Charity Shop Haul

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2012 is to start visiting and buying from Charity Shops and Car Boot Sales. Now, the car boot sale season doesn’t start until April time but charity shops are open all year round so I thought they would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, my sister’s dog, Bonny (mentioned in my second ever blog post HERE) suffered a stroke on Wednesday morning and my sister and I had to rush her to the vets (I was actually at work but my boss very kindly let me leave which I can’t thank him enough for). Luckily, Bonny will be OK and will recover over time with a course of steroids. It was a horrific experience and I’m just so relieved and glad that she is OK. When we had Bonny home and safe I found myself with an afternoon off and nothing to do. What better time to put my resolution into action? I went to a street that has four or five charity shops pretty much next door to each other and what’s better is that it’s only a five minute drive from my house.

I was originally going to look for a dressing table in charity shops and at boot sales but on a recent trip to Ikea I saw that the Hemnes Dressing Table was reduced to £144 from £189 exclusively to Ikea Family Card Holders and I snapped one up. With my new purchase in mind I was on the hunt for things to pretty it up...

I started in Oxfam, searching for little trinkets and ornaments for my dressing table. Whenever I think of dressing tables, I think of my Nanna’s dressing table. She had the prettiest pink/peach glass dressing table set and I would love a similar one for my dressing table. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one in any of the shops I went to but I did find this cute little dish with lid which was a bargain at 99p! I'm going to put a little tea-light candle in and and think it will look super cute!

Next I went to St Gemma’s Hospice and bought a couple of books which were just 49p each! I could really get into this Charity Shop lark! Then I went to the PDSA shop. It was the PDSA that we had taken Bonny to earlier in the day so I was adamant that even if there wasn’t anything I wanted in there I would buy something! As it happens there was something I liked; this little tree ornament. I just think it is so pretty and unique and for 99p you really can’t go wrong!

Finally I went to a different area a couple of miles away and visited another St Gemma’s Hospice shop. I couldn’t believe how cheap the things in this shop were! Harry Potter books – 89p for paper back or 99p for hardback! I have actually already got the full set but wish I had bought them again now because they were so cheap! Among the various treasures on the shelves I found this coffee canister which I think is so sweet and vintage looking. They also had a matching biscuit barrel but it was chipped and was a bit too big so I just bought the coffee one. I love it and am going to use it to store cotton wool balls and pads (Got my mum to thank for that idea!)

Overall I am really pleased with my finds. Five items for under a fiver! Amazing! I will definitely be visiting charity shops more often from now on!

Do you shop in charity shops? What’s been your best find?

With Love,

Rachel x