Best charity shop find.

[Theearthisntflat]

I love me a charity shop and I was in one the other day and I randomly said to my mother 'I think we need a new pic for your husbands room 'cause the deers are old'. I went to the picture bin and found an oil painting in a semi decent frame signed by an artist called Alan Thompson, it was about 45cmx30 so not small small. It was a beautiful painting of a river and scenery, all very pink and green which was ideal for the bedroom and for the bargain price of £3!

When I got home I thought I'd google the artist as it had his card still attached to the back and I couldn't believe it when I saw a lot of his paintings sell from £600-£2.5k.......

Obviously not selling it but it's good to know that some good buys are out there!

Two different knomo bags £5/£3
Emma Bridgewater mugs various ones £1 usually
Blondie mania bag £3
Under armour trainers £3

Nicole Farhi cardigan for £5. Ercol armchair, £15.

Got my wedding dress (an actual full poofy satin wedding dress with a train) for £65. And maybe even better, I got married in March and needed something to cover up with - got an ivory wool French Connection coat from the £1 rail in the local hospice shop. It was a size 8 and I was a 12 so I couldn’t do it up but it looked lovely just popped on over my dress 😀
Paid it forward and re-donated it after the wedding. Spilled humous all down my dress so that went in the bin!

I'd been looking at a weight loss cookbook for diabetics recently in Waterstones; £20.
Couldn't believe my eyes when I found a brand new copy in a local charity shop for £1.50!!

Also got a Swarovski crystal duck with box and certificate for £10, worth at least £50.

In one shop that always has cheap bargains I bought a set of 9 vintage (1960s approx) world war 2 books for £2!!
And they threw in the small penguin ornament I wanted for free despite my protests! It was Phillip Laureston pottery.

I have also bought a Lomonsov wren from one shop for £2 & a Lomonsov chipmunk from one shop for £3; as Lomonsov doesn't always have marks it's easy for people to miss that they're worth anything.

Today in a slightly more expensive charity shop I bought a cute antique children's book dated 1900 with lovely illustrations for £6.99.

& a good basic unworn black top from Next, £3.99.

I rarely find good clothes bargains as I'm a size 14/16.

My best bargain was a tent that cost £5.99, it was in a very dusty, faded bag but I recognised that it was a really good quality brand so I thought I would take a gamble and if it was no good, donate it back. When I opened it up it was in perfect condition, it had never been used - the poles and pegs were still sealed in plastic bags. I looked it up online and this model was sold around 2000 so I guess it has just been sat in someone's garage for the last twenty odd years - if I were to buy a similar size and spec tent new from the same brand now it would cost me around £250. It's a perfect tent for me, great size, bombproof in bad weather and light enough to stick on the back of my bike - I've had many happy nights camping over the last two years for that £5.99!

I found a beautiful layered silk Dries Van Noten shift dress in a local shop for £6.50, in my size. Equivalent dresses by him are £700-800.

Saw two lovely large colourful modern prints of a seated man and woman in the window of a shop, obviously well framed, £90 each and figured the artist was someone decent. Looked up the artist online and her prints had a going rate of about £800 each. Went as soon as the shop opened to buy them - mainly because we just liked them and wanted more colourful art in our house; they hang in the front room and look fantastic. That they were such a bargain was just a bonus.

I've had many bargains over the years

I kitted all my babies out from charity shops

My eldest dd really wanted a necklace and had been drooling over it in the shop

I was a single mum at the time and just didn't have the £45 for it-I felt really guilty

Walked round the corner into bhf and the exact same necklace (minus box) was £1.50

We couldn't buy it fast enough

100% wool scarf-£2.50

I googled the brand and the cheapest scarf was £75

My youngest dd had knackered her shoes and I was dreading the phone call to my mother to beg her to lend me £30 to buy her some more

I knew I'd feel her narc rage and would be slagged off for not being able to pull money out of my arse,and by paying her back and it would leave me short the following payday

I took a slow walk the long way home,putting off the phone call and we just happened to see a brand new,still in the box and her size pair of clarks shoes in the charity shop window-£2.50

Couldnt get in that shop fast enough

I got home and cried with sheer relief

Was counting the pennies and was trying to work out which brand of nappies was the cheapest and how far could I make them stretch

£3 for a massive box of pampers in their size-only two where missing

Eldest dd had been saving all her money to buy a dvd box set which was £60 on amazon-£3 in the charity shop,still sealed

Same dd really wanted a pair of converse but I couldn't afford a new pair

£6 for a pair in her size,unworn,limited edition and much nicer than the plain pair she'd had her eye on

Many other bargains-i always check the charity shops/vinted/ebay first-I've not bought 'new' in years

I never find anything, but a friend did find an exercise bike for £5, the shop delivered it for free too.

