Have you ever found exactly what you were looking for in a charity shop?

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On Monday I listened to a Radio play of The Woman In White and it reminded me of how much I love that book and that I needed to get a copy. The copy I wanted was The Penguin English Library Classics version.

The next day I went into a small local(ish) charity shop and the exact book that I wanted was sitting there so I got it, for only £1:50 so I bought it.

It was a very nice coincidence that made my week so I wondered if anyone else has been looking for a specific thing in a charity shop, jumble sale or similar and found it?

Also a Spode 'Christmas Tree' pattern cake stand and a set of mugs in the same pattern to match my Christmas pattern. Plus Johnsons Blue Willow bowls and bread plates, so I retired the chipped ones.

I’ve had a few good finds over the years, let me think.

Oh I found a pink pair of converse in excellent condition in a charity shop. They weren’t super cheap, they were 15 or 20 I think but that’s still a good deal. I also found a pair of converse high tops in wearable condition for £2 from a car boot sale. From another car boot sale I got a really cool spooky print blouse, originally Topshop, for a pound. I wear it a lot in autumn.

I’ve had a few other charity shop finds over the years. Unfortunately I’m so fat atm I can’t fit into half my clothes, ha.

A winter coat. Was dreading having to go into the city centre to hunt for one, but on my way there I stopped at a charity shop and spotted a perfect Oasis parka for £3.

No. I always find loads of things I wouldn’t even think to look for but now decide I really, really need!

It’s often happened when I’ve been looking for specific children’s books, but then I’ve had a lot of practise and know which shops in the area to try first.
I once bought more books than I’d planned outside a local charity shop, so needed to pop inside to use the card machine as I didn’t have enough cash. Inside, I found a sign that was very geographically specific and personal to me (including an accurate distance marker), but relates to a location 40 miles away from the shop.

I got a beautiful evening dress in a charity shop for about £12, fifteen years ago or so. It was strappy, slightly fishtail style and mid-calf length in a peachy colour with black lace and little black beads overlaid on top. I wore it to an Oxford college ball that I was otherwise too broke to attend and it looked great. but most things look great on 21 year olds

Yes several times.

I desperately coveted a genuine Victorian fire surround and had been looking online for a while but they were selling for anywhere between £150-£300 at time, So resigned myself to not being able to afford it. Less than a week later visited a charity shop in the next town over and There they had a genuine Victorian fire surround for £25.

Another one when we cleared my Grandparents home after my Nan had died and grandad was moving into a care home. I found two coloured Pyrex bowls one blue and one yellow in the back of the cupboard from the 50s/60s My dad said they’d come in a set set of three but the orange one was missing. Anyway I took the bowls and looked online to see if I could find the missing one with no luck.
went to a seaside town many miles away from home and stumbled across a junk shop in a sleepy little village. Rummaging through their shelves I found the missing bowl for £1!

Not only that but in another charity shop on that same trip I found a matching set of 3 Ramekin dishes in the same colours again for a £1!

Never. I come out with things that I never planned to get.

DHs Nan died, funeral was on Tuesday. Realised on Monday I had nothing appropriate to wear. Dived into 1st charity shop only to find a gorgeous classic black shift dress for 4.95 that fitted like it was tailor made and in excellent condition. Labels had been cut out but it was lovely quailty.

I wanted a pair of lined curtains in a dark gold for our bedroom, had looked at John Lewis's made to measure service but that was expensive. On the way home I went into a Fara shop and found a pair for £12, lined, and the perfect length & width.

Yes!

DS's entire school uniform when he went to middle school.

When DD was 11 month old our steam steriliser packed up. DH had been made redundant some time earlier, we were really feeling the pinch. Went in on my way to buy some Milton tablets actually, to do gold sterilising, and there it was. Exactly the sane model as we'd had for £5. I sold it for the sane about 3 months later.

I have a very specific police-issue black winter jacket from my old CID days (about 40 pockets - amazing for dog walking). Very expensive brand, but a bit niche. I lost the fleece zip in insert for it ages ago and had just looked at the horrifying price of replacing it when I found the exact one for £1 in a small charity shop in a small town. Very random.

I do, however, also check jewellery for bargains. I've bought a Givenchy enamel choker, ropes and ropes of pearls, and a recent favourite is a gold, pearl and diamond brooch for £1.

