Charity Shopping - New to You in '22!

Mistral001

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

Potternerd

Mistral001 said:

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

All my clothes except undies are CS. I am often complimented on what I am wearing. I don’t do it to be virtuous as it allows me to make mistakes and then redonate items after wearing a couple of times and then realising they aren’t really me. I do it because I love the thrill of a find. Nearly all my crockery is also bits and pieces collected over time from charity shops. Physical as opposed to Kindle books are either borrowed from Library, bought at CS or exchanged at Barter Books ( a fabulous emporium in Northumberland.)
All our furniture apart from our bed and one sofa is passed on, second hand or CS, auction pieces or found in back lanes. OH is a joiner and v handy so has restored and up cycled stuff. He also says even quite expensive modern furniture is often shoddily made.
For me that’s our style and by not buying new we have better quality stuff for far less.
it is also far less wasteful.

After a couple of weeks absence from CS due to a trip away where I caught COVID I managed to get out yesterday and bought a cream sleeveless Dorothy Perkins top with red stars on it for £3.

florianatwobob

@Potternerd next time I’m in the North East for any length of time Barter Books and Alnwick are on my list of places to visit  

Pollycat

Mistral001 said:

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

I've been charity shopping for over 40 years.
For me, part of the joy of charity shopping is finding something that very few other people will be wearing - unlike the racks and racks of identical items in places like Next/M&S/New Look/River Island etc.

It's the same with eBay. I've bought lots of Dr Marten boots/shoes/sandals that I don't see anybody else wearing. As I can wear a child size 2 (EU 34), I get lots of hardly worn DM bargains as the kids grow out of them before they can wear them out.

It's not the cost - I could afford to buy new - but I like the browsing and finding a real gem.

I do also donate to a few charities close to my heart on a regular basis - I've been supporting the RNLI for almost 40 years.

Mistral001

Potternerd said:

Mistral001 said:

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

All my clothes except undies are CS. I am often complimented on what I am wearing. I don’t do it to be virtuous as it allows me to make mistakes and then redonate items after wearing a couple of times and then realising they aren’t really me. I do it because I love the thrill of a find. Nearly all my crockery is also bits and pieces collected over time from charity shops. Physical as opposed to Kindle books are either borrowed from Library, bought at CS or exchanged at Barter Books ( a fabulous emporium in Northumberland.)
All our furniture apart from our bed and one sofa is passed on, second hand or CS, auction pieces or found in back lanes. OH is a joiner and v handy so has restored and up cycled stuff. He also says even quite expensive modern furniture is often shoddily made.
For me that’s our style and by not buying new we have better quality stuff for far less.
it is also far less wasteful.

After a couple of weeks absence from CS due to a trip away where I caught COVID I managed to get out yesterday and bought a cream sleeveless Dorothy Perkins top with red stars on it for £3.

I agree that one of the advantages of buying in a CS is that you can make mistakes without it costing you much.  There is a sort of safety net that you know is always there, even though you might not use it much.

Another advantage of buying from a CS over buying new, is that there is no sale rep. on commission telling you that the sleeves will ride up with wear or that everything you try on suits you.   

I suppose I have been so used to going to charity shops that it would be difficult to go back to buying only new clothes, if all of a sudden my income did take a giant leap up. The difference in prices between new and from a CS is just so large.

I make an exception to my acquired aversion to buying new clothes when I buy clothes for family special occasions such as weddings.  At the minute I am wanting buy a suit to go to a upcoming wedding.  Today I picked out a suit I wanted to buy at a department store only to find that the trousers alone cost £84.  I have bought trousers of a similar quality for £5 at a charity shop!  However, I am not turning up at a wedding in a second hand suit, so I am going to have to do more shopping and try to find what I want at a more reasonable price, but of course it will be new.

Wednesday2000

I went back into the local Havens hospice shop today as I wanted a denim skirt for going out next week. I did see a Karen Millen label on the rack as soon as I walked in so I checked what it was. It was a short jacket in a lovely shade of blue but really not my style at all as it had bows on the pockets! What a shame. It was only £10 too.

I did buy a Next denim skirt, a Debenhams black and white top, an M&S black cardigan and an M&S Woman red shirt. I also bought a satiny turquoise throw to go on the foot of my bed and a purple velvet cushion to match the others I bought for the living room in my new house. Very pleased. This shop is going to be dangerous as they must have quite a lot of stock turnover and I will be tempted to go in every time I go past, lol.

Potternerd

Mistral001 said:

Potternerd said:

Mistral001 said:

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

All my clothes except undies are CS. I am often complimented on what I am wearing. I don’t do it to be virtuous as it allows me to make mistakes and then redonate items after wearing a couple of times and then realising they aren’t really me. I do it because I love the thrill of a find. Nearly all my crockery is also bits and pieces collected over time from charity shops. Physical as opposed to Kindle books are either borrowed from Library, bought at CS or exchanged at Barter Books ( a fabulous emporium in Northumberland.)
All our furniture apart from our bed and one sofa is passed on, second hand or CS, auction pieces or found in back lanes. OH is a joiner and v handy so has restored and up cycled stuff. He also says even quite expensive modern furniture is often shoddily made.
For me that’s our style and by not buying new we have better quality stuff for far less.
it is also far less wasteful.

