Charity Shopping - bargains galore for 2021!

Jellytotts

I hit the mother load today, we have a charity chains clearance store here and everything is £1 an item for clothing, kids toys/bric-a-brac/linens are bagged up into like minded mixed clear bags for £1 and books are 4 for £1. 

Found a lovely pair of F&F casual trousers that fit like a dream and a really handy handbag that converts to a rucksack by unzipping the handles...lovely...

Then I spied wool, lots and lots of wool, I had a sort through the huge basket and picked out 10 mixed bags, I could see some of it was in skeins so was going to be decent quality. I left 7 bags (partly because I wanted someone else to get the pleasure I got from finding it and partly because I couldn't carry it!). Got it all home and looked it all up, anything that had a label on was priced up....a mix of pure wool, alpaca wool, merino sock yarn and a few balls of fancy acrylic...new price of £810.

DH was speechless.  I'm assuming that they'd had this all donated directly to the store and they didn't know its value.  I shall very much enjoy crocheting with yarn I could never normally afford.

oystercatcher

Jellytotts said:

I hit the mother load today, we have a charity chains clearance store here and everything is £1 an item for clothing, kids toys/bric-a-brac/linens are bagged up into like minded mixed clear bags for £1 and books are 4 for £1. 

Found a lovely pair of F&F casual trousers that fit like a dream and a really handy handbag that converts to a rucksack by unzipping the handles...lovely...

Then I spied wool, lots and lots of wool, I had a sort through the huge basket and picked out 10 mixed bags, I could see some of it was in skeins so was going to be decent quality. I left 7 bags (partly because I wanted someone else to get the pleasure I got from finding it and partly because I couldn't carry it!). Got it all home and looked it all up, anything that had a label on was priced up....a mix of pure wool, alpaca wool, merino sock yarn and a few balls of fancy acrylic...new price of £810.

DH was speechless.  I'm assuming that they'd had this all donated directly to the store and they didn't know its value.  I shall very much enjoy crocheting with yarn I could never normally afford.

I am so jealous. Round here wool is often priced at more than it would cost in a wool shop for part used balls !

Brie

@Jellytotts
I don't dare look at yarn in the shops as I would buy and buy and rarely make anything.  I ended up donating a LOT back as it just seemed silly to be hoarding it.  I get seduced by the colours.  

oldhaggis

oystercatcher said:

I am so jealous. Round here wool is often priced at more than it would cost in a wool shop for part used balls !

Me too. It's the same round here. Gone are the days when you could fill a clear plastic bag for £1. Now they want £1 for a grubby half used ball of acrylic yarn when for the same price you can buy a large brand new one in the colour of your choice from the household goods shop next door.

C_J

I am very, very envious of your wool haul Jellytotts - well done!

However the Chazza Fairies are smiling on me today too.  Mister CJ and I (well, mostly him tbh) have been redecorating our living room in the wake of having a lovely woodburner installed. I had budgeted a reasonably hefty amount for new curtains, and had a vague inkling in the back of my mind what sort of thing I would like, to match the new paintwork etc.

I almost didn't go into the charity warehouse in a neighbouring town today - I was tired, it had started to rain, I still had the supermarket shop to do - but at the last minute I thought I'd take quick look. And there they were. A pair of beautiful heavyweight John Lewis curtains in exactly the size I needed, in exactly the colourway and design I had been mulling over, lined and looking brand spanking new. For £5. I am a happy CJ.  

Brie

@C_J
what did you bribe the Chazza Fairies with????

Lucy5781

Brie said:

@Jellytotts
I don't dare look at yarn in the shops as I would buy and buy and rarely make anything.  I ended up donating a LOT back as it just seemed silly to be hoarding it.  I get seduced by the colours.  

Two wardrobes full of wool when we moved my grandma out into her daughter's house about ten years ago. She used to work part time in a branch of OwenOwen's a department store, and pretty much brought home any end of line packs. I at least got a purple chenille jumper out of one bag I found as a teenager back in the late 90s!!

Lucy5781

I'm in funny place mentally. (much more info on my debt free diary, linked in my sig) but, as I'm on a diet with hubby - have lost over 20lb so far, I'm spending money instead of eating loads of sugar.... But, mainly in the charity shops! The biggest thing is I've not just lost weight, my post C-section tummy is now much less apparent(after 3.5yrs!!) and it's made wearing shorter length tops possible again! I've sent a couple of bags worth in donations already as well. This and my growing 'f#@k it I'm 40' attitude has me making more of an effort to be different and have more fun.

I've lost track of some of the more specific bits but the usual run up to Halloween has produced great results for the kids dressing up box. Elsa, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Spiderman and Black Panther costumes in next sizes up, all £2 each from two different shops in town.

Frith

Bromyard this morning. £1.50....

MandM90

Wow CJ I am envious! What is a charity warehouse?