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Original poster

Can I just say how much I LOVE charity shops

132 replies

BillyJoe111 · 07/09/2021 13:59

So I wanted to get dd one of those activity center things shaped like a car for her first birthday a couple of weeks ago. Only they are about £80, which we can’t afford. I was a bit gutted, dd didn’t care one bit and was over the moon with a box of wooden blocks.

Walking past a charity shop this morning, guess what was in the window?

Yep, the car activity centre, for £3.50 ShockGrin

All lights and music working perfectly, good as new. Only thing missing was the shapes to put in the shape sorter thing the car door, but, they had a shape sorter for sale for £1 and the shapes are the perfect size Grin

Dd has now been sat in it for 45 mins pressing buttons, and laughing.

So, so happy!

I’m a massive fan of charity shops, especially for baby things, and I always donate when my children have grown out of things and this made my day.

OP posts:
summerisler · 07/09/2021 22:31

Oh and also got a mug from one last week as it caught my eye in the window. £2 rather than the £12 it currently is at Urban Outfitters!

bigbaggyeyes · 07/09/2021 22:52

When we go away I always visit charity shops, generally because we go to nice places, and they have really decent stuff. I went to a lovely Cotswold village this year, they had a local charity shop full of designer stuff. I spent £40 and came out with armfuls of clothes

MrsFlinch · 07/09/2021 23:09

I love charity shops! Have picked up some great bargains over the years.
I think my best find was an original Victorian fire surround. Had been looking for one for ages but was going to cost upwards of £250. Then totally by chance and pure luck found one for £25!

We have a brilliant charity shop near us where nothing is over £3.00, lots of branded and new items. Was just saying to my mum you could get a whole outfit including coat shoes and a handbag in there for under £20.

Not like the BHF who price according to the labels and not taking condition into consideration!
Also Primark stuff being priced higher than it is to buy new! I’ve stopped going there now.

MissTrip82 · 07/09/2021 23:16

That’s such a nice story!

I get crockery and so on from charity shops, because the homeware style that I love is the kind that would be found in the home of an elderly lady, and charity shops always have it.

habibihabibi · 08/09/2021 03:31

I live abroad and the shops I love best when back in the UK are charity shops.
My ILs village is the best. It's an area with lots of affluent pensioners who are down sizing or sadly departing all together.
My best find has been a pristine and beautiful Maxmara cashmere coat. I also claimed a unused cambridge satchel for £5.
In London, there are some child clothed and toys specific charity shops. My nearest is rammed with prams, cots, costumes, games, amazing clothes, toys and books. Recently, when I visited they had so many donations it was like Aladins cave.

DukeOfEarlGrey · 08/09/2021 03:48

I've been having a big clear out this week, I need to create space and persuaded myself to let go of a lot of nice things that have gone to charity shops. This thread is lovely to read and I hope some of my things make someone feel similarly pleased!

Ragwort · 08/09/2021 03:58

Lovely to read all the positive comments about charity shop, I manage a charity shop and absolutely love my job, so exciting to receive all the wonderful donations and you just never know what is going to be donated. And so true about holiday makers loving charity shops, we are in a tourist destination and get so many happy visitors willing to spend money.

Not so keen on having to deal with some of the absolute rubbish we are given though ... it's the worse bit of the job as not everything can be responsibly recycled

Original poster
BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 09:49

@Boredmotherofone

Years ago, my Mum & Dad were in Jones The Bootmaker and Mum fell in love with some sandals. She couldn't afford them so left them behind (if I'd been there, I'd have bought them for her) On way back to car they walked past a charity shop and what was in the window? Those exact sandals she'd seen, in her size and still had Jones tag on! She was over the moon 👡 (She never buys herself anything. Ever!)
That’s amazing! Lucky finds like that are meant to be!
OP posts:
Divebar2021 · 08/09/2021 09:49

I think a well run charity shop can be fantastic and I’ve had many bargains. I do wonder where plus size fashion is but I presumed that living in a fairly affluent area that people were generally slimmer. ( I’m a size 16 but still don’t find many items). I don’t expect everything to be 50p - I’ll pay decent whack for a good brand but do think some shops are unrealistic with pricing. Eg I saw Diary of a Wimpy kid ( and the rest in the series) for £2 each. I find the better items in the independent shops… I think with the chains they farm off the best stuff to trendy city centre locations.

Notradespeopleareavailable · 08/09/2021 09:52

I read books at an alarming rate and keep them in immaculate condition. A charity shop in my town benefits from a huge donation of them when I have collected a pile. So I think some lucky people are going to find them and get them for a steal price :)

Original poster
BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 10:56

Gah, I can’t find the comment now, but someone mentioned up thread about the line of charity shops that specialise in children’s clothes and bits and bibs in London.

We had one where i lived in west London and I hated it. It was hideously over priced - a baby sized t shirts from primark that would have cost £2 or less new were faded and selling for a fiver, buggies that were past their best selling for £100.

I hated them with a passion but all my better off friends would go on and on about how amazing they were. Good for the charity I guess and there is a reason they are in affluent areas. I never donated anything there, I wanted to do someone like me a good turn, not see something that I’d previously bought in a charity shop for £1 being put back in their shelves for 5.

I go to charity shops because I can’t afford to pay those prices!

OP posts:
Member278307 · 08/09/2021 11:00

Where are these wonderful charity shops. Live in cheltenham. Every thing priced very high most if it rubbish.

