Charity shops

Rummer

I am another who loves secondhand and antique items and our house is full of things that we have picked up from charity shops, skips, on the street and the dump. In fact we often come home from the dump with more things than we have taken .

We have quite a few pieces that are really unusual as well as pieces that have come with a lot of history. It is great fun hunting out bargains and putting things together instead of buying a ready made look.

wifefaefife

maman wrote: »

At one time I only bought books from the CS and the odd nicknack. Lately I've been losing weight and needed smaller clothes but didn't want to pay too much. I've had some wonderful finds that I love to bits: Tops from Jigsaw, Phase Eight, Laura Ashley and White Stuff. Gerry Weber trousers, a couple of good skirts and lovely Phase Eight scarf. My absolute favourite is a Joules tweed jacket.

Due to weightloss I've also taken loads of things to CS, so it works both ways.

Wow that sounds like a great CS shop, my local ones don't have stuff that posh

Candy53

Hi,

Yeah I'm addicted.
My main source is the local paper. Furniture, fridges, cookers, and got all my cots, prams, and pushchairs out of there.

It gives me a buzz, getting really good things at a bargain price.
I also love charity shops, car boot sales, and markets.

My daughter needed a new bed recently. Got a really good quality one for £25 out of the paper.

Candy

lola34

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?[/QUOTE]

I find that people are reluctant to spend more than a couple of pound at the most at the car boot on clothes so I would try Ebay first - its a bigger audience.
I popped in our CS yesterday and picked up New Look jacket, Topshop jeans and French Connection jumper- all for £1 each.

rachbc

you can buy things that someone else hasn't used first?? I never knew ;-)

Looking around our house I see 'antiques' as I rather grandly call my wooden bedstead - (bought on ebay) shabby chic (a repainted chest of drawers left in the house), hand me downs (dining table from parents), fix up projects (art deco sofa to reupholster) and a few carefully chosen new things. I love the 'ecclectic' look and its a happy bonus that its a greener and cheaper way of furnishing my home with better quality stuff than argos/ ikea.

I'm currently looking out for A 50'S kitchen unit/ cupboard to use in my sewing room - watching a couple on ebay after spotting one for £400 in a fancy vintage shop!

tiff

I love those kitchen units, saw a lovely blue one on a blog, the lady used it as a prop for an exhibition to display the products she makes. Didnt realise there were so many of us that live this way, I always thought there was a bit of a stigma about buying used items but I guess thats gone now because of the economy and the need to recycle etc.

Fairie

Yep I'm addicted.

I really struggle to buy anything that's new or what I would deem to be too expensive. Furniture, household nik-naks, my clothes etc are all second hand from cs's freecycle eBay friends and family and random skip/ roadside finds.

I too am pregnant (referring to a previous post) and have only bought 3vests and some scratch mitts new after OH insistence that the baby has to have at least one new thing of its own to wear when it comes into the world!

OH normally gets dragged into the CS's if we pass one but we find that we really struggle to get him stuff which is good quality second hand. Anyone else have problems getting stuff for men?

Fairie

Ref above post- I wanted that smiley at the end of my second paragraph. Hmm must practice posting more I think!

tiff

Yes, I've looked for both my son and husband and havent bought anything for them yet. Looking for tracksuit bottoms and jeans for my son but he is 30w 30l and my husband is 34r which is a common size. I think men dont throw out their clothes as often as women so are more worn when they get to the charity shop.

vasseur

mrswive wrote: »

What I love is having interesting things in my home.

This is another thing that is so appealing - having stuff that no one else does. So many peoples homes just scream 'Homebase'. I just want to scream back 'Where's your originality!!'