Can we talk about fashion for a bit ..?

MrsE_2

ceridwen wrote: »

The phrase "having money to burn" comes to mind for anyone chucking out something perfectly good for a "fashionable" replacement.

Not exactly environmentally-friendly either - unless, of course, us OS-ers are there buying it.

My Granny use to say that:A

"they/you must have money to burn":D

GREAT SAYING;)

I'm guilty of this sometimes (not to extremes but a little) & I'm also one of those people who donates hardly used items. In my case its impluse buying & then I realise I'll never use it & its taking up space so I donate it. Not very MSE I know:o

mary43

originally posted by pigpen
I have 9 charity shops on the avenue

9 !!!!! Oh pigpen lucky you ! We;ve got four...........Help the Aged and Sue Ryder are the best, well for me anyway. The others are a bit on the small side. Mind you we have got three great big second hand shops -mostly furniture but one of them has loads of odds and ends as well. But this time of year they're very very cold buildings.............so I stick to the charity shops for what I want.

steel - I can be a bit of a sucker for getting something and intending to create something from it. I've currently got a roll of dark green corragated card, a small roll of canvas type fabric in off white and a roll of brown suede material. ..............so.........ideas please ????

maypole

When I buy furniture or curtains, I buy the best I can afford in a classic style, because I want them to last a long time. I could not be bothered to change these or change the decor every year, once it is done I like to enjoy it for a few years. Some people do succumb to changes in trends and of course, as people on here have said, this is when we can pick up a bargain and I like a bargain as well as the next person.

I had my cast iron le creuset pans for 35 years, bought as a wedding present, I have just replaced them with le creuset stainless steel ones and I anticipate they will last just as long.

beemuzed

I guess we should all be grateful for those who do donate good quality items, or we'd get no bargains! But it really does make you think, doesn't it? How much money do these folks part with in order to stay in fashion?

miserly_mum

As other posters have said fashion victims getting rid of almost new stuff is brilliant for all of us OS bargain hunters.

At the end of the day how people spend their money is their business. As long as they make the effort to take stuff to charity shops I really don't see the problem.

A man my ex hubby used to work for was loaded. Whenever him and his wife got anything new, including big things like suites, beds etc he put the old stuff in an old out house full of chickens and left it there to rot.

Most of it was like new and very expensive. He didn't need to sell it as money was no object. But was too miserable to give it to anyone else.

Its that sort of waste I really object to.

maypole

Oh I agree with you. Before I throw anything out I always stop to think if it would do for anyone. Mind you, some people feel they might offend others by offering them second hand things.

mary43

I agree with you there.................nothing worse than just chucking things because they're past their sell by date as far as the 'trends' go.
Thats just plain wasteful. At least if folk take stuff to the charity shops they feel they're doing some good and knowing other folk will benefit.
Years ago it was jumble sales people donated to........always for a good cause.
Do jumble sales still happen nowadays ?

In our street and the street next to it a sort of 'association' has been formed
and every little while they have a 'street sale' when folk have a tressle table outside the house with stuff they want to get rid of - its always cheap and I've had loads of stuff from it for my grandson........plus myself.
It's also proved a great way of getting to know people who've never met before.

Our little town doesnt have any of the stores bigger towns have and there's certainly no clothes shops apart from one where you can hardly afford to look in the window let alone shop there so charity shops and anything else like that is a godsend.

maypole

Street sale, what a good idea.

Years ago I took my "then" young children to a jumble sale, there was a lady arguing with one of the ladies on the soft furnishing table, she was asking "how much for the curtains," the other lady said 20p, the lady said EACH? OOH I AM NOT PAYING THAT! she walked away, how mean! :eek:

beemuzed

mary43 wrote: »

In our street and the street next to it a sort of 'association' has been formed
and every little while they have a 'street sale' when folk have a tressle table outside the house with stuff they want to get rid of - its always cheap and I've had loads of stuff from it for my grandson........plus myself.
It's also proved a great way of getting to know people who've never met before.

Mary43 - this sounds a really good idea!
I know we no longer do jumble sales at school - instead everyone gets a bag to fill which the PTA then have collected by a firm who recycle and pay the PTA by weight - absolutely no work involved for anyone. Actually, it's probably more a question of time saved rather than work, everyone's very busy these days. And at the end of a jumble sale there was always the huge pile of stuff which no-one wanted, not even the charity shops - we had to pay someone to collect!
I wasn't criticising people for keeping up with fashion, rather thinking I'd never have enough money to think like that!

mary43

originally posted by beemuzed
I wasn't criticising people for keeping up with fashion, rather thinking I'd never have enough money to think like that!

Nor me...........never been what you'd call 'well off' and think if I was going to be rich I would be by now.............lol
Mum was of the 'make do and mend' era so I was brought up with parcels of clothes sent from an aunt whos daughter was a bit older than me. I used to get so excited when something arrived through the post. Other than that Mum made all my clothes and I was just as pleased with them.
After I first got married neither me or hubby earned a great deal.......even less when I had the children so we used to go to jumble sales regularly. Amazing what you can re-create out of someone elses stuff.
When I worked at a youth club in the 1970's a group of youngsters there used to love going to a weekly jumble sale. I went with them -couldn't resist it...........lol and everyone grabbed whatever they thought would do for them of one of the others and we ended up at my house to sort out what would fit who. One of the girls was really good at adapting things so anything that needed altering or repairing she was thrilled to do.
One of the girls made a skirt by stitching neckties together -narrow part at the top so the bottom was pointed all round. Elasticated waist and she had a cheap skirt, whats more, totally individual and couldn't be bought in any shop.
So many youngsters nowadays see everything with a 'price' or 'brand' attached or they don't want it. Thankfully, at least one of our lads goes to the charity shop almost as often as me and comes home with tee shirts, brand named at a fraction of the cost.An ex foster lad haunts the second hand shops - did when he lived with us - looking for stuff for his flat that can be painted of done to his liking. Good to see that some young people don't fall for the 'image' that's so common now