What is your charity-shop weakness?

scrabbles_2

horsechestnut wrote: »

But if my local charity shops had such good clothes as yours have, then I would be buying the silk and cashmere as well!

The carp to quality ratio is always very high, so you do have to hunt through everything. Once you find something good, keep looking and go back for a few more 'hits' over the next week or so. Usually if someone brings some good stuff in they bring in lots of it, though it can take a little while to trickle through into the store.

BitterAndTwisted

horsechestnut wrote: »

But if my local charity shops had such good clothes as yours have, then I would be buying the silk and cashmere as well!

I might be sadder than I care to admit but I get on the bus and travel to somewhere much more well-heeled than the inner-city ghetto where I live and check out the charity shops there. As I'm a North London gal I sometimes head for places like Islington, Crouch End, Finchley and Hampstead. Honestly, in those areas I'm often shocked at the lovely things some people part with so easily.

mishmogs

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

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.

I think you and me are kindred spirits!! I also look at jewellery, books - crafting and old social history ones especially, odds n sods. Have to say material is the main thing I buy. Just bought a massive piece of upholstery fabric to do an old winged chair I have which has now faded in the sun. job for the summer!

kiwimama

Hee Hee I live in Reading and often plan a morning out to Henley Upon Thames as their charity shops often have lovely bargains!!! Kids clothes and books are my biggest drawcard, have scored a few amazing toys at silly prices - best ever was two medium snap lock bags full of Schleich plastic animals that retail for about £5 each animal, £6 for the two bags :):) they were the best toilet training incentives ever!!!!

Horace

I cannot resist a charity shop.

I tend to buy antique pressed glass, books - I have managed to pick up first edition books for £1 and I tend to look at the 50p shelves for other books - my last book being Teach Yourself Finnish:D

I buy furniture - I have a lovely chest of drawers in Mahogany made in the 1920's picked up for £20, a trolley that converts into a table - cost £10 (it needed a bit of refurbishment so I sanded it down and varnished it with a dark oak varnish), two shelf side table for a fiver.

I may be moving into a house (if the universe provides) and it needs curtains so I looked in one of the charity shops last week and spotted two pairs of curtains - I ummed and aaahhed and in the end went back to the shop in the afternoon and bought them. 1 pair of fully lined short curtains in a gold material £7.50 and a set of long curtains which were brand new still in packet for £15 - the original price on the packet said £125.99 reduced to £62.50 (even so this is a lot of money for curtains). They may be too long but I can sell them on ebay or I can shorten them.

I also look for embroidered cloths - either table cloths or tray cloths.

Rosanna79

Blingy Clothes, scarves and textiles of any description which I unpick, cut up and generally use for the wide variety of craftwork I do especially for my craft class. Found something like 10 gorgeous scarves / shawls yesterday and am currently learning rag rug making so absolutely delighted.

I recycle/ upcycle old jeans into things for handmkade Christmas presents. the possibilities are endless especially now I've got a subscription to 'Simply Homemade ' magazine.

The problem is now about storage of all this stash!!

Saturnalia

Books and 80s clothes, I can't resist a bargain!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

We don't get anything decent like this round here anymore.

The buy to eBay brigade has put paid to it, along with the Mary Queen of Tat effect.

So now, anything of value goes to the dealers first thing before the shops open, then everything else is insanely overpriced - no handbags for £3.50, they charge over a tenner for a Primark plastic thing that was six pounds brand new - before someone split their hot chocolate inside it. And the rest of the time, you are being pushed and shoved out of the way by the obsessively greedy trying to snatch things out of your hands.

parsonswife8

Autobiographies, clothes, certain bits of crockery and glassware, cd's, but I just love to browse.
I also love art deco and 1950's/1960's kitchenalia.
:j:j

jackyann

I once stayed in a beautiful B&B in Provence - all wonderfully French with beautiful linen.
The owner told me that she worked part-time accompanying students to language schools in places like Margate, and sourced all her linen in the charity shops along the English south coast! Then I realised that the curtains I thought so "typique" were Laura Ashley!