What is your charity shop bargain of the week?

dolly84

I had to call at the post office yesterday and the kids were off school for an inset day so we called in at a Good as New sale at a church near home, then we popped to some CS too. I got the following

F&F sleeveless Denim blouse with rounded collar - this is to wear buttoned up to the top under jumpers £2

Next Lift Slim & Shape slim jeans in long leg £1.99 (these retail at £45 ish).

Next Vintage Cigarette Jeans in xl leg so I can cuff them £3

Debenhams Collection cotton jumper in chambray and white broad stripes, in 2 sizes too big to wear over above denim blouse and be slouchy £2.50

M&S oatmeal linen tunic £2.50

Next jumper for DS £1.99
Friends t shirt for DD in a big size to wear as a nightshirt £1.50
The Hobbit in paperback for DD 49p

I am trying to stay away today.

Bogof_Babe

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Good day in Ormskirk. Best find was a pair of dark brown, velcro fastening shoes for OH, for £5. Only put out today, going by the price label. He much prefers velcro shoes to lace-ups, and they are hard to come by - the last two pairs he bought were from an upmarket shop and were £79! He ruins shoes so a cheap pair is a great find.

On a mini-break on my own in Carlisle last week (most of my mini-breaks are solo as we have to share custody of a cat that can't be put in a cattery due to a heart condition = lots of medication daily), and found another pair of shoes for OH. Black this time, looked like new, no wear on the soles at all, Hotter make, velcro fastening again, £12.25 :j . Brought them back (on the train with all my other luggage - I must love him!) and he wore them yesterday and says they are perfect and really comfortable. So that's two pairs of top quality shoes for him, one brown and one black, total £17.25 :T .

For myself, a pair of pink leggings (I thought they were PJ bottoms but they are close fitting at the ankle) with cats on, 50p on a bargain rail. My sister introduced me to wearing leggings under jeans in cold weather last year, and they make a load of difference to keeping warm.

Also a Gap keyring with my initial for 50p, and a boxed "salad knife" with a bone handle and serrated blade, another 50p. That will be really useful on my travels as I always eat in my room at night when I'm alone, and although I take a flimsy folding cutlery set the knife isn't much good for cutting tomatoes. Ongoing saving there - instead of paying over 50p for box of baby tomatoes I can buy one single bigger one for 20p and cut it up! :rotfl:

Miró

dolly84 wrote: »

I am very impressed that you have the skills to do this at all.

I made a lot of my own clothes yonks ago....I used to love wandering around the department store fabric departments and markets in those days. Now it just doesn't seem worth while - even if you can find nice fabrics when you factor in the price of patterns, thread, zips, buttons etc it is hardly cost effective when you think of the bargains available in the charity shops.

Talking of which.....I'm just back from the grand opening of a refurbed Sue Ryder shop. It looks great, all posh lighting, glass shelves, white walls and fancy rails....it looks as if it's been Mary Portas'd But the prices....my Gawd!!! Gone are the old 50p rails and the £1.50 blouses and sweaters. Shoes £12, coats £25, a leather handbag £40 and the most outrageous...a new bottle of Lidl perfume that sells for £6, (frequently £3 half price) was on sale for £8. Nuts!!!

Anyhoo, on the way home I popped into the Martin House Hospice shop and found an M & S navy pinstriped jersey dress with fancy 'foldy' bits draped across the front...reduced from £9.99 to £4.99 and it fits....no spending hours doing alterations needed this time

luvchocolate

Before I retired last year after 25 years as a retail manager for my local hospice I have not been in a charity shop.......until this morning when walking past a R.S.P.C.A clearance shop, so popped in and got a Per Una down coat in cream, a bit gruby but worth the £4 in the hope it will come clean.

Pollycat

dolly84 wrote: »

I am very impressed that you have the skills to do this at all.

Like Miro, I was making my own clothes from the age of 15.
I remember going into M&S and taking a lined wool skirt into the changing room where I examined it closely to work out how the lining was constructed then reproduced it on a piece of fabric I'd bought.

I too haven't done much sewing for years other than shortening charity shop bargains but today......
I've just completed a houndstooth check lycra short skirt that I 'found' part-made in the under-bed storage.
I'm pretty sure it dates back to my working life which puts it at least 13 years. Just goes to prove fashions come around if you wait long enough.
I'm wearing the skirt with a Jaeger black fine merino wool jumper (also charity shop).
I've also got lycra skirt lengths in black, navy, brown, bottle green, burnt orange, plum and a lovely purple tartan and a navy & green tartan.
I look like being busy.

Lucy5781

not a buy but a very silly but of excitement that the closed down charity ship in town is opening with a different charity. Made my day lol

Less than six weeks until we know what sex baby no.2 is and if I get to go hunting for girly stuff or not.

C_J

I've had an amazing day cs-shopping today. I thought I was doing well when I got a large carrier bag full of Duplo for £3 for baby grandson, and a brand new ELC wooden abacus for £1 ......but then came the best bargain of all. We are in the throes of redecorating the living room and I have been longing for some Laura Ashley curtains which would be perfect for the new colour scheme, but the size I need costs almost £200 a pair (and I need two pairs). Imagine then, if you will, my utter disbelief and joy to find two pairs of EXACTLY the curtains I want in the Blue Cross shop for £7. For both. And they seem to have been freshly dry cleaned. I did a little dance in the shop I was so happy. The CS Fairy must be smiling on me today!

Pollycat

C_J wrote: »

I've had an amazing day cs-shopping today. I thought I was doing well when I got a large carrier bag full of Duplo for £3 for baby grandson, and a brand new ELC wooden abacus for £1 ......but then came the best bargain of all. We are in the throes of redecorating the living room and I have been longing for some Laura Ashley curtains which would be perfect for the new colour scheme, but the size I need costs almost £200 a pair (and I need two pairs). Imagine then, if you will, my utter disbelief and joy to find two pairs of EXACTLY the curtains I want in the Blue Cross shop for £7. For both. And they seem to have been freshly dry cleaned. I did a little dance in the shop I was so happy. The CS Fairy must be smiling on me today!

I feel so happy for you. :T

Disregarding the curtains, the abacus sounds fab.

VfM4meplse

I had an amazing chazzer trawl in Essex today

Firstly I bought a long dress, a pair of jeans and a dress cardigan for £2 each - all of which fitted perfectly - along with a pretty jumper for my niece when she gets a little bigger. The dress was similar to this, but with full length sleeves:

A pair of engraved stainless steel dessert tongs for 50p, and a Joseph silicone steamer for £1 (RRP £11.20):

And the pièce de resistance, a 12-speed 400w turbo food mixer for £10:


On first glance it reminded me of a KitchenAid in design (which I’ll never part with £450 for!) but was actually a brand recently sold at Aldi (not sure for how much, but the most recent subsequent model in August was sold at £65). Reviews are mixed: the negative indicate that even the slow speeds are too fast, which for me is not a problem.

And on the way I had some lovely conversations with complete strangers and picked up some more books...10 in total

Total expenditure: £22.55

silvasava

luvchocolate wrote: »

Before I retired last year after 25 years as a retail manager for my local hospice I have not been in a charity shop.......until this morning when walking past a R.S.P.C.A clearance shop, so popped in and got a Per Una down coat in cream, a bit gruby but worth the £4 in the hope it will come clean.

A lady in on of the CS I use said that wet wipes are great for removing marks on clothes - I have tried it on the collar of a Monsoon silk jacket that I wear and it works a treat!