months ago. I took a couple of bags of stuff to donate to a local CS and asked the lady behind the counter if I could leave them with her. "No you may not!" she growled, glaringly. The shop is for a local animal rescue centre & the lady had a look of Barbara Woodhouse about her so I half expected her to order me to SIT!! If she had I think I would have obeyed. "OK, where would you like me to leave my donation, shall I take to the ladies at the back?" I asked. With that her whole attitude & body language changed. "Oh, its a donation? Oh yes, please do leave it with me". I was quite taken aback, until an elderly gentleman caught my eye as I headed for the door & mischievously said "Daft old biddy!" I grinned but later on I began to wonder if he meant me!

It was a complete case of crossed wires and the lady can be completely forgiven for thinking I wanted her to mind my shopping for me while I browsed, but I haven't dared venture back since. They have another shop near work, so I will take my bits & pieces there instead.

sandraroffey

i never buy new. just cant afford to. i was going to a family wedding recently and i had the nice tops to wear but trousers were a prob, so i scoured my local charity shops and found a really lovely pair or brown linen trousers from marks and spencers. cost?? £3.

i also got a pair of thick track suit bottoms to use as jamas when it gets really cold (£1.50), and a beautiful wool blanket, like what used to be called a car blanket i suppose, almost new, £3.

i buy everything in charity shops. dont need furniture, i have a house full, but the clothes and odd bits of china....cant beat it.

welovewine

I am terrible - very proud of all our second-hand buys, hand-me-downs and have done quite well on freecyle too. I get told off by Mr welovewine for always telling people about how we found our sofa-bed on ebay for £25 and it's solid wood, and our curtains are made from table cloths I got in a charity shop!

Has anyone had much luck with carboots? We have just moved to Wiltshire area and wondering if there are any good ones locally?

lessonlearned

Me too.

I love CS shopping, furniture, clothes, household bits, bric a brac, books. I have a houseful of treasures built up from over the years.

One of the best things is - apart from being able to dress nicely on a shoestring - you get the opportunity to experiment. If it's really not for you then it's only a couple of £s you've misspent.

I help in a Charity shop too - love it - I get such a buzz going through the donations.

We have our regular customers who come into browse and shop and spend ages chatting. Our volunteers are never snooty - we keep a visitors book for comments and all the comments say how nice and friendly the staff are.:D

I've even had a special mention and been named volunteer of the month because of all the nice comments in the book.:rotfl:
It's great.

deb68_2

Me too,always have gone to chairity shops get some good stuff Clothes for all my family and bedding curtains ets,helps the chairty and i get good stuff ,Even ebay amazing the stuff people dont want anymore
I do get kids Trainers n shoes from shops underwear etc never have had a problem with going into the shops and buying got some lovely vases,candlesticks from the animal chairity shop last mth got a stunning oak fire surround last week from thier
i send all my stuff that too small or kidsnstuff they dont wear to the shops
love going to them next visit next week:D

rhiwfield

Sassers wrote: »

If anyone lives in south Wales I hope these tips help and if you like carboots, Gelli Gaer near Nelson starts at 7.30am on Sundays and there's another cracker in the undercover multi-storey car park in Bridgend. Great especially if it's raining and you need a car boot bargain fix!
Love Sassers x

For a buyer Sully on a fine sunday morning is just amazing, fields of car-booters against the backdrop of the sea. Then pop over to Porthkerry car boot afterwards with the added bonus of being next to Cardiff Airport runway!!. Bridgend is good on a wet day and I sell there quite often, usually bric a brac.

But I've just been given 20 items of size 8-10 maternity ware (Next, Mothercare etc) to sell (new GS arrived!) and debating whether to car boot or Ebay job lot. What do you think?

iwill

welovewine, what end of wiltshire are you as there are loads of carboots but they are pretty well spread out

catkins

I started buying secondhand when I got married. We had no money so were grateful that people they gave us things like a settee because they were getting a new one, a washing machine etc etc. We also bought a lot of secondhand items - I think the only thing we bought new was our bed.

There were not really charity shops around then but I bought almost all my clothes in sales.

Over the years we have had more money - for a couple of years OH had a very well paid job but still I bought clothes, books, ornaments etc from charity shops, sales, ebay, boot fairs etc. I just love getting a bargain and don't see the point of paying £20 for something if you can get it for £10 (or less!) even if I can afford the £20. Plus to me it means that I can buy more clothes as I can get 3 things for the price of 1.

Both me and OH love old furniture - it has a history and it's such a shame for it to be thrown away. Also we can get much nicer furniture secondhand than we can afford new.

Looking round my house almost all my furniture is secondhand from various places - freecycle, ebay, gumtree, charity shops, boot fairs. Freecycle is brilliant because things are free. We have a glass and chrome computer desk from there and also a sewing machine, a really good quality stereo, lovely wardrobe and chest of drawers.

We have a gorgeous oak carved dining table which cost £30 in a charity shop - OH stripped and waxed it. Our 6 oak dining chairs came from ebay (£20) and again they were stripped and waxed and recovered. Loads of people comment how lovely our table and chairs are. Even my washing machine and vacuum came from ebay because I can get a better washing machine secondhand than I can afford new and I get through so many vacuums because of my pets that it just not worth paying out for a new one