Love this thread! There's a charity shop in my local town that sells clothes that other charity shops haven't been able to sell, most items are £1.99, I usually find a few gems in there. They have a sale rail in there too where all items are 59p each!

I got 5 etched vintage wine glasses for £2-50 and some 100year old Christmas cards for my collection £2-00

Regular charity shopper here. This week got DD a jumper £2, doubt it’s expensive but for a growing fussy 11yo it’s worth it. In the same shop pre Christmas my DD found a stack of magazines, new with lots of accessories from her favourite show that you can’t find the shops now, they are older than her so she was over the moon to pay £5 for something collectible that’s not available anymore.

Also this week got a bag of play balls for the dog for £1.95 and a jacket for a costume I will need in a couple of months. DH also found a gorgeous wool coat for the same event. Pre Christmas I also bought a jacket as part of a difficult costume for dd.

Pre Christmas got my dd a stunning sparkly princess dress she’s barley taken off, in-laws lots of hankies they asked for, DH a bullseye game, FIL a Winston Churchill book. DH also bought himself some canvas pictures for his office, he’s a bit of an art snob so I’d never dream of buying him anything, I took pictures but he didn’t get them before I left the shop, the next day he wanted them so much he cancelled his morning meetings to go and get them lol.

Ive regularly bought hit Christmas presents for my DDs in charity shops.

I’ve passed the gene on, my DDs are great at fining bargains, one begged me for a jumper a couple of years ago, she was 7yo turned out to be a popular YouTube thing, I didn’t think much of it, payed the £2.50, looked it up when I got home and it was £70 new. My 11yo dd regularly comes home with little gems.

I love charity shopping so much! I bought some Uggs in very good condition today for £8. And last week I bought a gorgeous alpaca cardigan from The Peruvian Connection for £6. When I looked at their website later, I saw similar cardigans priced between £300 and £600!

An Alexander Wang sweater, Charcoal grey cashmere for £5! Retailed at well over £350 at the time

I asked the lady behind the counter to hold it for me while I nipped out to the car to get cash (as they didn't accept card and that's all I had on me) When I returned less than two minutes later it was gone... GONE!!

The lady said someone else bought it and she had thought it was me, the same person who'd asked her to hold it!

I'm still bitter about it now.

Hunters wellies for £5
I was about to buy new crappy wellies so was delighted.
A Jaeger dress for £3.45 get so many nice complements about it.

What amazing purchases you all have.

I did get an Adidas sky Blue zip up (that shiny material), been looking for one for ages, £2!!!! It was perfect.

I've got my son many All Saints tshirts for under a fiver and I have bought them new for £55!

This week I got not a label but an amazing rainbow coloured jumper for £4.

Where I live the charity shops are getting more expensive, there is one that sells most things for a £1 and I got a real silver ring with a little aquamarine stone in for £2... that was a good purchase.

I love watching Charity Shop Girl on Insta and marveling at the bargains. DB gets some amazing stuff where he lives. Sadly I live in a retirement area where most donors are about 4 foot 6 tall, over 80 and don't donate anything under 30 years old

My most used buy was a lovely pink Barbour jacket I picked up for a fiver.

Also picked up a full length black sequin dress for a tenner. Not sure on make as no labels but it's beautiful.

A Barbour jacket for a friend's child lasted them 3/4 years before growing out of and passed on again £2
A scooter £1
Many many toys teddies for friends children £3 pr less
So many handbags -£5
Monterey Jack boots £3
I buy most things second hand!

Panama jack! Not Monterey Jack!

My thoughts exactly.
Enjoy your lovely picture, why shouldn't you.

Kenwood Chef and many accessories - £20.

This . They could have googled it .

Vintage Aquascutum 100% wool trench coat. Insanely warm, only comes out if temps drop below about -3deg.
Worth hundreds, cost me £20. Bought it about 15/20 years ago and I love it still!

Oh Wow
Now THAT is a bargain

Loads of things - I love a charity shop! Green silk Jaeger jacket that I’ve worn to so many weddings. Various Hobbs skirts and Boden dresses for work. 1950s faux fur jacket (the label proudly boasts “Genuine Nylon - crease-proof and moth-proof”!).

The charity shops near us are brilliant, and my in-laws who live in a different part of the country are always saying the ones near them are no good. But we popped out to their local town at Christmas and found a brand new Jack Wills hoody for 11 year old DD for £5, and an Issa dress for me worth £250 for £6.99!