What is your charity-shop weakness?

BitterAndTwisted

I'm very fond of browsing even if I have no particular need of something specific. This can be a foolish weakness for someone with so little disposable income.

The things I head straight for are textiles. This is a mystery to me because I have no particular needlewoman skills. I have a box of them all waiting to be put to use. However I have found some lovely bedspreads and blankets which are put to use.

Kitchen things of all kinds. I am really fond of Mason Cash/ironstone/oven-to-tableware/pyrex. I have some Mason Cash items which are duplicates of ones I already have but if they're only a pound or so I will have them. Pudding-basins I cannot resist as they have many uses other than for making puddings.

Clothes not so much these days as I have no real and urgent need for clothing. But that didn't stop me buying a delightful black cotton and linen Edina Ronay knee-length coat last weekend. For only eight pounds I shall wear it or pass it on to my sister or niece who may be able to make use of it. The words "Why is this only eight pounds, it could easily be sold for a lot more than that" were on the tip of my tongue at the cash-desk.

Alison_Funnell

Denby - the older the better
Ercol - also older
Material

shebangs

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Alison_Funnell

Also books and rucksacks - always bought to carry the books home!

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

Silk Blouses Silk anything and Designer Bargains. I have really nabbed some in my time. Joseph, Burberry Trenches x 2!!! Silk and Cashmere!! Believe it or not more MSE than inferior nylon numbers unless otherwise.
My home is poorly insulated meaning too hot in Summer, too cold in Winter so Silk and Cashmere are brilliant investments!!!
*Hides in Flameproof Shelter*

BitterAndTwisted

shebangs wrote: »

Mine is pashmina's & scarves I don't need them I have heaps but I often end up with a few if I do the charity shop rounds

It's true: no-one actually needs any pashminas, wraps and scarves but they are so very useful for brightening up something plain or just ringing the changes with a favourite item.

Do you attach them to the coat-hangers of your coats, dresses and tops that they go with? This is almost the only way I can make myself use them. Otherwise they just sit in a pile all folded up because I forget about them. I also have an unhealthy number of them but I just cannot resist a silk or cashmere anything.

My latest fad is for alpaca and vicuna. Some charity-shop workers don't know what these are so they are often incredibly under-priced.

scrabbles_2

OMG I love charity shops and spend far too much in them. I'm having to educate myself that just because it was ten times cheaper doesn't mean you can spend ten times more! But because I am in my locals all the time they know me well and let me have first refusal on the good stuff

HANDBAGS are my number one weakness. Every handbag I own apart from a few I handmade are from charity shops. And I have LOTS of them. Most are designer labels, the rest are 'quality' high street, and none was more than a fiver. I even have a Radley bag I got for £3.50 and a Radley purse for 50p (it was in the kids section). In fact, just before Christmas last year my Dad called me and warned me that he'd got Radley bags and purses for all the other women in my family except me. He said he was certain I'd rather 'treasure hunt' twenty second hand ones, but wanted to make sure. He was right - whenever I see a nice designer bag I either assume it's a fake, else mentally calculate the going charity shop rate vs the retail! And the best thing is, when I get bored or have a clearout, most of the bags go back to the charity shop for someone else to fall in love with

I'm also a sucker for shoes, books (esp. old housekeeping ones), board games, old maps, pretty crockery... I don't buy clothes anywhere else any more either. I've had some great bargains over the years, and lots of friends are always saying I should buy to Ebay, but I think that's unethical. Not so much because of the charity element, but because it seems unfair to fellow treasure hunters!

Sambucus_Nigra

Enamel cookwear. Love it.

Books - had to stop looking as I have far too many as it is [we started a one in, one out rule last year as we were in danger of having no house space at all].

lostinrates

Books, especialy cook books.

Plates/tableware....especially stuff that is revoltingly blowsy or flowery and most peoples great grandmothers might have put in a display cabinet.

Glassware....as above really.

Alabaster eggs. Often found in charity shops, even my chickens like to have a bit of charity shop chic. I buy them when i see them.

The odd. Last think i nbought was a small pink wooden flamingo.

horsechestnut

Old good quality china; don't need any more, but then I see something in blue & white and before you know it my purse is out!
Books. I have been very good this last year and have been using the Library, but felt that I had to buy something at the School Fayre and books were the only things to my taste!
But if my local charity shops had such good clothes as yours have, then I would be buying the silk and cashmere as well!

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, I forgot about cook-books. The ones I use most were all charity-shop finds. Rose Elliott for veggie recipes and the one I'm most fond of which is Claudia Rosen's "Introduction to Mediterranean Cooking" which is exclusively veggie and seafood recipes with some really superb photographs which I snapped up for a pound.