| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Lozzie |
Charity Shop TreasuresHi ... My name is Lozzie, and I am a charityshopaholic ...Charity shops provide me with hours of simple and wholesome entertainment, not to mention a near-endless supply of essential items such as clothing, paperback books, and hard-to-find kitchen utensils. However, sometimes this addiction backfires somewhat and I find myself given to the temptations of the (drum roll, fanfare) IMPULSE BUY For example - I recently bought this: - but must confess, I have no clue what it is. I just thought it looked nice. 
(Does anyone know what it is??) Go on: Own up here, if you too are an addict. 
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| judith |
It's a little white square with an X in it! | ||
| barefoot_boo |
Imagestation says we aren't allowed to look at the pic you posted!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid187/p8b77cf2e5946e050e59b23654c3e0abb/f2393ea0.jpg |
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| ian1 |
i can see it !
candle holder ? |
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
I don't know what it is - lovely though - tea light holder? I'd just enjoy it in a window sill as is.
I favour jumble sales me self. having stood behind the stall at many, I always have a quick rifle 1st! Usually come back with at least a book or two if not clothing as well ( very few boys clothes in these places though, but thats boys for you!). I collect glass vases and usually pick up one of them too. You have to pick your area carefully though, to see whats likely to get chucked out. A friend buys all her kids clothes from jumble sales and as she lives in a posh area of town this means hers are dressed in Osh Gosh and Baby Gap! |
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| Lozzie |
sorry about picture problems! 
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| jema |
When time allows I just love Car boot sales.
it's a little like foraging  Loads of fun and quite rewarding.
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| cab |
Is it one of those things you burn an incense cone in? | ||
| sally_in_wales |
I agree with Cab, incense burner is my vote too | ||
| 2steps |
I love charity shops and bootsales too
I'd say it was for insence or candles |
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| wellington womble |
Its a Thing That Needs Dusting! While I don't object to pretty things, I do object to dusting, so I don't buy much at charity shops (they're good for jeans though, and kitchen stuff), but then I dno't buy much at all - I always check when I walk past though, and have a dangerous habit of buying knitting wool in them!
My problem is with book shops. I never come out without something, but I do use my local independet bookshop, to atone for my sins. and I lend them out to all and sundry, so they get well used! |
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| hils |
Re: Charity Shop Treasures
My name is Hilary and I'm a charityshopaholic too! Where I live there are 7 of them, so I can't help it. I buy all my clothes from them (except underwear and shoes & 1 new pair of jeans per year). My little girl gets dressed better with her charity shop clothes than if I was buying them new. I love it and I do get withdrawal symptoms if I have'n been in for a couple of days. |
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| sean |
I got an unused salad drainer (one of the excellent wire ones which you get to spin round your head), and a folding steamer for 5p each a couple of months ago. I've been looking for an opportunity to mention this ever since. | ||
| otatop |
I do the book shelves for MURDERS - and then pass them on to friends. And I know that I'll find the exact cake stand that I'm looking for - one day. | ||
| Cathryn |
thank you for supporting (albeit indirectly) parts of my family - as we still own an independant bookshop and as a result I am a total charity shop addict and would much prefer to browse there than in any posh store. I also cannot resist charity bookshops... And Sean I think we could set up our own website as no-one appreciates the pleasure I get out of my bargains  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
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| cab |
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. |
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| Lozzie |
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 )
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| Anna-marie |
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!! 
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| sally_in_wales |
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 |
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. |
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| wellington womble |
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. |
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| kally |
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. |
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| hermil |
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 |
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 
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
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!
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| Bernie66 |
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!
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| Bugs |
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
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
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. |
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| culpepper |
me too! I love charity shops.
I found John Seymours 'self sufficient gardener' for £1.49 in Oxfam a few months ago. |
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| Lozzie |
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? |
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| giraffe |
I recently got a beautiful old fashioned coffee grinder with a handle you turn at the side from the PDSA shop for a tenner.
Same shop - book of bread maker recipes - £1 and 1980s copy of Mrs Beeton - £1 |
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| wellington womble |
Look out for a raised pie mould for me, will you?
I have some lovely finds from charity shops - any amounts of clothes and old towels (for dogs) a fabulous big glass jug, bueatiful natural knitting wools (30p each! Autumnal coloured cotton chenille - its gorgeous) and lots of shopping and work baskets to put my works-in-progress in - latest find, a butter dish (don't have spreads anymore) with the price tag still on the bottom! Still on the lookout for a walking stick (for foraging) and bath matts for the hallway. |
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| Naomi |
I am an avid jumble sale /boot fair /charity shop/junk shop and skip rummager!