MeredithMae · 08/09/2021 11:35

There was a children's charity shop when I had DS in Earlsfield (not sure if its still there) and I got SO much stuff from there when he was small!

Divebar2021 · 08/09/2021 12:52

The children’s shop I visited was near Clapham Junction - I don’t remember it being excessively expensive. They don’t have many clothes for children 11 and upwards though ( in common with lots of charity shops) and I just can’t work out where those items end up.

afaloren · 08/09/2021 13:35

I was walking past a charity shop once and saw a basket I thought would be nice to put flowers in. Well I never have because our cats, who reject all expensive cat beds, scratching trees, etc, absolutely love to sleep in it. The best £2 I’ve ever spent Grin

MyGrassIsBrowner · 08/09/2021 13:55

LOVE reading threads like this. How lovely, bet your little one is chuffed to bits! I also buy a lot on FB Marketplace now too, people practically giving away stuff for free. I got my hands on an IKEA Duktig kitchen for my DD and plan to upcycle it for her for christmas.. a whole ten pounds it cost me and is in quite good nick too!

AlfonsoTheMango · 08/09/2021 14:09

@MeredithMae

There was a children's charity shop when I had DS in Earlsfield (not sure if its still there) and I got SO much stuff from there when he was small!
The Farah one is, yes.
Original poster
BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 15:59

@MyGrassIsBrowner

LOVE reading threads like this. How lovely, bet your little one is chuffed to bits! I also buy a lot on FB Marketplace now too, people practically giving away stuff for free. I got my hands on an IKEA Duktig kitchen for my DD and plan to upcycle it for her for christmas.. a whole ten pounds it cost me and is in quite good nick too!
I really miss where I used to live. Everyone would just put things on their front wall with “free, please enjoy” and post on the local facebook group that they had done it. I got a lovely Ikea kitchen to upcycle for free, my 7 year old got years out of it!

I passed on so much and received so much and met some really lovely people in the process. I know my dds old highchair is still doing the rounds, I think it’s on the 5th child now!

Here, I can’t even give away the uniform that dd obviously only wore for half the year last year and outgrew. It’s still like new.

Even the school told me that parents here don’t do second hand when I asked if they wanted it to pass on. I asked my SIL (same area, different school) and she said, yes, they just bin it. It’s looked down upon to have anything secondhand, sometimes even between siblings Confused

OP posts:
Ragwort · 08/09/2021 16:04

Billy that is very true, I don't even bother to sell school uniform in my charity shop as people just aren't interested in second hand uniform (& I would only put it out if it was in immaculate condition). We also get brand new school wear from a well know retailer and I can't sell school trousers/skirts at even £1 each.

I find it strange - maybe I am old fashioned but my DS lived in charity shop clothes for most of school years ... and now as a Uni student he loves finding his own bargains in charity shops.

Original poster
BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 16:10

My older dd and ds, I don’t think I bought one bit of new uniform. Their schools where we used to live had thriving second hand uniform shops, it was a bit strange not to have that here! I did ask at the school when she joined last year and was told that a couple of parents had tried to set one up over the years but that it had little interest. Such a shame!

I have picked up a couple of school skirts for dd in charity shops, but not much.

OP posts:
Knittingnanny · 08/09/2021 16:29

Nearly all of my children’s clothes and toys came from charity shops when I was a young mum in the 80’s. The local NCT sales were great too.
They used to say “ who did this used to belong to mummy?”
Even when they had the occasional new item!

Natsku · 08/09/2021 18:56

I love charity shops, buy most of our clothes and stuff from them really, I hate to buy new when I can buy second hand. I always pop in when I pass one and look to see if there's any English books (living abroad there aren't usually many but might find a couple) and I buy nearly every book I find. Best haul was when I found a whole lot of Agatha Christies selling for 20 cents each!

I used to work in some and the best days were when people would drop off donations and I would sort through them - searching for treasures!

Divebar2021 · 08/09/2021 19:03

I don’t understand how a whole area can be opposed to second hand uniform - that’s madness. I’m in a solidily middle class area and our school has a frequent second hand uniform sale - particularly for the monogrammed items (for which there are many.) I’ve also seen them for sale in “ community” cafes as well as charity shops. Perhaps it’s acceptable because no one has anything to prove - thrifting is a kind of hip past-time if you don’t actually need to do it.

Original poster
BillyJoe111 · 08/09/2021 19:20

@Divebar2021

I don’t understand how a whole area can be opposed to second hand uniform - that’s madness. I’m in a solidily middle class area and our school has a frequent second hand uniform sale - particularly for the monogrammed items (for which there are many.) I’ve also seen them for sale in “ community” cafes as well as charity shops. Perhaps it’s acceptable because no one has anything to prove - thrifting is a kind of hip past-time if you don’t actually need to do it.
Yes, this is one of the most deprived areas in the midlands. I think there is a lot of pride in being able to buy things new.

I previously lived in a very affluent part of London where it was a badge of honour to buy second hand everything. People always used to comment on below ‘green’ I was - truth is I was just broke and didn’t have a choice!

My parents in law drive me nuts, they will bin perfectly good clothes/household items rather than donate them.

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CurryLover55 · 08/09/2021 19:32

I love charity shops! The best one locally is the hospice shop as they have a massive clearance warehouse out the back with 4 items of clothing for £1, beautiful coffee table books 4 for £1 etc etc. I have had some great bargains generally. DD12 has quite an eye too. The one annoying thing is when the shops don’t really think about pricing so you get Asda, Primark etc at the same price as designer gear.