Charity Shop Treasures

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Charity Shop Treasures
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cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 8:12 am Post subject:

ruby wrote:

My sister used to live in such a posh part of middle England but dahling what does one dooo with used skis and champagne buckets

Skis would presumably be great for growing beans up, and champagne buckets would be marvellous 'feature' planters for radishes or something like that.

So, which charity shop were they in...? (grabs pencil).

Oh, I'm also a charity shop junkie.

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 8:16 am Post subject:
I went to work yesterday wearing an outfit that had cost me exactly 66.6pence (recurring). Not including my underwear (yes, I had some on )

Anna-marie

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 980
Location: West Wales

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 8:25 am Post subject:

Sorry, can't really afford the time to go browsing. I don't often go into town, but when I do, I always visit the used-book stall in the indoor market. I just love books!!
My friend is an absolute charity shop junkie. She has dressed her four boys in "finds" from charity shops for most of their lives - the eldest is fourteen now, and the youngest two and a half.
God knows what she will do when they have all flown the nest - dress the grandchildren, I suppose.
I really admire her addiction, except, of course, when we were on holiday together, and I was dragged into every charity shop we saw. A quick look told me whether or not there was anything I wanted, but my friend inspected everything minutely, several times, before buying anything.
She is always like this when shopping, and it drives me mad!!! All that time to buy one item!!! When we could be visiting "the sights".
Never mind, I can always go and stand outside with the kids!!

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 8:47 am Post subject:

I love charity shops, but I try to be disciplined and I although I can't walk past one without going in, I usually just have a quick glance at the household stuff, a scan of the non fiction and a check that there is no good fabric or wool. I rarely stop to go through the clothes or fiction. Most of our house was kitted out with charity shop and car boot finds, though we have actually bought some specific furniture in recent years rather than just working with what relatives no longer needed

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 10:15 am Post subject:

Me too: books, household, cloth & yarn and occasionally clothes. I go into Welshpool usually once a month, to the farmers' market, and while there I go around all the charity shops. The poor old chap is used to being dragged into or parked outside them when we're out together, but some of his nicest shirts came from them so he's not too bad about it.

What have I had from them? Well, a bright pink salad spinner, all sorts of yarn, Crwon Devon pottery (you know, cabbage leaf bowls and so on), Le Creuset pots, things for the grandson... all sorts! What usually stops me buying things is the fact that our house is the size of a smallish shoe box, so there's a limit to how much stuff we can house.

And we got a stereo from a boot sale a couple of weeks ago for £2: it's tiny and only takes 1 CD at a time, but it fits in the house and works fine.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Sep 21, 05 5:15 pm Post subject:

ruby wrote:

thank you for supporting (albeit indirectly) parts of my family - as we still own an independant bookshop

I make a point of it, and any other small shops - my dad was a small businessman too. I never pay by card in them either.

kally

Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Posted: Sun Sep 25, 05 5:30 am Post subject:
love charity shops here in Vancouver, Canada That item is lovely, and my guess is that it is from South America. Just a feeling, but who knows.

hermil

Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 42
Location: Manchester

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 5:26 pm Post subject:

I work in an animal shelter (independent) and we have a charity shop. I now have very few clothes that don't come from there (staff discount). Except underclothes, which I usually get from Matalan. Plus if you wait a few weeks, the things you need have a habit of coming in. It's great for kitchen stuff - the other week I got one of those really big, heavy aluminium pans you can't buy any more, and an enamel casserole which seemed to have been discarded by its former owners just because it looked a bit 1970s and had a tiny chip on the rim. People are shockingly wasteful. Every time I go to the council tip with something I can't re-use, I see tons of useful things that people have just slung in. It's heartbreaking seeing it crushed by those diggers that shunt stuff up to one side to make room for more.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28118
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 6:18 pm Post subject:

hermil wrote:

an enamel casserole which seemed to have been discarded by its former owners just because it looked a bit 1970s and had a tiny chip on the rim. .

I'm jealous, I recall looking longlingly at one of these on ebay last year. Insane for one to be chucked out because of a chip on the rim

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 7:50 pm Post subject:

good haul helping at the school jumble sale yesterday.
I got a lovely dark green, thick, jumper and a shirt made by Basler ( which I think is quite an expensive make) I just need to take out the shoulder pads! Book wise a gem of an oldie, The Practical Bee Guide by a Rev J G Digges, 9th edition from 1941 ( 1st edition 1904!) gorgeous old photos and a lovely poetic flow to the writing.

I'm always amazed how well the boys do, eldest has an eye for a bargain and always comes home with some really decent stuff like a good quality radio controlled car for 50p and Screwball Scramble, he'd seen advertised on the telly recently for another 50p.

Oh and all proceeds go to the school so result all round!

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 8:17 pm Post subject:
I like the library book sales. 25-35 pence per book. I spent a silly amount of money last week because the books were too good to let go. I got one on making wine even though I don't make or drink it because........well I don't know why, it just seemed a bargain- I am sure a few can relate to that!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 8:22 pm Post subject:

Bernie66 wrote:

I got one on making wine even though I don't make or drink it because........well I don't know why, it just seemed a bargain- I am sure a few can relate to that!

I get a lot of books from the train station bookswap (keep an eye out and gingerly turf the chick-lit out of the way and you can get Delia's Complete for 60p and some rather nice gardening and woodwork books, among others - recycling with a donation to a local hospital thrown in, just a brilliant idea!). I saw a beer making book we already own there, and bought it with the intention of finding a suitable victim - I've now rehomed it with a colleague who is on pain of death to make either a simple beer or else some cider from her neighbour's apples

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 8:23 pm Post subject:

Bernie66 wrote:

I like the library book sales. 25-35 pence per book. I spent a silly amount of money last week because the books were too good to let go. I got one on making wine even though I don't make or drink it because........well I don't know why, it just seemed a bargain- I am sure a few can relate to that!

the Practical Bee Guide was just that sort of book - I'd love bees but think where we are its not really going to happen, but its such a lovely old book, in some of the photos the folk are in Edwardian clothes and it has sentences like - 'Her mission is to propagate; and for that most holy office nature endows her richly' etc. Just a joy to own and read.

culpepper

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 638
Location: Kent

Posted: Sun Oct 16, 05 8:53 pm Post subject:
me too! I love charity shops. I found John Seymours 'self sufficient gardener' for £1.49 in Oxfam a few months ago.

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 05 4:10 pm Post subject:

I was delighted to pick up the hardback version of this book:

for £1.50 this morning. I had been waiting and waiting for a very expensive mushroom book to be delivered by amazon and just yesterday, decided to give up and cancel my order with them.

There is something comfortingly fateful and serendipitous about Charity Shops, don't you think?

Last edited by Lozzie on Tue Jan 10, 06 9:09 am; edited 1 time in total

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