Charity Update March

I have had a good month in the charity shops. My collection of cardigans in every possible colour and style is growing. I feel I should try to curtail the purchase of these items but they do come in so useful in the British climate. In the winter they add a cosy extra layer and in the spring and summer they are so versatile in keeping that evening chill at bay and finishing off an outfit. They aren't as bulky as a jacket which can get too warm and then is annoying when you have to carry it. A cardie is a versatile extra light layer which can be added or shed really easily. And by the way I ain't talking old men's cardies here.

You can see ironing isn't top of my list of priorities

But above all they are very very essential and wonderful in summer at concealing those upper arms which how can I put it when you reach a certain age ......can be a bit flappy!

Long live the cardie.

Charity items since last time:

Ghost silk dress (Oxfam) : £12.99
Mint Velvet silk dress (Oxfam) : £9.99 ( a sundress which definitely needs one of those cardies)
Next girl's dress (Oxfam) : £3.99
Green long sleeved t-shirt (Oxfam):£3.99
Girl's blouse (Oxfam) : £2.99
Huge book on nature (Oxfam): £4.99
Linea yellow cardigan (Barnardo's) : £3
red herring green cardigan (Britsh Red Cross) : £4

Charity update

Oh joy of joys last year Barnardo's in their infinite wisdom decided to open their first charity superstore not in London, as so often happens with big new initiatives, but just down the road from 88. Thank you, Barnardo's! I have two friends, S and J, and they are as charity shop obsessed as my good self....by the way, fear not I do have more than two friends...just.

Come a new season or if we feel down, we hop into the car and down the road we chug to see what gems the great Barnardo's superstore has to offer us. And oh what bounties.

The store is huge and offers up a cornucopia of different clothes, ranging from bog standard brands to designer labels. Pay anything from £2 to £30 and over for the more exclusive second hand labels. My friend, S, complains of arm ache after every visit due to the carriage of copious items of clothes on her arm in readiness for the great trying on. We should have our own engraved individual rails upon which to hang our potential buys.

Fortunately we are all three different sizes and have slightly different tastes. This way we avoid huge fights on the shop floor, arguing over the bargains. In fact, we now know each other well enough that we can spot items for each other. A shout often goes out across the shop floor 'What about this top, S?' 'This is just you, J.'

By the way J and I are in no way  jealous of S who is tall, willowy and basically could wear a bin bag and look fab. We turn it to our advantage and enjoy dressing her in all the size 8 designer labels which J and I can only gaze longingly at. Having said that J (and I am sure she won't mind me saying) has been known to squeeze herself into a few smaller-sized labels quite successfully. The problem is getting her out again.

So we are three happy girls this morning, standing in front of our new wardrobes, wondering what to dazzle the world in today. Whatismore and to the point is we've recycled and we have helped an important charity.

Charity Items since last time:

H&M stripey top £3.99 (Barnardo's)
Coast skirt £6.99 (Barnardo's) - Christmas outfit sorted in plenty of time!
Betty Jackson skirt £9.99 (Barnardo's) - never had a designer name like Betty's before!
H&M Jacket £4.99 (Barnardo's) - wore last night to a course I'm on
Regatta boy's fleece £2.99 (British Red Cross) - my son has desperately needed a fleece for mucking about in.

Big boots found in charity shops

I read a newspaper article last week suggesting that charity shops were getting too greedy and charging too much for their goods. I think this was based on charity shops in the heart of London as I have to say it hasn't been my experience on the whole in the north of England.

The first charity shop harvest of my year

I love charity shops. I am a little addicted but I am not prepared to pay silly money for second hand clothes (nor for first hand either for that matter). I guess charity shop managers have to strike a balance between raising as much money as possible and charging a market value for their area for old clothes and bric-a-brac.

Thinking about it I can't actually say with any conviction what I am prepared to pay. Am I willing to pay a quarter of what I think the original price was? I don't know. It's more a feeling in my water as to what I think is reasonable for a label or object. It would take a lot for me to pay over £10 for anything. It would have to be a second hand gem. I go into a charity shop with the anticipation that I just might find a bargain not to break the bank.

Mary Portas did a programme a year or two ago where she transformed a charity shop into a boutique charity shop and by doing so I think lost the plot a little. I don't want to go into a charity shop and smell damp and old clothes but neither do I want to go into one that is emulating a boutique or up-market goods shop. Charity shops are a breed on their own.

I think Oxfam has got it just right. I know some think they are expensive but I think they strike the right balance between raising the maximum money from the stock they have and charging reasonable rates, depending on the label.

I like the décor of the Oxfam shop. I recognise them still as charity shops which are clean but with a certain untidiness to the shelves, especially in the bric-a-brac sections. Their new goods such as cards and gifts are also in designated sections and are of good quality. I think some charity shops that sell their 'own label' products make the mistake of mixing them up with the second hand goods and quite frankly are of such tatty and cheap quality that I have to really examine to ascertain whether they are new or old.

I also don't really want really slick people behind the sales counter. I don't mind (as long as I am not in a rush) some volunteer who gets in a muddle with the till and has to call the manager. It's a bit of an escape from corporate customer care.

Anyway I just hope that the charity shops that I frequent don't get too big for their boots.

I thought that for my own amusement I would keep a record of my charity bargains for 2014. So here goes:

M & S Autograph top £3.99 (Barnardo's)
Boden child's pyjamas £2.99 (Oxfam)
Striped scarf £2.99 (Oxfam)

I chift, you chift, we all chift

Apparently it's the OED's birthday today. Many Happy Returns. Can you really wish a dictionary happy birthday? Anyway apparently it first appeared on February 1st 1884. In a former life I was a Reference Librarian and the OED featured quite a lot in my life, looking up meanings and derivations.

I have an ambition to get a word into this prestigious dictionary before I'm 88. I have invented one: 'chifting'. I wrote my first article about the august practice of chifting....and it has to be admitted the only article thus far. I got paid for it - yippee. Just find a copy of The Green Parent Nov/Dec 2012 and there it is. It doesn't matter that in the 'Other Contributors' bit there is a typo on my name - admittedly in very very teeny tiny type. I am not bitter. The main thing it's spelt correctly in the article. (Note to self - subject of a good post: annoying mispellings of names in my family). Sorry I was distracted there. Of course, it's wonderful that my article appeared. I'm there now permanently in the annals. As we say in Yorkshire I'm very chuffed.

Chifting? You ponder. What does it mean? I have a bit of a charity shop fixation. I love them. I love the anticipation as I go into one as to what I am going to find. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Sometimes there is nothing but often there is that fortunate discovery come upon by accident.


Bought from British Red Cross and given to
my friend's little boy for Christmas


Chifting! You scream. What is it? I decided to feed my charity retail urges and save some money and be greener all at the same time. I bought all my birthday and Christmas presents for friends and family from charity shops during 2011. And what is more all my friends and family are still talking to me.

"Chifting - vb - the action of giving second hand gifts bought in charity shops. (First used by Virginia Blakeney Blakeley in Green Parent Nov/Dec 2012)". Get it: charity and gift equals chift. Took me a long time to come up with that!



Poole pottery, found in a hospice charity shop
 - given to my niece who lives near Poole