After a couple of weeks absence from CS due to a trip away where I caught COVID I managed to get out yesterday and bought a cream sleeveless Dorothy Perkins top with red stars on it for £3.

I agree that one of the advantages of buying in a CS is that you can make mistakes without it costing you much.  There is a sort of safety net that you know is always there, even though you might not use it much.

Another advantage of buying from a CS over buying new, is that there is no sale rep. on commission telling you that the sleeves will ride up with wear or that everything you try on suits you.   

I suppose I have been so used to going to charity shops that it would be difficult to go back to buying only new clothes, if all of a sudden my income did take a giant leap up. The difference in prices between new and from a CS is just so large.

I make an exception to my acquired aversion to buying new clothes when I buy clothes for family special occasions such as weddings.  At the minute I am wanting buy a suit to go to a upcoming wedding.  Today I picked out a suit I wanted to buy at a department store only to find that the trousers alone cost £84.  I have bought trousers of a similar quality for £5 at a charity shop!  However, I am not turning up at a wedding in a second hand suit, so I am going to have to do more shopping and try to find what I want at a more reasonable price, but of course it will be new.

Who will know except you that it is second hand? My go to posh dress is a Phase Eight one I picked up for £8 in the CS many years ago. It always gets compliments. 

I don’t know if this is the case for you but I have a boutique CS near me in an upmarket suburb that sells second hand designer stuff fairly cheaply. 

or if you have a British Red Cross near you they sell excess Zara stock. To be honest my local one has too much Zara and not enough second hand IMHO.
 

Today I bought a pair of Ray Ban sunnies for £3.
A Next navy military style jacket, with red piping (love, love, love piping) for £8.50 and a book for DGS 25p.

Potternerd

florianatwobob said:

@Potternerd next time I’m in the North East for any length of time Barter Books and Alnwick are on my list of places to visit  

If you have books you want rid of you can take them in to Barter and they’ll take them away for 20 mins and make you an offer then you can use this to buy your books you have chosen there. Last time I was there I think they were only taking 10 books per customer. They are also really strict about not taking former library books even if they have a withdrawn stamp.
Alnwick has about 8 CS including, rather strangely 2 Cancer Research shops just across the road from each other. And both selling clothes, books, bric-à-brac etc.
ive never been to the castle but Alnwick garden is fab if a little expensive.

florianatwobob

@Potternerd that’s very helpful info, thank you. I’m due a visit to a friend in Newcastle some point this year so I’m thinking of extending it by a few days and ticking of some parts of Northumberland I’ve not got to so far. 

Pollycat

Mistral001 said:

Potternerd said:

Mistral001 said:

Cherryfudge said:

Remember you are doing the environment a few favours too, @Mistral001! And, of course, the charity benefits.

Sorry I cannot indulge myself with such virtuous motives.  If I could afford to buy nothing but new clothes, I would buy them and not buy any second hand and would be able to afford to give more to charity by donating directly with cash.

All my clothes except undies are CS. I am often complimented on what I am wearing. I don’t do it to be virtuous as it allows me to make mistakes and then redonate items after wearing a couple of times and then realising they aren’t really me. I do it because I love the thrill of a find. Nearly all my crockery is also bits and pieces collected over time from charity shops. Physical as opposed to Kindle books are either borrowed from Library, bought at CS or exchanged at Barter Books ( a fabulous emporium in Northumberland.)
All our furniture apart from our bed and one sofa is passed on, second hand or CS, auction pieces or found in back lanes. OH is a joiner and v handy so has restored and up cycled stuff. He also says even quite expensive modern furniture is often shoddily made.
For me that’s our style and by not buying new we have better quality stuff for far less.
it is also far less wasteful.

After a couple of weeks absence from CS due to a trip away where I caught COVID I managed to get out yesterday and bought a cream sleeveless Dorothy Perkins top with red stars on it for £3.

I agree that one of the advantages of buying in a CS is that you can make mistakes without it costing you much.  There is a sort of safety net that you know is always there, even though you might not use it much.

Another advantage of buying from a CS over buying new, is that there is no sale rep. on commission telling you that the sleeves will ride up with wear or that everything you try on suits you.   

I suppose I have been so used to going to charity shops that it would be difficult to go back to buying only new clothes, if all of a sudden my income did take a giant leap up. The difference in prices between new and from a CS is just so large.

I make an exception to my acquired aversion to buying new clothes when I buy clothes for family special occasions such as weddings.  At the minute I am wanting buy a suit to go to a upcoming wedding.  Today I picked out a suit I wanted to buy at a department store only to find that the trousers alone cost £84.  I have bought trousers of a similar quality for £5 at a charity shop!  However, I am not turning up at a wedding in a second hand suit, so I am going to have to do more shopping and try to find what I want at a more reasonable price, but of course it will be new.

I agree with Potternerd about good quality & good condition 2nd hand clothes.
I've bought my OH a genuine Crombie coat for £15.00.
Checked very carefully before buying.
Price on Crombie website £495.
I'd rather he wore that than a brand new Next coat for £150.
You can tell quality and I'd rather he went to a family'do' in an expensive suit from a charity shop - even after dry cleaning - than a new one of lesser quality.