Charity shops

cupid_s

I find most things expensive. I was looking for some glass storage jars and the ones in my local charity shop were double the price of the similar ones in Ikea.

Best buy was 'ionic channels of excitable membranes'. 20 years old but was only 50p. It was on my husbands reading list at uni the next year and his course mates were buying it for £25 (they had a slightly more up to date copy mind)!

dolly_day_dream

I am very fortunate in that we have 19:j charity shops and 3 that specialise in furniture in my town. This does mean that prices are kept down (in some, Oxfam is still very expensive and I just can't afford to shop in there)

This makes it very easy for me to try and stick to my principles of trying to never buy anything new if I can help it. These days I only buy my underwear new. I don't have a car so access to car boot sales is difficult and charity shops help me in my eco-ambitions.

I have never been so well dressed, for so little, I have kitchen and home gadgets I would have been able to afford including a Panasonic breadmaker for £17.50 and a Kenwood Chef for £20:D

The way I see it is:
The goods in charity shops are not in landfill :j
Precious resources have not had to be used to make them :j
The global organisations are not making money from me:j
I get them at a price I can afford :j
The charity gets money to help them in their good work:j

Everyone's a winner.

Hardup_Hester

My local indepandant charity shop is the cheapest, but I've never found any clothes I like in there, only lots of books.
I went to our local Sue Rider today & got 2 tshirts & a blouse, £3.00 each, but all expensive makes, so I don't mind paying that much.
Hester

Quasar

I go in every charity shop I pass, if I have time, to browse at the books. Once I also found a very nice ladies wallet, a really good leather one, still in pristine condition, for £2. It's always worth going in.

morganb

I once got a beautiful black silk Laura Ashley jacket for .... £1

filigree_2

I'm off to the Whitby Goth Weekend next week, and I'm looking forward to visiting the town's charity shops. Every year they put all their black stock at the front of the shop to tempt the goths, and by Monday the shelves have been picked clean. Fantastic for all concerned

pol

My best find was at a charity shop in Stratford. I found a purse on the floor near a binful of purses. I assumed it had fallen out, but when I picked it up, it was stuffed with money and credit cards. I handed it to the lady behind the counter and the owner came rushing back in a few minutes later, it was only all her holiday money! (no, she never said thank you, but ......oh well)

pol

Storm

I loooove charity shops, simply because you never know what you're going to find! The books especially are brilliant, because I'm a proper bookaholic, generally have about 3 or 4 on the go at once, and to be honest, you can often find copies of the latest releases in there a month or so after they come out.

Clothes - sometimes for me, the ones around where I live don't tend to have so many good quality ones, but if I need something in particular (like a long, full skirt I need for my recently starting belly dancing classes!) I'll go have a look before I buy something new.

mioliere

dolly_day_dream wrote: »

I am very fortunate in that we have 19:j charity shops and 3 that specialise in furniture in my town. This does mean that prices are kept down (in some, Oxfam is still very expensive and I just can't afford to shop in there)

This makes it very easy for me to try and stick to my principles of trying to never buy anything new if I can help it. These days I only buy my underwear new. I don't have a car so access to car boot sales is difficult and charity shops help me in my eco-ambitions.

I have never been so well dressed, for so little, I have kitchen and home gadgets I would have been able to afford including a Panasonic breadmaker for £17.50 and a Kenwood Chef for £20:D

The way I see it is:
The goods in charity shops are not in landfill :j
Precious resources have not had to be used to make them :j
The global organisations are not making money from me:j
I get them at a price I can afford :j
The charity gets money to help them in their good work:j

Everyone's a winner.

I agree totally. Practically everything I own has come from a charity shop - clothes (loads and loads!), shoes and boots (loads and loads!), kitchen gadgets, books, records, CDs, toys, pictures, jewellery, handbags - I could go on! I love the fact that it's a brilliant form of recycling and it supports so many good causes! If people want to wear something they've paid good money for for just a couple of occasions then donate it, I'm more than happy to pay pennies for it! Long live charity shops, their donors, their staff and their customers!

queenpig

There is only one charity shop in my village 2 if you count eh one about another mile or so away! one is indepenant (sp) the other i think is scope?....have a street full in another town but it get so busy i rarely go plus its a car drive ect.

And here i go ramberling on about rubbish and no doubt talking nonsence ....as I do lol.....In the indpendant one i have picked up some nice bargains...all my babys baby grows from 50p to £1 each from next, debehams ect after all how long do they last a baby? i still go in and check but te prices are slowly starting to rise. There was another charity shop in the same village had a cot bumper and matching quilt mamas and papas was the brand mother bought it for me when i was expecting DS1 who will be 9 this year for £6.50p it was still in the argos catalouge at the time for £65, i long since gave away the bumper as it never fit the cot that i used on all 3 babys as it was a larger cot....anyway I still used the quilt now for my DD at least 8 years old and still going strong
I have picked up a pair of versasi (sp?) shoes for £2.50 lol blaming to small by half a size but i had to have them lol....other baragins i have picked up too. ery greatful for charity shops also my DS2 soaked him self though i was at my nanas at the time (and nana trying to reason with me just made me angrier and angrier you know what i mean she gave him the drink, and the said it must have went right though himyadder yadder yadder argh) anyway picked up a vest and a little suit and luck would have it a nappy sample his size got it all for £3. reason DS2 had soaked though as daddy didnt cover young mans cloth nappy with the nappy cover properly lol.

Anywya enough of my pointless ramberling and thanks if you got this far.

Queenpig.>>>>goes and thinks of the other charity shop bargains now.