More Charity Shop Bargains for 2018 & beyond!

Laredouter wrote: »

I have just been catching up with your bargains today for the first time since October (the assignments started piling up so I have been quite busy)! I am so envious of some of your amazing bargains, especially the vintage Bayswater from a while ago.

I haven't really had much time to head into Norwich to look at the shops, but since I've been on the Christmas break I have had a chance to rummage around the charity shops in Essex. I haven't had much luck with my previously beloved Wickford Banardo's so I have decided to cut my losses. However, a few charity shops in Maldon, Burnham and Rayleigh (can't remember their names, sorry!) have been quite kind to me in their winter clothing sales. I got quite a few cheap books too but most of them were set texts/history books so hardly a treat to myself.

So my recent purchases have been:
A BNWT Fatface Cheshire jacket in chocolate- £15
An NW3 loose-knit pink jumper- £3
A Joules fine-knit striped jumper with a bluetit on it - £3
A Seasalt chunky striped jumper- £2
A pair of Next tassel loafers in a nice cognac brown (match a Concka bag I bought on eBay)- £2
A Fatface fine cable-knit jumper in a nice rust colour -£2

I don't think I would have paid the 'full-price' on any of these but I'm quite happy with what I did pay. I'm heading into Chelmsford tomorrow with my mum so may come back with a few more bits. I can't buy anymore books though until I have donated some .

It has been nice catching up with you guys. Hopefully I won't leave it so long next time!

Some lovely items there. I bought a fit and flare wool dress a couple of weeks ago, it was from NW3, I didn't recognise the brand so googled and it turns out to be Hobbs.


DFV - the last sentence of that poem is beautiful.

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I've given up on Rayleigh

I tell a lie: I unexpectedly had to make a stop in Rayleigh and had a chaz-tastic time in the local re-use centre off the main arterial road - picked up a nice lamp for all of £3. Providence

Also ended up with an outfit for my niece for all of £1 and a storage box for my dining room.

bobsa1 wrote: »

I’m now in need of a big cabinet type thing but don’t really know where I would put it.

Garage conversion?

Today's find: Orla Kiely small print bag £40 Hospice Shop
Animal top £4 Hospice Shop
Quicksilver Hoody £6 Hospice Shop
Soul Cal Hoody £8.95 Cancer
5 GCSE revision books £13 Oxfam

bobsa1 wrote: »

I’m becoming a bit crockery obsessed, I’ve also got a thing for Emma bridgewater and maddocks Indian tree and various others! Sadly dh encourages me so I have no one advising me against said purchases.

Deep breath, bobsa1 & meet the concept "Mission Creep" - I am helped by my family as they mutter "mission creep" if I as much a hold The Wrong Pot for more than 10 seconds.

With Denby there are Loads of different styles & patterns & colours as they've been potting for decades (& that includes the original Bourne, and the acquired as they needed the space & kit & staff Langley) so I use Denby Pottery 1809-1997 as a spotters guide, but, and it is a chewy But, it does stop at 1997.

Get it (The Amazon price is stiff but once you have the ISBN try an interlibrary loan?), read it with DH, examine the stuff on basestamps carefully (point him at Just those pages once he's looked at the colour photos?) and urge him to help you Stick To The Book. New Years Resolution - nothing you can't find in the book.

Identification websites exist, and here are one two & three to play with but you really need to get your husband's ignorance trained, or you risk ending up in deep water. (Says she, paddling strategically.)

This *could* turn expensive, so meet my Acquisition Committee Rules? (My family, realising I was a Denbyholic, set a few guidelines so we carried on eating.)
Every piece must be whole. If it needs a lid, it should have one, & ideally the Correct one. No chips, cracks etc are acceptable but 'would improve with soap & water' quite OK.
You may have seen how much new Denby goes for. If you are being asked about as much as that, you are being scalped. Some charity shops do use ebay etc as pricing guides & the only way to teach them better ways is Not To Buy It but let someone with more money & less sense buy it. (Keep husband on side here!) Our Committee runs at not more than 50 pence an item where we are getting a heap of bits and to Really Wrestle with haven't we got one already & anyway that pattern's pretty naff (the Colourroll years were a masterpiece of anaemic designs on pastels, much of which have survived - this is Not a reason to buy it.)

I'll leave it to you as to whether you really want all six little lidded soup bowls or just a few really useful lidded casseroles & veg dishes & the unspeakably huggable mugs, but I do urge you to be Very Very Picky. Says she from dashed nearly Under a great wall of china. My family let me get away with all sorts of vices, but the Denby is the one they both collaborate with & regret.

The Emma Bridgewater stuff is much trendier & easier to resell, has a royal connection for ease of marketing and is a sharper elbowed fight to get in consequence.

What ever china you decide to call to you, shop with a couple of copies of the Metro shoved in a handbag. Helps get the finds home whole and takes up less space than bubblewrap. Then you can start wondering about containers - as a nice china cabinet fills horribly quickly Once You Start.
The Really Useful Boxes are admirably robust but hideously expensive. Almost as bad as the china, but you can always reuse a Really Useful Box, whereas the china is trickier.