Charity Shopping - bargains galore for 2021!

Pollycat

CAFCGirl said:

Pollycat said:

CAFCGirl said:

Another 3 houseplant pots joined the collection for me, at £1 each.

I'm still umming and ahhing over another one I spotted.
I fear the difference in prices between shops has spoilt me.
One shop had one at £3.50, quite nice, but a frequently found size, so I left it. 
Visited another shop, and found 3 at £1 each of similar size.

So lesson here, check the cheaper shop first perhaps ?

Also been given the mission of finding 32inch waist shorts for DH but specifically longer 'skate boarders' length ones... on or just under the knee. Fear it may be easier to find unicorn droppings but will keep on the hunt.

In the past I've bought OH quite a few pairs in this size and style.
I've not looked recently though as he has enough pairs for now.

I fear the local demographic of our small market town bustling with the over 60's age range will affect my hunt, but its a challenge if nothing else 

Some charity shops do move their stuff around between shops.

I've seen some of my stuff that I donated at my local small town in several other shops in different places (I knew it was my stuff as I have to shorten most of my trousers & dresses and can recognise my handiwork).

Miró

Oh dear....my idea of only buying quality rather than quantity in the charity shops was costing me a bloomin' fortune so I may have to revert back to the 'only the price of a cup of coffee' plan!!!  A week-end in North Yorkshire saw me plundering Thirsk and Ripon over the last few days.  First find, (shakes head in wonderment at self - I've just bought a very similar dress!!!), was a bnwt's pure linen, Lands End dress in leaf green, shirtwaister stylee with 3/4 sleeves for £9.99.  Then in one of the hospice shops they had loads of b/n ladies trousers from various shops all priced at £3, (ping!  coffee mantra activated!).  I came away with a pair of navy M & S straight legged smart trousers and a pair of straight legged white denim jeans from M & Co..  Then in another shop I spotted a top that I have been keeping an eye on hoping for a reduction.  A sugared almond pink 3/4 sleeved b/n T shirty thing with unusual ruched sleeves by Madeleine(?).  Reduced to £1.50.  Finally, and at first I looked and walked away....but had to go back in the end for a Paul Costelloe Dressage linen jacket in a coffee and cream check.  Looks b/n as no creases in lining, £10.99 in the British Heart Shop.

goldfinches

Miró said:

Oh dear....my idea of only buying quality rather than quantity in the charity shops was costing me a bloomin' fortune so I may have to revert back to the 'only the price of a cup of coffee' plan!!!  A week-end in North Yorkshire saw me plundering Thirsk and Ripon over the last few days.  First find, (shakes head in wonderment at self - I've just bought a very similar dress!!!), was a bnwt's pure linen, Lands End dress in leaf green, shirtwaister stylee with 3/4 sleeves for £9.99.  Then in one of the hospice shops they had loads of b/n ladies trousers from various shops all priced at £3, (ping!  coffee mantra activated!).  I came away with a pair of navy M & S straight legged smart trousers and a pair of straight legged white denim jeans from M & Co..  Then in another shop I spotted a top that I have been keeping an eye on hoping for a reduction.  A sugared almond pink 3/4 sleeved b/n T shirty thing with unusual ruched sleeves by Madeleine(?).  Reduced to £1.50.  Finally, and at first I looked and walked away....but had to go back in the end for a Paul Costelloe Dressage linen jacket in a coffee and cream check.  Looks b/n as no creases in lining, £10.99 in the British Heart Shop.

l have serious envy over the Land's End dress, their clothes just do fit me perfectly so everything I've ever had of theirs has always been worn until it's fallen apart. I've got a polo neck that I bought from one of their clearance stores in 1998 or thereabouts that I only retired early this year when I managed to bag several replacements in their winter online sale.

I nearly bought an Ines de la Fressange blouse yesterday in the Oxfam shop but decided in the end that I was being blinded by the label to its very thin and not very pretty fabric so put it back on the rail after having clung onto it while I browsed the china shelves. Your jacket sounds like a much better find, however, so I'm looking forward to hearing how you wear it.

Brie

goldfinches said:

 everything I've ever had of theirs has always been worn until it's fallen apart. 

You do know that if you bought it from Lands End they will replace items if they can.  I remember someone jokingly complaining to them about a zip in a jacket going after 30 years of wear which they replaced with their new version.

I must admit I've never seen anything from LE in any charity shop ever.  They are the only place I will get trousers in this country as no one else does a shape that fits me properly.  I've got 3 pairs of their summer jeans - purple, lime green & flourescent orange.  Whether they are a good look for someone of my girth probably shouldn't be considered.

goldfinches

Brie said:

goldfinches said:

 everything I've ever had of theirs has always been worn until it's fallen apart. 

You do know that if you bought it from Lands End they will replace items if they can.  I remember someone jokingly complaining to them about a zip in a jacket going after 30 years of wear which they replaced with their new version.

I must admit I've never seen anything from LE in any charity shop ever.  They are the only place I will get trousers in this country as no one else does a shape that fits me properly.  I've got 3 pairs of their summer jeans - purple, lime green & flourescent orange.  Whether they are a good look for someone of my girth probably shouldn't be considered.

Oooh, no I didn't know that. My first reaction was that I haven't got the brass neck necessary and my second is that it would be money saving and so maybe I should rummage around at the back of my cupboards and find some (brass neck I mean). I'll think about it, I have got a a squall jacket that is more than twenty years old and is coming to the end of its useful life and it would be lovely to have a new one for free, ummm, maybe. I'll let you know when I've mulled it over.