It turned into a heat wave almost as soon as the first lockdown started in the March of 2020, did u ever wear it ?

Yes, quite often, although we do have several good ones here.
Last time was I needed a carpet bag for dd2 who was doing Mary Poppins for a musical theatre exam. I'd been in a couple of shops and seen a "will do but not perfect" then went in another and it was so perfect that the assistant said that they'd commented it was Mary Poppin's bag when they'd put it on the display!
It was "practically perfect in every way"- which incidentally was the song she was singing too.

My gran had this little metal rack that held 6 different coloured tiny glasses in it that my brother, cousins and I loved using as kids.

My mum inherited it when my gran died but by then the red glass had been broken and my mum was really sad it wasn't the full set anymore.

A little while later I went into a charity shop and saw an identical glass in the right colour by itself on a shelf for only 50p. You should have seen my mum's face when I gave it to her.

Arrived on first day on holiday and changed to get into the hot tub to find teenage DD's swimsuit was very snug on her on the top half as she'd had a growth spurt if you get what I mean.

The following morning we popped to the local Co op and found there was a charity shop next door which was very random as it was a very small village but the charity shop had a BNWT joe browns swimsuit which fitted my DD perfectly;my dd loves joe browns stuff and her other swimsuit was joe browns too.

I once cosplayed as Linda from Bob's Burgers. I bought her apron, glasses and a wig online, was able to wear my normal jeans and shoes but I needed a red long-sleeved top still. I decided to go round the charity shops before heading through to the city near us to try clothes shops there, and the first charity shop I walked into I found a perfect long-sleeved top in red, in my size.

I also just found a Cricut machine for £20 in a local one the other day. I've been wanting a Cricut for ages but was wary that I wouldn't use it as often as I thought and it would be a big waste of money. I've got a lot of jealous friends now about finding one for so cheap.

Quite a number of things!

I wanted some of those tall latte glasses - was looking at some in Next/Tk Maxx , but they were more then I wanted to pay. Found x4 brand new ones for £1.50 in my local charity shop.

I was after a pair of slim Levi’s in a specific light blue denim - the vintage ones I’d seen online were all £30+ (not paying that!)
I went to the charity shops near my parents house and found a pair in my size, exact colour and wash, for £3.00
I was genuinely made up. Still wear them now, 6 years later.

Most recent find was at the same charity shop I got the Levi’s - I asked my mum to look out for some wooden building blocks for my dd (my mum goes in all the time)
I visited my folks a week later and my mum comes in the room with this huge bucket of beautiful coloured wooden bricks in all shapes and sizes. They were £2.00! We were all chuffed, nearly as much as dd!

Quite a few times mostly clothes that could be used for drama outfits for DD, and my mum had just had a new kitchen fitted and wanted some temporary glass worktop protectors until she could buy some she liked.

What I haven't found yet is glass clowns, my mum lost her Dmum as a child in 1975 and one of her memories were glass clowns that she think her mum won as bingo prizes, a bit like the big brandy glasses with the cat hanging over the top. I'm yet to find them but will gift them for mothers day when I do.

I’d just bought a new king sized bed and was a bit skint so when I bought new covers I only got 2 pillow cases.

on the way back from the shop buying the new bed linen I went into a charity shop and there were two pillow case in the same design as the bed linen.

my youngest used to have an amazing skill at car boots. He would always announce in the way to the boot sale what he intended to buy with his pocket money. Always very specific such as certain stuffed Pokémon toy. He always found what he wanted.

Adult DS, when you mention Princess Diana will reply with a jokey Facebook piss take of “wiv da angles’.
over the summer I said I’d do an afternoon tea and whilst wandering the shops said to DD who was with me “wouldn’t it be funny if we could find a Diana tea cup in the charity shop for DS”. I also needed a fancy cake stand.
The first shop we went in to had a Diana tea cup and a cake stand.

Replacement bowl for my Grannies old Kenwood Chef!

I had a top I wore for years until I had worn it out. Then I found another identical top still with the tags on in a charity shop. The bonus was I had now gone up a size and it was a size bigger than my original one.

Yes I was looking for (brand specific) Christmas jumpers after the ones I bought on eBay never showed. I randomly went to a charity shop I was passing & found one for each family member, I couldn't believe it!