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Charity Shop Bargains

stavros said:
That is odd, because I would have thought the Fall are a band you stick with, although they may have vinylised, digitised or, erm, died.

Yes, that's the shop I'm thinking of. I only said near the hospital because I walked past it on my way to work at the hospital a few years ago. I presume you know The Sound Machine too? If not, Harris Arcade off Friar Street.
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Harris Arcade is a gem in an otherwise identikit town. Sound Machine has certainly had a lot of business off me over years. As has the Grumpy Goat Ale & Cheese shop:thumbs:
 
Wilf said:
Charity shops are good at deferred gratification. If you get into any remotely popular book series - Jo Nesbo, G of T, Rebus - if you resist buying them as soon as they come out you know you'll find 'em in the charity shops.
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Totally. Over a year or two I managed to get all 10 Malazan Book of the Fallen. Usually at £2 a pop.
 
I asked the lady behind the counter in our local 'help the aged' if they had any scraps of fabric suitable for patchwork. She said there was a binbag full out the back that I could have because it was getting in the way and staff were too busy to sort through it. She said just put a donation in the glass jar on the counter...I put £10.00 in which she was very happy with.
Looking through the bag weeks later I found 2 Moda Jelly Rolls and 4 Moda Layer Cakes, there was also Liberty and Tilda fat quarter packs....all in all there was around £300.00 worth of material :eek:...I truly was speechless.
My conscience kicked in and I went back later and donated another £50.00....I couldn't stop smiling and they were delighted with the donation...win win situation :)
 
3 red and white spotted duvet sets, £3 each, which are going to be great for making decorative stuff for the vintage festival I have been helping with. But pity the triplets who had to sleep in a room with them before they came to me...

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I need to get some more shirts for work. Hopefully any I buy will 'almost' fit me but not quite so I can put them with all the others I wear rarely if at all :D
 
Rarely ever go in them nut last year I got 2 massive Robert Fisk tomes ...Pity the nation and the great war for civilisation as well as a pretty rare book on the Manchester martyrs written in the 1960s . 2 quid .
Last week got 5...bloody 5 ..pairs of good jeans that fitted me perfectly . All must have belonged to the one person . 3 of them perfect for work , 2 pairs more goey outy . 15 quid .
 
I got a Singer Featherweight 221-1 for $25. It runs, but it needs cleaned. I'll also have to either clean or get a new case for it. The case that came with it smelled of mold.

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I was pleased to get it. These, in good working order, can run into the hundreds of dollars. A lot of people I know, who sew, prefer them to new machines.
 
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I agree with your comment Yuwipi Woman
I have many old Singer machines :oops: the stitch quality is second to none, the tension is still neat and even, no skipped stitches, just perfection.
I have various sewing and embroidery machines ranging from £20 second hand Singer and Jones' (later to become Brother)...right through to a £3,000 Husqvarna all singing and dancing one :oops:

My favourite one?.....a hundred year old Singer treadle machine my nan received as a wedding gift....it weighs a ton and smells of old oil but I love it :)
 
seeformiles said:
View attachment 129440 Got these for £4 in the wee community shop at the bottom of our road. All are in near mint condition apart from the Dean Martin which is still pretty great. Especially pleased with the Ella disc on Verve - not even a spindle mark. :cool:
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I've got a mint copy of the Dean Martin one. I'm popping it on Discogs.
I can't resist mint records at a bargain price. I'm not into Dean Martin though, I only bought it because of Nancy Sinatra.
 
I used to have that Nancy & Lee LP (and others) - saw it in a charity shop at the weekend with £14 on it :eek: :hmm: I don't mind paying a bit of money for my records, but charity shops' optimistic pricing causes much frustration :facepalm: :D
 
seeformiles said:
View attachment 129441

I don’t mind a bit of Dino but Nancy’s always better with Lee (another bargain..)
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Only ever got one Lee album as a charity shop bargain, though I did get all the others at a decent price (around £10).
I got the Dean Martin thing purely because he appeared on her 'Moving with Nancy' TV special (got that album too). It's the worst bit on it.

