Charity Shop Bargains...

Dandelion wrote:Mr D has invented a new charity shop game. He looks for the nastiest object he can find, holds it up to me and says loudly 'You don't have to let the charity shop have it if you still want it. I'll buy it back for you'.

Dandelion wrote:Mr D has invented a new charity shop game. He looks for the nastiest object he can find, holds it up to me and says loudly 'You don't have to let the charity shop have it if you still want it. I'll buy it back for you'.

I know I've met him (briefly), but the more I hear about Mr D the more I like the man!


Mrs C

That's awefull. I love it. We do something similar, just saying the "Look I found it! That's the one, right!?" It's the most horid, rotted, flashy thing usually. A dreadful LP, an aweful lamp, a hideous pair of shoes, etc. And with clothing items, you can further add embarassment by making wildly inaccurate guesses about sizes as well. Sometimes, I don't know how DW puts up with me, lol.

Oh, found three folding camp style chairs last week for $5. They'd go new for over $20, they're nice ones. We spend so much time at the camp fire in summer. AND found two blonde wood (don't really care about color) folding TV trays. Not sure what you'd call them in UK. They've got a table top about 35 cm by 45 cm or something like that, and fold flat. We'd seen a set on clearance at a store closing with four of these and the stand for $40 last week and thought about it, that's 70% less than original retail for the all wood. They're often used for eating while watching TV; us Americans and our bad habits, lol. However, they're GREAT for the laptop while you're at the sofa. We saw two at the shop for $5 each. We got them both. Brilliant!

You have to admire one of our local charity shops, which in readiness for the Big Chill has labelled everything 'retro' to sell it to Chillers. So the window is full of moth-eaten 'retro' blankets and old ladies' 'retro' ankle boots!!

Dandelion wrote:You have to admire one of our local charity shops, which in readiness for the Big Chill has labelled everything 'retro' to sell it to Chillers. So the window is full of moth-eaten 'retro' blankets and old ladies' 'retro' ankle boots!!

Ours are full of 'Festival Essentials' during June.

I could imagine that covering a wide range of 'essentials'!!

Haven't been round the charity shops for ages - came back just now with a few bargains. Mr D bought a very large heavy duty playmat (one of those things with roads printed on it) to use in the unit where he works, I bought some curtains which I'm going to cut up and join to make a new door curtain to beat the cold this winter, and the real bargain was a couple of mugs, new, but 25p each. They are those ones which pharmaceutical reps give out to doctors - they're going in the staffroom. Will anyone want to take my 'Siemens solutions' or 'Nystatin mouth pastille' mug??

Have been managing to get around ours a couple of times a week, picked up several books for £1 or 50p, I now find it hard to pay anything more than £3 for a book, & that would have to be a thick good condition hardback...

But a couple of my other recent goodies include:

a "Jemp" greenhouse window opener for £2.75
an "Owl" wireless Electricity Monitor for £3.99, the next day there was one the same, in the same shop for £4.99

& my latest...

a "Tefal Quick Cup" water heater (as recommended by "Self Sufficientish" & "Energy Saving" sites...) for £4 ... the same model seen on Fleabay on the same day for £40 "Buy it Now"...

I've been on the look out for wool at our local charity shops but they were out of stock....visited a relative and happened to pop into a local charity shop near theirs and grabbed 19 balls of wool for under £6, not full balls, but plenty of creating going to take place now :-)

Out of interest - do people find certain "chains" of charity shop better for different things? I'm wondering if it's always the case or if it is just a very local thing based on the different distribution warehouses that the charities have?

For example - round here there is one Cancer Research shop that does a fantastic trade in secondhand records. Lots of music types that I know go there all the time, yet they're not your usual charity shop shopper. Yet the same shop doesn't do any children's clothes at all. A local Children's Society is fab for toys and always has loads in. A local YMCA shop has amazingly cheap children's clothes whilst a hospice in Welwyn has an amazing range of furniture (but the grumpiest shop manager ever!)

