More Charity Shop Bargains for 2018 & beyond!

Potternerd

Of late:
A small brown leather Fossil shoulder bag £10
A White Stuff dress light blue birds on a dark blue backgound £4
A racer back Strenesse dress dark purplish blue colour £4.50
Trouser/leggings, black with a thick white stripe down the side £3
A turquoise and silver colour bracelet £3
Black wide leg Autograph trousers and 3 vesty tops all for £1 in local hospice closing down sale
A lovely turquoise blue ceramic jug with a lid Chiltern Acme £2

I'm putting together a donation bag of stuff to atone for my extravagance.

dolly84

silvasava wrote: »

Dolly - I've given up on manufacturers sizing - I can go from a 10 to a 16 depending on the make, fit and cut!

I'm the same. I wear 12 up to 16 depending on how I like it to fit but I cannot get into anything in Primark less than a 16 unless it is super stretchy. I assumed as it is so cheap they are stingy with the fabric and not true to size.

Miró

Yet another fitted sleeveless dress in a heavy cotton fabric. Country Casuals this time and in a black and white floral pattern with a black belt. From the community shop and priced at a whopping £7 but is new or as new. Another dress that was a size too big for me, (no 4 this year) and that tested my 'tailoring' skills. I didn't realise till I got it home that it had an 'invisible' zip at the side running up to the armhole and in order to 'fit' the dress it needed taking in by an inch at each side. This necessitated the removal and re-insertion of said zip. It's so long since I attempted an 'invisible' zip I had to watch a couple of YouTube videos to remember how to do it. Wot a faff!! Took me about 3 hours but was worth it in the end. Now fits beautifully with no baggy armholes, (pet hate), and nicely skims the rear end without being tight. I am convinced that all of these dresses are coming from the same woman....I just wish she would go on a diet and drop a dress size....would save me a whole lotta work!!!

DigForVictory

My family (on the distaff side) are amongst the last of the hand written letter writers. So when himself saw a Basildon Bond vintage gift set, he thought "womenfolk!" & lunged.
Sheets, brieflets, envelopes - almost none of which are still available, so my thankyou letters are sorted for the next few months. £2.50 for paperwork that would start at £20 if it got that far.

Floss

I have a leather zipped writing case that my grandma gave me when I was 16...complete with the last inherited BB writing paper & envelopes

Lucy5781

Floss wrote: »

I have a leather zipped writing case that my grandma gave me when I was 16...complete with the last inherited BB writing paper & envelopes

Ah I remember my mum used to have something similar. No sign of it when we cleared her house in March though.

dolly84

Mir! wrote: »

Yet another fitted sleeveless dress in a heavy cotton fabric. Country Casuals this time and in a black and white floral pattern with a black belt. From the community shop and priced at a whopping £7 but is new or as new. Another dress that was a size too big for me, (no 4 this year) and that tested my 'tailoring' skills. I didn't realise till I got it home that it had an 'invisible' zip at the side running up to the armhole and in order to 'fit' the dress it needed taking in by an inch at each side. This necessitated the removal and re-insertion of said zip. It's so long since I attempted an 'invisible' zip I had to watch a couple of YouTube videos to remember how to do it. Wot a faff!! Took me about 3 hours but was worth it in the end. Now fits beautifully with no baggy armholes, (pet hate), and nicely skims the rear end without being tight. I am convinced that all of these dresses are coming from the same woman....I just wish she would go on a diet and drop a dress size....would save me a whole lotta work!!!

Great skill to have, I am impressed.

DigForVictory wrote: »

My family (on the distaff side) are amongst the last of the hand written letter writers. So when himself saw a Basildon Bond vintage gift set, he thought "womenfolk!" & lunged.
Sheets, brieflets, envelopes - almost none of which are still available, so my thankyou letters are sorted for the next few months. £2.50 for paperwork that would start at £20 if it got that far.

I love handwritten letters. Can you imagine in 100 years turning up on the Antiques Roadshow with a computer printout, not quite the same.

DigForVictory

The hazards of leaving a manufacturers label on the box.

Himself spotted a Windsor & Newton box, asked after "the art box", the poor staff member had no idea what he was on about (other than that it was a nice but empty wooden box, as yet unpriced) held it out for examination and guessed wildly "um, £1.50?".

Himself paid up & now we're at home, researched it. Had it had all the contents, it would have sold new at £150, but he has the box & is distinctly pleased. He could fill it as it "should have been" but prefers to use it as he chooses...!

Most of my infancy is documented in handwritten letters. My children found my ability to tell who had written to me without opening the envelope to be a Dark Art - but I could recognise the handwriting, even though Granny had taught all her children to read & write & thus there were pretty strong family resemblances.

POPPYOSCAR

Potternerd wrote: »

Of late:
A small brown leather Fossil shoulder bag £10
A White Stuff dress light blue birds on a dark blue backgound £4
A racer back Strenesse dress dark purplish blue colour £4.50
Trouser/leggings, black with a thick white stripe down the side £3
A turquoise and silver colour bracelet £3
Black wide leg Autograph trousers and 3 vesty tops all for £1 in local hospice closing down sale
A lovely turquoise blue ceramic jug with a lid Chiltern Acme £2

I'm putting together a donation bag of stuff to atone for my extravagance.

I donated two bags full of brand new items with the tags on. I signed up to Gift Aid while I was there as requested.

Yesterday I received a letter letting me know that my items had raised the grand total of £6.44!!!!

I would have been better off selling them on ebay and donating the profits.

Floss

Poppyoscar that may well have been the tax relief on what sold last tax year...I haven't had any letters this time as I didn't pay any tax last yearvso didn't gift aid.