Charity Shops

I go into every charity shop that I pass! I've had some great bargains and look for decent labels in good condition. I was in two minds about buying a cashmere jumper the other day, because it was only £3.75, but it was green! And although I'm a 'Green' person, the colour does nothing for me, so I left it for someone else to find!

My GD, 10 this month, haunts charity shops for children's books with some success. I used to buy lots of books from charity shops then I got a Kindle...

I love charity shops for toys, but DD tells me off as, she says, they've got too much already. (I'm sure most of it she's bought from Oxfam!)

We have quite a lot of charity shops in various streets in the centre of town. The big hospice shop sells a wonderful array of furniture – dining tables, coffee tables, three piece suites, corner cupboards, wardrobes, chairs, dressing tables, stools and so on. Some young friends bought a large and beautiful mahogany (not a very popular wood these days) table in excellent condition for £150. I have bought clothes and shoes from other charity shops that have clearly never been worn, often with their original price labels intact. My favourite was a pair of fabulous Italian shoes in exactly the right shades (variegated) of burgundy for which I had been searching for months. The soles were pristine and still bore an £80 label. I bought them for £8.

When absentdaughter, son-in-law and two youngest (at the time) grandchildren visited, I spent weeks beforehand ransacking charity shops for toys and children's books. When the all-too-short visit was over, most of these goodies were returned to charity shops to be sold again – a few games and toys were taken home to New Zealand or posted there by absentgrana as a result of a special request. What could be better?

I also donate things to charity shops and have a card with my giftaid number.

I love charity shops. They're brilliant for handbags and toys.

I have had some good deals. My last sucess was when looking for a pair of old denims to garden in. (I always kneel to garden and trousers rapidly get badly mud stained and worn). I found a pair of suitable garden jeans in one shop at about £5 and in the next door shop a pair of really good condition Per Una jeans far to smart to garden in for about £3. That's what I call a bargain.

We have far too many charity shops on the high street where I live. On principle I won't buy anything in a charity shop where I recognise the label as being from one of the dirt-cheap retails shops (e.g. "Primarni" as my daughter calls it). I've said on another thread, I'm a perfect Florence and Fred (Tesco) size and can get lots of bargains there off the peg - brand new catwalk copies. Just this morning someone stopped me on the way to the train to ask where I had bought my skirt. Another grumble about charity shops is when I lug a bag full of stuff there only to be told "We're not accepting donations today". DH won't go anywhere near charity shops - thinks they're smelly and doesn't approve of having 'other people's cast-offs' carried into our house. But I do go into them sometimes, I might buy a handbag, a vase or something else I don't really need!

My DS1 and DiL have found excellent pieces of furniture in the Sue Ryder shop. They want to furnish their 'new' house 'in character' and the quality of these older pieces is much better - and obviously more durable - than MDF stuff from Ikea.

We do 'Gift Aid' at Barnardo's Alison but were not offered it at Sue Ryder. Both Barnardo's and Sue Ryder take big stuff here but our stuff wasn't 'big'.

I'm with you Greatnan on Age Concern shops being a bit smelly but our local one does a day, every now and again, selling all the 'good' stuff and I have got some brilliant 'mid-century' bargains then.

Some of them are nicer than others , grant that , I only go in ^nice " ones.

I like the Sue Ryder shops. I am afraid Age Concern shops sometimes smell of age!

I think some of the charity shops have difficulty in accepting large items like furniture and some are not allowed to sell electricals.

We are fortunate to have a great local children's hospice shop and also an adult hospice shop next door to each other. We take our unwanted things to them and also things our son doesn't want any more. Both have a system where you sign up as a donor and a tax payer so they can reclaim the tax on the value of the sale. The adult hospice shop also has a bookshop in Worcester so when I have finished with books I stack them up until I am next going to Worcester and take them there.

I dont like them they always smell musty and are overcrowded with stock. I put all my unwanted stuff in charity bags hopefully they do some good but no aprt from buying Xmas cards in them I dont go in and I am really squeamish about other peoples stuff. I know its wrong and I should but I can't sorry.

DD developed a shopping habit very young. But as an impoverished student she realised that she had not got the income for it so she became, and still is an inveterate bargain hunter. She is in her towns charity shops on a weekly basis and has bought all sorts of things from household equipement to books to clothes. She was in to retro at least a decade before it became fashionable and has got an original Roberts Radio and all sorts of othe retro items for a fraction of what they would cost now - even in a charity shop.

Kittylester, it is funny you should say that nigh on the same thing happened to us , we phoned them and they said they would come round and the stuff was in good condition . Oh we can"t take that as it might not sell , well how do they know .

Since our son moved out, we have been reorganising his bedroom, bathroom and sitting room (known as the playroom - youngest child is 25 ). We had some odd bits of furniture, lots of books, some fairly recently bought bedding, some ornaments and lots of CDs. We piled them in the back of the car and went off to Barnardo's - who turned us away

We chose Barnardo's as they have somewhere to park and unload and we have no allegiance to any of the other charity shops in our town.

I understood that they were desperate for donations - obviously not!

We eventually took ours to Sue Ryder, which is what we should have done in the first place as they are being very helpful to Matt now he is living independently.

They have quite a lot in the USA , although they call them thrift shops and when we are out and about , we always hop in to have a look .

I love them and have bought nearly every handbag from them for years.
I have never found any in France, unfortunately.
You get the best stock in posh towns, like Tunbridge Wells.