Charity Shopping - bargains galore for 2021!

Miró

Acquisitions from the last few days..... a plain crystal vase about 12' tall and very heavy, lovely shape and a label on the bottom indicated the brand was Linea, priced at £2.  Then on  my way out of the shop I spotted a Linea box with a big plain crystal fruit dish perched on top of it and priced at £3.50 - must have been donated together I think.  Anyhoo, couldn't resist - from the community shop.  Also popped into the big Sue Ryder 'barn' with a friend who practically fell upon a long console table in a dark wood with some discrete gold banding edging the two drawers priced at £25 and in immaculate condition.  We had to carry it to the car ourselves....so heavy....oh what fun we had trying to fit it in...twas like an episode of Benny Hill!  Eventually a couple of ruffty tufty builders who were working nearby helped us out 

Miró

Rosa_Damascena said:

Magpie100 said:

And then I found this dress: https://poshmark.com/listing/Massimo-Dutti-maxi-dress-size8-5f873234ae766f14f52b7fdb

I was sorely tempted by a Ralph Lauren silk dress last week that was on the £1, I felt like telling the staff they had made a grave pricing error. The reason I didn't buy is it was Dry Clean only! So less of a bargain and more of an ongoing investment.

Oooooh I think I would have taken a chance for £1 and risked giving it a gentle hand wash when needed!!  I tend to ignore 'dry cleaning only' labels these days, (I have had a couple of casualties though  )

Floss

I snagged a vgc green 7" Le Creuset casserole today, £8 in the Mind shop. The assistant offered to babysit it at the counter while I moooched, and could have sold it 3 times over!

Rosa_Damascena

Well I ended up in a chazzer with mum yesterday - one that is like a treasure trove of goodies but slightly out of the way. But so worth it!

Mum bought a load of summer blouses - she doesn't need them, but they do look good - for £1.50 each, and some kitchen gadgets including a heavy metal garlic press for 50p. I bought a handbag for £3 - again surplus to requirements but so smart and handy to have - 3 books for myself...and then a set of books for my little niece to get her interested in writing.

Miró

Oh dear....wot a dilemma!!!  Doing the rounds of the charity shops in Northallerton today and on the doorstep of one firmly shut for the day chazza was  a stack of old Burkes Peerage tomes that someone had left.  All leather bound and yellowing I would have loved to have bought them.  (My family history would probably have been documented in those pages!).  Was sorely tempted to. scoop them up and leave a note  with either an offer of payment or return them to the shop when open.  I left them in the end but am now worrying in case they get vandalised or rained on!  Can’t understand why anyone would do that when there was another chazza open a couple of doors along.  What should I have done? 

goldfinches

Miró said:

Oh dear....wot a dilemma!!!  Doing the rounds of the charity shops in Northallerton today and on the doorstep of one firmly shut for the day chazza was  a stack of old Burkes Peerage tomes that someone had left.  All leather bound and yellowing I would have loved to have bought them.  (My family history would probably have been documented in those pages!).  Was sorely tempted to. scoop them up and leave a note  with either an offer of payment or return them to the shop when open.  I left them in the end but am now worrying in case they get vandalised or rained on!  Can’t understand why anyone would do that when there was another chazza open a couple of doors along.  What should I have done? 

It's a dilemma when you see something like that isn't it. I've mulled this over myself more than once over the last year or so and not really come to a decision. On the one hand I don't want to leave something that will probably be so badly damaged as to be unsaleable by the time the staff arrive but on the other hand I might not want the item and how much would the price for it be if it was in the shop and should one just be helping oneself willy nilly and is there a way to leave a note or not and so on. Very difficult altogether and I really don't know what to do for the best, what do others think?

Rosa_Damascena

Chazzers hate stuff being dumped on their doorsteps as technically that is fly tipping. If worried about environmental factors would probably have taken it for safekeeping and shoved a note through the door with my phone number. Then take it back to the chazzer and agree a price. If its too high you can always walk away.

If a note isn't a possibility then perhaps call the chazzer and leave a message on the answerphone / first thing on Monday morning?

goldfinches

Staggered to the library this afternoon with my accumulated returns on my back and then called in at the BHF shop just for a quick look and was rewarded with a Pyrex large rectangular dish with a plastic lid and 2 stainless steel mixing bowls as well as an Edinburgh Woollen Mill pure cotton blue floral top for a total of £14.97. 

Rosa_Damascena

goldfinches said:

Staggered to the library this afternoon with my accumulated returns on my back and then called in at the BHF shop just for a quick look and was rewarded with a Pyrex large rectangular dish with a plastic lid and 2 stainless steel mixing bowls as well as an Edinburgh Woollen Mill pure cotton blue floral top for a total of £14.97. 

I have recently (overnight) come to the conclusion that heavy dishes are more trouble than they are worth . Or rather, an excess of heavy dishes.

[Deleted User]

Hit a rich seam of books this morning Quidditch through the ages for the boys, three Field Guides British Birds, British and European Mammals and British and European Insects for their amusement when they visit to go on our bookshelves and a Country Foods and how to make them for me including how to make buttermilk, cream cheese and butter from double cream in the food processor £5.75 the lot.