Whatever - I'm convinced that all the best things go to the Isle of Wight for Spar!

Mrs C x

I like the way that the British Heart Foundation shops sort their clothes into sizes. On holiday a few years ago I bought some brilliant things from the BHF shop in Tunbridge Wells. I don't buy clothes here in Ledbury because the town has an ageing population, so most of the stuff is for pensioners. Sue Rider has a lot of new stuff (dolls house furniture for instance) - the best place here is the local hospice shop because it has a lot of books and interesting odds and ends.

Oooh I haven't been in here fore a while have I...

Recent highlights include:

Marillion Double C.D. - £3.99
Bag of "handymans" tools - £3
Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells 2 - 99p
2x Marguerite Patten Wartime Cookbooks - £1 each
Leatherwork Manual of Techniques - £1.20

Oh, call the drummer - Mr Collins will do, drum roll required...
My best one for a long time, & probably one of my best evers...
This is the one...

The brand new unused http://www.freshlifesprouter.com/main.asp that is sat in the kitchen growing some lovely fresh beansprouts for the weekend...

£4

(yep 4 of Sparhawks squids)...

Sparhawk wrote:
Oh, call the drummer - Mr Collins will do,

No. He will not.

I'll lend you Miss JG for a drum roll.

I think drumming must be becoming more common. Our next door neighbour drums too. He's built a sound proof shed in the garden. (but I can hear him a bit)

He could have called his younger brother, but no one would have known him

http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/d/0/0/MULTI~SHARP-3001-WETSTONE-WATER-COOLED-SHARPENER

brand new unused...

£2

That looks like a nifty bit of kit

Looking forward to my next time off to put it together & bring a few old tools back to life...

I can't match the inimitable Sparhawk, but did get a nice wooden 'marble run' construction toy today, to put in the toybox for the grandchildren. All of two squids, and it is complete and in virtually new condition. John Lewis has a smaller set retailing for £11.

If I had been on the forum early last year, I would have taken enormous delight in gloating about my best ever charity shop bargain - a gym quality cross (eliptical) trainer for £20. It all works. They retail for £400-£500. Bought mainly for the man, who needs low impact exercise, but I use it more than he does.

After wiping my screen, I thought you said irritable

Quiet in the cheap seats please!!!

Sparhawk wrote:
http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/d/0/0/MULTI~SHARP-3001-WETSTONE-WATER-COOLED-SHARPENER

brand new unused...

£2

I'll be interested to know if it is any good. I presume you need quite a slow running drill to power it (wet grinding at high speeds = fountain !). An ELCB is probably a must too. It looks rather small and plasticky in the picture (as opposed to the Scheppach Tiger 2000 I have, which is big and plasticky !). Is it good just for honing, or can it really grind a primary bevel ?

I know anybody can write reviews, but all the reviews across different sites look pretty good, for that price theres not much to loose...

Ooh, long time since anyone wrote on this thread.

Well now, I have just come back from our local, and my favourite, charity shop with a Cheshire cat grin. For £8 I've bought a whopping piece of curtain/upholstery fabric. It looks brand new, and is the exact colour I want for the living room. 150cm x just over 8m. It will make a huge throw for our tatty old chair, and in time will be used over a different chair when I can find something suitable (and second-hand) to replace it. And they'll be plenty left for cushion covers, probably a table cloth and more.
Also came back with 20 balls of wool for £8.

Riches indeed!

Wow, that's good. I thought I had done well when I got enough fabric for a pair of curtains & a Roman blind for £14 - it was grubby down the fold & only needed a quick trip in the washing machine.

8 metres? That's amazing FB!!

Yeay! My favourite charity shop has done it again. This time, a pair of lined curtains, each 8' wide by 8'9" drop. Again just the colours I want for the living room, and I just need to shorten them a little, which will give me enough fabric to make tiebacks.