I did grab a Lee bargain not so long ago, but it was in a second hand record shop. The LHI years. Double LP but both records were the same so it was only a couple of quid.
 
Ground Elder said:
I used to have that Nancy & Lee LP (and others) - saw it in a charity shop at the weekend with £14 on it :eek: :hmm: I don't mind paying a bit of money for my records, but charity shops' optimistic pricing causes much frustration :facepalm: :D
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Yes. There does seem to be some rather odd pricing in charity shops these days. You might expect that one to be maybe a max of about £14 in a specialist shop, people go to charity shops for bargains. These days I get better bargains down the record shop.
The most annoying prices are often because head office has said 'these record things are cool again and people will pay top dollar for them'. I think they even do a discogs check but fail to grasp that the shitty condition a lot of the records are in make them worthless.
Shame. I saw a warped and cracked copy of Transmission in Oxfam a little while back.
However now and then there is gold.
A whole box of completely mint 80s albums still in their wrappers came in once and they were being sold for 50p each. Arrrh, my biggest regret is that I only bought copies of albums I didn't already have. . . I should have upgraded. . . but at the time I was well aware of my tendency to re-buy the same records over and over again (just in case), and thought it was unfair.
 
Ground Elder said:
I used to have that Nancy & Lee LP (and others) - saw it in a charity shop at the weekend with £14 on it :eek: :hmm: I don't mind paying a bit of money for my records, but charity shops' optimistic pricing causes much frustration :facepalm: :D
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I don’t go to Oxfam’s vinyl section anymore since their ignorance of an LP’s worth is too frustrating. I don’t like that their unfair tax breaks and use of volunteers puts proper 2nd hand vinyl (not to mention Antiquarian Book) shops out of business. :mad:
 
Siouxsie said:
I agree with your comment Yuwipi Woman
I have many old Singer machines :oops: the stitch quality is second to none, the tension is still neat and even, no skipped stitches, just perfection.
I have various sewing and embroidery machines ranging from £20 second hand Singer and Jones' (later to become Brother)...right through to a £3,000 Husqvarna all singing and dancing one :oops:

My favourite one?.....a hundred year old Singer treadle machine my nan received as a wedding gift....it weighs a ton and smells of old oil but I love it :)
Click to expand...

I've only recently learned to sew with some success. At one time I was convinced that sewing machines came with built-in tomboy detectors. Every time I'd get near a machine, it would jam. I did fine with chainsaws and power drills, but sewing machines were a nope. A friend of mine sat me down and we spent a couple of hours figuring out what I was doing wrong. Since then, I've made a quilt and started on another. I have learned the value of a good machine.
 
Yuwipi Woman said:
I've only recently learned to sew with some success. At one time I was convinced that sewing machines came with built-in tomboy detectors. Every time I'd get near a machine, it would jam. I did fine with chainsaws and power drills, but sewing machines were a nope. A friend of mine sat me down and we spent a couple of hours figuring out what I was doing wrong. Since then, I've made a quilt and started on another. I have learned the value of a good machine.
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Sewing is a lovely rewarding hobby and a great life skill to have :)
I've always sewn, my earliest memories are of sitting on my nan's knee, her working the treadle whilst I guided the material through...I was around 3 years old.
Your friend sounds lovely, you never forget a good teacher :)
Congratulations on completing your first quilt, it's so satisfying when you finish the very last stitch. I hope you have added your name and the date...after all, hopefully it will still be being loved long after you've passed on. It will be a piece of history and a beautiful family heirloom :)
 
D'wards said:
Beckenham is bare good for Charity shops, if ya live a tram or short train ride away. I occasionally go there with an empty rucksack and come back with it filled, with books mainly.
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11 charity shops in Beckenham iirc. No less than 9.
 
Yuwipi Woman said:
I got a Singer Featherweight 221-1 for $25. It runs, but it needs cleaned. I'll also have to either clean or get a new case for it. The case that came with it smelled of mold.

il_570xn-59568178.jpg


I was pleased to get it. These, in good working order, can run into the hundreds of dollars. A lot of people I know, who sew, prefer them to new machines.
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That's lovely. It breaks my heart to see AllSaints store windows, all those hundreds of sewing machines not sewing.

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