My best charity shop buy so far!

[WiseBird]

As it is such a very wet day I decided to trawl around the charity shops this morning and have found the bargain of the year!

5.8 metres of Crowson furnishing fabric for £2.50, another 15.2 meters of the same fabric for £4.50 plus 14.2 meters of curtain lining fabric for £3.00

It works out to 33.33p per meter of the Crowson fabric and 21p per meter for the lining fabric. We just happen to live next door to a fabric shop so I popped in there to see how much Crowson fabric is to buy and was absolutely stunned at the price...£21.99 per meter

This find could not have come at a better time as we desperately need new curtains in the bedroom and our living room has still got the same curtains as when we moved in 12 years ago

So, I'm off to the library to find out how to make curtains when the rain eases up for 5 minutes

Any other good charity shop buys been had out there?

Donna

[Annpan]

We have a local charity shop (which is odd for a small village) it sells kids books for 10/20p The books that I have bought have never been read (I have only bough 3 so far - could have bought all of them but am rationing myself)... and E loves books

The shop sells other stuff but so far I haven't been able to have a good rummage.

[Bluemoon]

This is quite a coincidence (due to your photo) But last Hallowe'en I had to finally say goodbye to my beloved black lab. After leaving the vet's I walked past a charity shop and there, right in the front of the window, was one of those china plates. It had a black lab on it that looked so like my lovely boy that I had to go in and buy it (still in tears at this point) It cost me a fiver, was probably a rip off and in other circumstances I'd have thought it a bit naff, but at the time it felt like a gift from him, and although I have photos to remember him by this plate is very special.

[WiseBird]

I would have done exactly the same, Bluemoon...we lost Skipper back in December but I still miss him every day. Labs are the sweetest natured creatures and leave such a big hole when they are gone. We will have another lab eventually, probably a chocolate, but as yet it is still too soon.

I think you do have to be careful in some charity shops. Here we have an antiques 'expert' who goes around all of the shops in the town telling them what they should charge for their goods. We often see things priced ridiculously high only to be vastly reduced about 6 weeks later when it hasn't sold. I agree that they should get as much as they possibly can but often you can go and buy the same thing brand new for cheaper!

[mrsflibble]

I 'charity-shop-hop' wherever I go and have found a few things:
Trobridge in wilts; BHF overprice everything but the rest of the shops don't seem to know what they've got. I bought myself a gorgeous, white (yeah bad idea) summer dress this weekend which I'd not have considered without my mum in law doing her gentle badgering! I'm so glad she did though as it's the best fitted summer dress I think I've ever owned lol! I also got a garlic cellar which is quite pretty too.

Basildon we have self-appoointed "experts" in nearly all the shops whos skills really don't add up to much; for instance glassware in the PDSA shop, they end up overpricing 1980s repro tat while the proper original stuff goes unnoticed in the 20p bargain buckets lol! all the more C19 cellery jars for me then. Scope is wonderful and their cause is brilliant too. They've done so much for my mate Katie recently that I shall continue my good work spending lots of cash in their reasonably priced shop lol!

Laindon seems to be a hot-bed of uranium glass and I'd love to take a geiger counter into the largest charity shop there. I love uranium glassware but it freaks the hell out of my husband. more info on it can be found here

Grays has some really fabby cheap ones, but also some overpriced ones too. there is one great one near the shopping centre which sells offcuts of fabric, zips, buttons etc for a fraction of the price of buying them from a haberdasher's or hobbycraft. A few months back I bought what felt like a small lump of grey crushed velvet. turned out to be a rather large lump which is earmarked for a project now lol. BHF in grays; normal shop is overpriced and since the Thurrock Second Generation Project opened up in east tilbury, the furniture shop is too.

Thurrock Second Generation Project excellent place, Tea told me about it. I have bought our freezer and washer from there and when something else we own but can't afford to replace breaks, we will be straight down the A13 again. Peopel on certain benefits can get discounts on both the price of items and delivery cost if they live in thurrock. We don't, but they are reasonably priced anyway. find them here

Colchester can't "'dis" the BHF shop in colchester too much; a mate from school works there; but like all the rest it's somewhat overpriced. Scope again is the most reasonably priced. If one of my mum's ex students is working she gets their staff discount too in most of the charity shops lol. A place for the feint-hearted to avoid is the RSPCA shop in Prettygate. Great if you've got a couple of hours and strong "I love jumble sales" disposition!

So, here's my guide to the local (and not so local) charity shops lol!!!

[urbanwookie]

So, here's my guide to the local (and not so local) charity shops lol!!!

What an excellent idea! I've noticed that in some places around here charity shops are getting thin on the ground...but seem to be burgeoning in others! My experience suggests that small towns seem to be better served than cities...

Nice to know we've got a charity shop maven like you!

rb

[marshlander]

Found some good books in the past but prices seem to be going up on anything worthwhile.

[barefootlinzi]

my best charity shop find was a treadle sewing machine....not rare or expensive but useful, or will be when i finally get round to using it! paid £20 for it, but got a much rarer, older one (120 years old) on freecycle.

we have a community furniture project here which we got a nearly new A+ bosch fridge from when ours packed up for less than a third of its original price!

[mrsflibble]

barefootlinzi; don't forget, only use natural threads in your treddle machine. polyester ones can mess up the tension. it either wont sew or you'll get a blobby effect, or th fabric will ruck up.

also, non-natural fibre fabrics can make old machines a little eccentric too.

[Wombat]

We get good stuff up our local Sallies, a good percentage of muy library came from there!

Nev

[mrsflibble]

the sallies run THE BEST charity shop in Grays.