I have found lovely pieces of furnture in skips and once stripped and waxed they are really beautiful additions to our home. I buy loads of our household items, as well as clothes for all my family members from charity shops or jumble sales etc .I also buy books from charity shops as well as ex library books that I buy from the mobile library that visits us every fortnight. I even get the occasional bargain on ebay too. (But you must take delivery charges into the equation) I much prefer to buy second hand items, as it not only recycles them, but saves me money too. My daughter has a lovely warm winter dress ,originally from Monsoon, that I bought this week for 50p from our local charity shop. But I have noticed that some items in charity shops are not far off the new prices you get in the cheaper stores now. |
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| jamsam |
OOOOHHHHHHH
i jumped on this thread as soona s i saw it. i too am a charity shopoholic. and im proud!!! in my past career i was a manager for 3 different chains of charity shops and i know my stuff. i was brought up in jumble sales, charity shops, antique markets and the such. now i have my own kids, nothing fills them with more excitemant than apound coin and a new charity shop, they are the new experts, telling me what came out when and where the action man gets his boots from! my best buy, apart from a complete meakin 1065 maori dinner service for £13 was a little ring. i paid 50p for it in my art school days when i was working weekends in a big cahrity shop in surry. i wore it for two or three years and when the back finally broke i took it to the jewellers next door to get some thing to hold it together. the jeweller refused to touch it. it turned out after an appraisal to be russian turn of the century white gold and 13 diamond wedding ring.as you can imagine, i fell off my chair. it is now repaired and waiting for mr right. well, at least i have the ring...and the venue...and the transprot....and the dres...oh bloody hell, i need a man.
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| jamsam |
i have just realised how awful my spelling has become...transprot??? surry????
i just get so excited at the thought of telling you all things that i cant get my keyboard to work! if in doubt, blame the computer
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| Craftygreenpoet |
Charity Shop TreasuresYes, Crafty Green Poet is a charityshopaholic too...All my clothes (apart from underwear and usually shoes) and all my books (except those i pick up through the wonderful booksharing community that is bookcrossing (www.bookcrossing.com). I think i dress better and read better as a result..... (Has this posted in the right place? I'm new and my computer is confusing me at the minute.....) |
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| tigger |
Can tiggers go green? I'm so jealous! there aren't any charity shops, car boot sales or jumble sales out here! I go on a mad binge when I'm back in the summer, but the plane baggage allowance is so small | ||
| nora |
You could organize a jumble sale - you may start a new craze. |
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| tigger |
I did ask someone if it was do-able but they said that the tax system makes it to complicated (you're taxed for breathing in Italy!-well, just about!) 
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| Lozzie |
I thought tax-evasion was the Italian national sport, though?
Got a lovely great-big jam making pot yesterday for less than two quid. Happy bunny! |
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| JB |
So is there any market for second hand goods in Italy? |
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| hils |
Most recent include - a beautiful funky knitted zip up hoodie (for my 3 yr old) which is turquoise with purple stars. £1.45
A massive turned wood bowl £1 Wool which I buy but have only ever knitted one thing in my life! A Caithness paper weight for £2 very pretty. |
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| gil |
Lovat tweed Argyll kilt jacket in near-perfect nick £15 (they cost a fortune new). | ||
| Treacodactyl |
Anyone notice a surge of nearly new x-Christmas pressies at this time of year? | ||
| Karen70 |
Yep. I love this time of year. It's great if you want to pick up cheap (unopened and often very nice) toiletries or gifts for birthdays. My best (so far) charity shop finds have been a Singer treadle sewing machine, a meat mincer (hand powered like my mum had over 30 years ago), various bits of clothing and fabulous books. I love charity shops because I don't know what I'm going to find. Wassail Karen |
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| tigger |
So is there any market for second hand goods in Italy?[/quote]
one or two(literally) second hand clothes shops have opened recently in Bologna (the nearest big city), and there are markets that sell "antiquey" things, but you need a licence for that sort of thing, and there isn't any of the good rummage-around-in sort of second hand stuff and jumble sales just don't exist. There's still a bit of a snobby stigma to it, though I think attitudes are changing a bit. A few years ago some mums were offended when I offered them my daughters perfect cast-offs! 
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| tigger |
[quote="Lozzie"]I thought tax-evasion was the Italian national sport, though?
It is! (along with football and food! I've been following the diet thread and stepped on the scales this morning )
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| Moira |
I'm addicted too. I recently bought a set of cake tins for about 25p each, have bought beautiful green and blue norwegian wool at 20p a ball - an absolute bargain - often get clothes for family quite cheaply and other bits and bobs we need round the house.
But the one thing I have to try and curb is my book buying from charity shops. Books are so good - I want them all. Confession time: I once browsed a charity shop bookshelf and saw about four or five books I used to own and loved, so I bought them all. Took them home and found my name pencilled inside the cover - I'd been clearing my clutter some time before hand and got rid of a few books and now I own them again. Oh dear... |
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| Lozzie |
Moira! I love that story!
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| puffedpride |
Just found a luvverly marble chopping board in a Malvern charity shop!
Twas a fiver. Was I robbed? Guess they must be pretty dear new. |
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| moggins |
I'm a charityshopaholic too, I have 7 pairs of jeans and not one of them was bought brand new
Craft books too, I can always find room for just one more. |
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| Lozzie |
Never mind charityshopaholic, Moggins. I'd say you were addicted to jeans!
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| fenwoman |
I have 3 pairs of jeans and they all cost £3 a pair brand new from ASDA. The ones in the charity shop were a quid dearer each
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| Bill |
I like the way that you can tell a lot about a town by its charity shops. In Dorking's charity shops, for example you coudl kit yourself out with everything you woudl need for a skiing holiday and not look out of place in some top resort. Aldershot, on the other hand, caters more for ... err...the other end of the market. We can never pass a charity shop though. Or a car boot sale.
I keep saying to my wife that the world contains just about everything we need in it already. There is no need to buy new stuff. Somewhere, there is exactly what you are looking for, and you might not even realise you needed it until you see it! That is the best thing about charity shops.
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