More Charity Shop Bargains for 2018 & beyond!

dolly84

miro - that dress might be a bit cold for a Christmas outfit, unless you had a shrug or something.


I went back to Oxfam for something I saw on Monday, it is a French marble and glass cheese dome, I don't know how old it is but it is very 30's in style and looks gorgeous under the lamp on my dresser - £4.99. I also bought a 3 pack of bamboo socks in plain black for 99p, a M&S chunky jumper in mint green with silver thread woven through for £3.99 and a Viyella 100% wool, fully lined maxi skirt in autumn shades and a window pane check also £3.99.

Matron_Midge

I got a real haul in the cats protection shop.
I spent £15.50 but I got :- a next linen shift dress in pink with a deeper pink paisley print on it, a mcKenzie hoodie, pair of NYDJ jeggins - American brand that are expensive. They have a fabulous cut with a waist in the right place, a long sleeve jersey tshirt in aquamarine and a brown, beaded tunic that is a crinkle viscose - perfect for evening with cream trousers on my upcoming holiday. Money well spent.
Making a hospital visit to see a friend today and might call in to a nearby Sue Ryder superstore. I don't need anything but that is definitely the best time to hit charity shops.

C_J

Hi all - help needed, please!

I know this is technically the wrong thread on which to ask this question, but you are all so friendly and wise and I’d really value any advice.

I have a friend who has retired with his wife to northern Cebu in the Philippines, and he’s saddened by how poor the region is. He’s asked if there is any way I can send clothing out for the children in his local community so I have been snapping up CS bargains accordingly. Shipping is so expensive though - Royal Mail will airmail a 2kg parcel for around £18, but that’s only around 10 T-shirts. Over 2kg and it’s prohibitively expensive.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap/reliable international parcel couriers they’ve used? I’ve tried searching online, but can’t find a better deal than this. I’m sure I must be missing something.

Thanks!

Miró

A little tripette round the local charity shops this afty. First stop was the Mind shop and I found a nice pair of b/n, dark indigo, straight legged jeans priced at £3 - from Denim & Co. Didn't really need them but tried them on anyhoo and was very pleasantly surprised with the fit....waist in the right place, good length, no twisted legs (pet hate). So I applied the 'price of a cup of coffee' test and came away with them. Google indicates that they are from QVC :eek: and were originally £37 but recently reduced to £18.98. I seem to remember catching a bit of QVC once whilst changing channels on the telly and thinking how gross their stuff was .

Then sallied forth on to the Community shop where I got a Country Casuals black, knee length. pencil skirt with leather trim on the waistband and pockets...on the half price rail at £1.90. Lovely quality - will wear with recently chazza'd black leather jacket, thick black tights and ballet flat type shoes, (or boots).

Owain_Moneysaver

C_J wrote: »

I have a friend who has retired with his wife to northern Cebu in the Philippines,

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap/reliable international parcel couriers they’ve used?

It will cost a fortune to send as a parcel. You need to build up a pallet/cage load and then send as commercial freight through a freight forwarder or shipper. They work on a quote basis only as it depends what space they have going where.

Also, charity shops are not necessarily the cheapest places to get clothes. Used clothes dealers (the people who buy ragbags from charity shops at 50p a bag and then sort it for export, but they may have a minimum order quantity of a bale to 500 kg or up), or even new from China.

C_J

Thanks, Owain. It’s a good suggestion about the used clothes dealers, but if things have been rejected by charity shops I wonder whether they would be good enough quality to send out. I don’t want to pay to send rags, and don’t want to insult the recipients either (I fear I might spend a lot of time I don’t have available on washing and mending things first!).

I did investigate pallet shipments but it’s hundreds of pounds, and I am unlikely to have that quantity of clothing to send. My friend in the Philippines would also then have the burden of dealing with a cage full of clothes which would need to be transported (presumably from Manila) out to the island where he lives, and he doesn’t have a car.

I will give this some more thought. Thank you for your input!

Frith

Got out the shower this morning and caught my toe in the hole in my jeans leg and managed to nearly rip the leg off! Went to the charity shops looking for something to wear for my parents’ 50th anniversary.

Instead found jeans (John Rocha) and a White Stuff knitted jumper.

£10 for the 2, St Richards Hospice shop in Kidder.

Hobsons_Choice

:wave:Well done Frith. I was in the same shop on Tuesday and came away with nothing! Maybe you got there before me.

Dark_Star

C_J wrote: »

Hi all - help needed, please!

I know this is technically the wrong thread on which to ask this question, but you are all so friendly and wise and I’d really value any advice.

I have a friend who has retired with his wife to northern Cebu in the Philippines, and he’s saddened by how poor the region is. He’s asked if there is any way I can send clothing out for the children in his local community so I have been snapping up CS bargains accordingly. Shipping is so expensive though - Royal Mail will airmail a 2kg parcel for around £18, but that’s only around 10 T-shirts. Over 2kg and it’s prohibitively expensive.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap/reliable international parcel couriers they’ve used? I’ve tried searching online, but can’t find a better deal than this. I’m sure I must be missing something.

Thanks!

You need to use International Economy Mail rather than Airmail.
This can take up to 8 weeks but sometimes it just gets put on a plane & sent airmail anyway.


That's £12.05p for up to 2kgs.


I find the Post Office quite reluctant to offer this, let alone advise that it exists. Be determined & they have to! :mad:


Check here: http://www.seajays.org.uk/postage/index.cfm


Otherwise you need to look at a courier e.g. Fedex/DPD/parcel monkey/TNT etc. I've never used one to send a parcel so cannot comment. Perhaps ask on the eBay board?


A rough quote with TNT for 5kgs sized 40x40x40cm was about £76... It seems you require parcel dimensions not just weight.

C_J

Dark_Star wrote: »

You need to use International Economy Mail rather than Airmail.
This can take up to 8 weeks but sometimes it just gets put on a plane & sent airmail anyway.


That's £12.05p for up to 2kgs.

Thank you Dark Star, that’s incredibly helpful - I will definitely look into that. 2kgs seems to be the weight of around a dozen T-shirts.

I am also trying to find companies who ship Balikbayan boxes from the UK to the Philippines (these are the care packages which Filipinos working abroad regularly send back to their families at home, I have discovered) but the first company I have checked out (after reading a discussion on a forum) seems to have gone out of business.