charity shop foraging - yay!

[the.fee.fairy]

What really annoys me is when I buy a book for, say, £1.50 in one charity shop, and it still has the sticker on it from another charity shop, where it had only cost 80p! Yes, OK, it's a good way of re-using books if they get returned to a shop after you've read them - but can't they even be bothered to take off the old label?

Just as bad is when they use those labels that don't come off easily!!

I collect a couple of different authors, and it drives me mad when i buy a book and either can't take the sticker off, or i try to and it rips the front cover. I did point this out in one of the local shops, and they said that it wasthe rules to use these specific stickers. Grrrr.

So you're not the only fusspot!

[ina]

So you're not the only fusspot!

I'm glad to hear that! I think it might even be against some trading standards or other to sell something for a higher price than the one that is still quite clearly on the cover...

[the.fee.fairy]

It is.

But. They'd argue that it is cheaper than the price printed on the back.
i think there's also a strange law that you can't resell books anyway, or CDs because it takes revenue away from the band/author. Its to do with copyright and royalties.

[Eigon]

I work in a second hand bookshop, and we often have books on the shelves that are older than decimalisation. Sometimes customers point out that our price for the book is, say, £2.50, whereas the original price when it was new was 2/6.
My usual answer is that, if they can give me two shillings and sixpence in old money, then I'll accept it and sell them the book.
No-one's taken me up on it yet.

[Shirley]

LOL Hello Eigon

I used to live just down the road from Hay on Wye at Winforton - now in Aberdeenshire but I used to love having a nosy in all the book shops in Hay. I've had a look at your blog and will bookmark it so that I can keep up with the news from the area.

Welcome to Selfsufficientish

[Eigon]

Thanks for the welcome, Shirley!

[yugogypsy]

Well my good score this week is a simple cut glass salad dressing jug, with stopper.

Now that the herbs are coming on more in the garden I am going to be making more of my own dressings, so I got a nifty bottle to put them in-rather than the ugly container from my mini blender.

Lois

[contadina]

I'm quite stunned by your local paper's stupidity Thurston. I'd write in and help inform them of the reality of the retail sector today. The very thought that charity shops are bullying the big boys out of valuable retail space is very funny. Can you picture the nicely spoken blue-rinsed ladies that often work in Oxfam etc undertaking menacing tactics to secure prime high street locations?

Sadly there are no charity shops where I live now but the market has some fabulous second hand aisles and stupidly reasonable prices. Today I bought a hand embroidered sheet (as new and gorgeous) from which I'll make a couple of pillows and a ladies beach top. I also bought two very pretty nighties from which I'll make four toddler sundresses with matching knickers Both purchases came to four euros. The pattern for the sundresses comes from my Readers Digest book of sewing bought in a charity shop for 2 quid.

[Eigon]

Treasure Island in Hereford were doing a £1 an item sale yesterday - I only passed by by chance, and now I have a smart skirt for work, two pairs of trousers and a silk blouse, all for £4!

[Shirley]

Blimey - bargain!!

[the.fee.fairy]

Great bargains!

I bought a dressing gow for my sister in a charity shop - it had dragons on it. i thougt i felt soft and familiar when i bought it.

When i got it home, i looked at the label and its 100% chinese silk. Having been to China, i realised where the familiar feeling was from - its the good stuff! The really nice chinese silk. Bargain for £4.

[magenta flame]

I love OP shops. Even if I'm not buying I still love to cruise them. Sometimes if you're really lucky they have old wedding dresses where the matieral for such is no longer made. Wedding dresses usually have enough fabric in them to make cushions or another wedding dress, and you'll know that no one else will have that particular fabric.

I pick up readers digest books for 50c they are a good summers day read.
And pottery, if you have and old shed that you want to fix up, pottery and such will spruce it up and give it a bit of rustic charm