I Love... Charity Shops!

I have been quiet all weekend as it was a really low day on Friday and I have sruggled to really get over it. Someone has deliberately scratched my car while it was parked on the street outside my house, which really tainted my memory of book group (so that can wait for another post). I then had a whole day of training on Friday which didn't really relate to anything I do at work so it was a bit of a wasted day. It wasn't boring but I'd already had some of it from other sources and the rest of it was meaningless to me because I don't work in that area so I could have spent the day doing more productive things. Then the police came over on Friday night to take a statement about the vandalism and so I was really late getting my dinner and had a headache. So not a great Friday by any stretch of the imagination.

But then on Saturday I went shopping in Chester-le-Street with my mum. We really only go there when we want to blitz the charity shops as it's not a great shopping centre. We decided to go and look for period furniture and decorations for my new(ish) house and some picture frames for her needlework that she's been doing so she can display it. Now, any day spent with my mum is great for me as I love spending time with her and we don't get a lot of time just the two of us so it's nice to have the day together. With my dad being away recently we've spent a lot more time together and that suits me.

But on to the reason that I love charity shops. When I was a kid I both loved and hated them in equal measure. When it became obvious to me that the rest of the kids in my class didn't buy clothes in charity shops I began to be really ashamed about going in them, but at the same time I completely loved trawling through the toys and books and clothes that people would just give away. I got some of my favourite clothes and toys from Scope in Durham when I was young. I got a red 'ra-ra' skirt with black piping and a giant Barbie camper van as well as loads of board games and jigsaws. Me and my sister could spend ages choosing things and, because they were so cheap, we were usually allowed to buy whatever we chose.

I also bought the greatest Halloween costume ever in a charity shop - a leather mini-dress and gold stillettos so I could play a murdered hooker (well before the Ipswich murders, in case anyone is offended) I was going for a sort of modern day Jack the Ripper theme and I stuck insects all over my body and had twigs in my hair and bruises on my throat, etc.

Then, as I got older, I discovered the other treasure trove that most charity shops have - books! At first, years ago, you never paid more than £1 for a book but since the shops have realised the revenue to be made from selling reasonable quality books it's more like £2 at least per book. Still cheaper than Tesco though, and you're doing a good thing by shopping in charity shops. I feel like it's my contribution to charity ( I do also donate stuff to the shops too so I've done my bit).

In addition to the books there's winter coats at a knock down price, decent quality jeans and other clothes, although I confess it's been a long time since I bought clothes in a charity shop now that Primark has such nice clothes for low prices, bric a brac and much much more.

The only down side is that people seem to be giving less away now, either that or the charity shops are wise to the value in second hand goods and are selling on ebay instead, because the choice in the shops is not as great. So my message to the nation is to donate things to charity. It eases your conscience two fold because you're getting rid of things you don't want and also contributing to a charitable cause, and you never know who will want what you don't want. If you put things on ebay people may buy them but a lot of times they won't and you'll end up keeping them anyway...