Land's End - I have found the odd item over the years and invariably pounce on them with inner shrieks of delight when they are a colour, size and style that will suit me. It did go rather against the grain to not buy a lovely, pale sage green, light waterproof jacket last week but it was two sizes too big and had a plaid lining that wasn't a becoming palette so that was left on the rail for someone else to love. 

On the matter of trousers IMHO the criteria for wearing them should run something like fit, comfort, utility for tasks to be undertaken while wearing and then personal preference as to colour. A good test for trousers is whether or not one can swing ones foot hard enough to boot any richly deserving person e.g. a politician, up the backside effectively and would you mind answering the door to a stranger while wearing them. If you like purple, lime green & fluorescent orange that's it and all about it. 

Owain_Moneysaver

Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia
£75 new hardback in slipcase for £5. Sense. 

Brie

Owain_Moneysaver said:

Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia
£75 new hardback in slipcase for £5. Sense. 

I've had one of these for more decades than I care to admit.  Do tell me if you find a recipe for elephant feet.  I'm sure I  saw one once but have never seen it since so perhaps it was my imagination or a different book.  Not that I would ever want to try elephant feet but my recollection was that it was something that required a gentleman on safari to be accompanied by his fully equipped French chef and a suitable selection of wines.

goldfinches

Brie said:

Owain_Moneysaver said:

Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia
£75 new hardback in slipcase for £5. Sense. 

I've had one of these for more decades than I care to admit.  Do tell me if you find a recipe for elephant feet.  I'm sure I  saw one once but have never seen it since so perhaps it was my imagination or a different book.  Not that I would ever want to try elephant feet but my recollection was that it was something that required a gentleman on safari to be accompanied by his fully equipped French chef and a suitable selection of wines.

I'm thrilled to hear about this recipe and want desperately to read it for myself. I can't find it in the index of my copy of The New Concise Larousse Gastronomique but there is a paragraph about elephants in the text from which I copied this. 

" Reports by travellers and hunters from the 17th century onwards indicate that elephant meat is tough but tasty, provided that it is cooked for more than 15 hours or has been hung for a long time in the open air. The feet and the trunk are of greatest culinary interest: their flesh, which is muscular and gelatinous, resembles ox (beef) tongue."

It then goes on to recount that some captive elephants were eaten during the Siege of Paris in 1870 and to give menus from the time.

I hope that @Owain_Moneysaver has a fuller entry that includes the recipe you remember @Brie and will tell us about it sometime (not very subtle hint hint there).

Anyway, as light relief, here's my haul from the Mind shop and the Sobell House Hospice shop this morning on my way home from the chemist.



I'm especially pleased about the diddy little Mason Cash mixing bowl as I've been rather hankering after one this size and the Tom Clancy novel as I read it years ago and enjoyed it but had never been able to track it down at the library since their copies mysteriously went astray and weren't replaced. Other escapist fiction just wouldn't do as this book includes details about how to first shoot and skin a wolf and then peg the skin to the bottom of a gold bearing stream so that the individual hairs are gradually coated in small particles of the metal which I thought a brilliant piece of incidental research on the part of the author.

That's enough stream of consciousness outpourings from me, I should think you've all been stunned by my prolixity. 

Happy hunting to all, goldfinches.

Miró

@goldfinches  Ooooh I found one of those diddy Mason Cash mixing bowls in my local community chazza....20p and mixed in with all those ramekins you get free with posh yogurt in them!

Today has been another 'spendy' day!  First of all, continuing the kitchen theme I found a b/n pack of 4 re-usable Bee Green Wraps, (wot you use instead of clingfilm  to wrap food in).  I remember people talking about these on the Old Style thread yonks ago but when I looked into them they were hellish expensive.  Just looked mine up and they are priced at £25.49  but today in the community chazza they were 30p.  Then I found a dark denim knee length skirt by Pure on the reduced to £1 rail, (love this brand).  Then I found an M & S olive green jacket for £5 with the spare buttons attached in a plastic bag and every sign of it being b/n.  Finally I got a Phase Eight stone coloured long top - the sleeves and top half are cobwebby fine graduating to heavier lace at the bottom...this was £3.

goldfinches

Miró said:

@goldfinches  Ooooh I found one of those diddy Mason Cash mixing bowls in my local community chazza....20p and mixed in with all those ramekins you get free with posh yogurt in them!

Today has been another 'spendy' day!  First of all, continuing the kitchen theme I found a b/n pack of 4 re-usable Bee Green Wraps, (wot you use instead of clingfilm  to wrap food in).  I remember people talking about these on the Old Style thread yonks ago but when I looked into them they were hellish expensive.  Just looked mine up and they are priced at £25.49  but today in the community chazza they were 30p.  Then I found a dark denim knee length skirt by Pure on the reduced to £1 rail, (love this brand).  Then I found an M & S olive green jacket for £5 with the spare buttons attached in a plastic bag and every sign of it being b/n.  Finally I got a Phase Eight stone coloured long top - the sleeves and top half are cobwebby fine graduating to heavier lace at the bottom...this was £3.

I paid £4 for mine! I know what you mean about the ramekins, they're suddenly everywhere here along with the charlie bigham's pie dishes and the jolly coloured china ramekins that came with some ready made puds a while ago. I've got half a box full of the glass ones already which I use for freezing individual portions of puds and sorbets but definitely won't be purchasing more.