Lovely, lovely find in a charity shop today

[Gatekeeper]

I am bloody chuffed to bits; in in need of some new clothes but dh has just gone back to work after being made redundant last year and we are having to be very careful with money. My long sleeved tops are a disgrace and at least 6 years old

I unearthed 4 brand new tops these ones in clay, sienna, chambray and cypress for £2.50 each. quality is lovely and they are a perfect fit

Bloody pleased...can you tell ?

When is the best day / time to visit a charity shop?

I got a designer silk tunic for £5, original RRP just shy of £1000

And a designer dress with labels still on for the same!

My hauls this past month include a Whistles linen jumper, Jack Wills shirt, Louche chiffon blouse and Next chambray dress, all for less than £10.

You've got some posh charity shops round your way pug!

Having seen what comes in with tags on I reckon it's either:

a)something bought in the sales in a high fashion chain like H&M, Primark or Top Shop which when the next summer rolls around the purchaser has gone off it.

b)something bought in a size too small in the hope it will fit, or something bought fairly cheaply, not tried on and the purchaser can't be arsed taking it back or sending it back.

c)An impulse buy that someone's changed their mind about.

We also get a LOT of brand new baby clothes, I think some Mums just get so much stuff and their babies just can't wear it all. Some of the nicest condition stuff we get is the special occasion stuff - party dresses and wedding outfits particularly. Once worn, most of them.

Oooh, I love charity shop shopping!! I buy the kids new clothes but nearly all mine come from charity shops! Next jeans are great for a couple of quid!!

I actually work in a recycling and reuse centre-you wouldnt believe the 'rubbish' people throw out!! (And you should see my house-full of bargains!!)

This year I have set myself a challenge of only buying clothes in charity shops - it hasn't been hard at all, I am always finding great buys.

I sodding love charity shops! Most of my clothes come from there because I am Officially Poor, and also because you can get clothes from there that you'd never come across in normal shops. I got a gorgeous brand new dress for £2 last week (£75 according to the original label).

My mum is also a major fan of buying and donating. She moved house recently, and gave loads of stuff to the five local shops in our area. Quite odd for me to be browsing and think 'ooh, that looks just like teapot Mum ha... oh. That was her teapot.'

There's one charity shop in our town that's at the end of the poshest street. It has all the nice things!
The rest of them are full of bobbly primark.

Bought a gorgeous Burberry scarf in my local charity shop for £3 last year, but must say though I have restocked my summer wardrobe this year with some total bargains at our local car boot sale, including a new with tags Principles dress for £2 last week (price tag £55!), and new Limited Collection M&S high heels for £2 , hopeful for good weather in the morning to have another browse

Staffordshire- I can't remember the charity. Sorry!

OMG. I love love love charity shops. They're value for money and You have the satisfaction of knowing. You're helping to support a charity. What's not to love.
I got my dd 2 sister coats with berets from the BHF when she was starting school.
One was red. The other was navy blue.
Vintage type duffle coats. They only.cost me £2.50 each. Best bargain ever.

There is a local charity, Springhill Hospice, with shops in Middleton, Manchester, Rochdale, Littleborough & Heywood. The shop in Middleton sells some really good clothes at very reasonable prices. They have a massive selection with clothes coming in every day. There's a vintage rail, a rail of women's larger sizes, men & children's clothes. They sell bric-a-brac, bags & shoes but in the main women's clothes. They always have designer names & occasion wear. What's more the manager and volunteers are lovely. The money is for a great cause.

Just an appeal to those of you who also donate.

As well as working in a charity shop, I also work in the charity's warehouse where donations are sorted and I sift out what will be sold in the shops versus what will go to 'salvage' (we do get some pennies for the latter from the salvage company)

We are very grateful for all donations, but could everyone please wash items first? We get so much donated it isn't possible for us to launder slightly soiled or whiffy items and these will go straight to salvage - plus it is not nice for me and other volunteers to handle grubby clothing.

hmcAsWas - i always wash any clothes I donate to a charity shop and think it's absolutely disgusting that some people wouldn't do this.

The charity shops local to me are sadly full of bobbly Primark and supermarket tops mostly so it's rare I find a good bargain but did find some huge curtains in a vintage kids Laura Ashley fabric for £10 (estimated well over £100 worth of fabric in them) once. Was able to cut one curtain down into 2 smaller ones to fit my DS's bedroom and also cover a lampshade with the surplus and I've still got one whole curtain left.

I always wash items going to charity, esp after reading about some volunteer opening bags withsoiled knocks in, sanitary towels attached, vomitty clothes etc etc. Some people are swines for sure

This week I have bought a brand new M&S cashmere cardigan for £2. Still with all tags on it showing rrp of £79!
Also had a small gold and sapphire brooch for £3, a m&s per una top for £1 and a pair of pink cut off trousers for £2.

I head round our charity shops every other day because of the finds around here!

Most of you obviously live in affluent areas. Nothing but worn out Primark in mine.

I love charity shops and get great bargains.
I've got a (possibly worn on one occasion) little black Ted Baker dress for £2.50 and a pure silk Basler shirt for £1.75 - retail price about £175!!
We have tons of rubbish in our local shops, but my secret is I go around them frequently, so do pick up bargains. Sadly missed out on 2 Mulberry bags for £50 each - I didn't realise how much they were actually worth at the time or I would have snapped them up!

Only ever get books - nothing else worth buying here. But well done Gate, I love a thread that just makes me smile like this has. You're not a 15/18 are you?

Gah! 16/18

missed out on 2 Mulberry bags for £50 each

We regularly get Radley bags handed in - varying quality - and they fly out the door. We've also just got a new counter with glass cabinet thing to display some of the nicer jewellery and things like tea spoons or watches, and that all sells very well too.

My best buy was a Max Azria silk cocktail dress for £4. I paid some money to have it altered, but love it!

I got avintage 1970's Jaegar cord blazer for £3. It is gorgeous b

Felicia - I certainly don't live in an affluent area, just lucky to have fabulous charity shops.

there a charity shop near me that gets lots and lots of brand new boden stuff. i imagine they're reviewers or something

Can't speak for other charity shops but the charity I work for has branches all over the country. We get more donations than we can handle at our shop, so every so often the manager will ring round other shops in Scotland and find out who's low on stock, then a van will tootle off with loads of unsorted bags. We also rotate stock regularly to make way for new stuff, and that gets sent off to other stores too.

So a dress donated in Glasgow might make its way to Edinburgh and then on to Inverness before being sold.