Charity shops have an unwanted stigma attached to them. I want to help rid them of that stigma as charity shops are awesome. Not only can you pick up some amazing things at bargain prices, you’re helping out a charity. So everyone is actually winning! In this blog post I’m going to explain why you should be loving and supporting your local charity shops.
Second Hand Is Super
The idea of creating this charity shop post was down to recently finding some fantastic items. We had just a few minutes in a charity shop we’d never been in before. The kids headed straight for some toys on the floor they’d spotted through the window and both my wife and I had a quick glance around. Our eldest had recently been sqeezing into his wellies over Christmas so I knew we needed some bigger sizes. I spotted some, hidden away. The perfect size! Avengers design, bonus! £1.99! Even better! Kids wellies cost a lot of money but these were basically unused, in great condition for a bargain price! The woman behind the till, when we eventually got there, commented that she wished she’d seen them first!
Too Many Deals
Of course, I didn’t just see the wellies. I also spotted a pair of Clarks trainers in the right size for our eldest. Again, £1.99. Nothing wrong with them, they look barely worn, tiny bit of dirt on one of the soles. Perfect for getting him through the size 12 stage of life. We also got a small Cath Kidston waterproof bag for a couple of quid too. Perfect as our middle child is typically bad at telling us he needs a wee and we need something to store wet pants in when we’re out and about. The joy of parenting hey!? A few items, for bargain prices. This is why I love local charity shops. I also scanned our receipt with Zip Zero to save even more.
What Else Can You Find?
Vinyl. Books. Clothing. Jigsaws. I wrote a while ago about a charity shop near me that has so many DVDs available, many never opened. At £1 each you can treat your charity shop like a movie rental shop. Pay the pound for a film, go home and watch it, then return it so someone else can ‘rent’ it for £1 too! I so often see so many amazing films available for £1 or less, including kids films. We get them for our campervan trips because if they break, it’s not a massive deal. They can live in one of those multiple CD holder things and the kids can any an animation whilst we sort out the awning!
Try Posh Areas
My sister lives in Australia and there is a posh area of Sydney she occasionally travels through and she spotted a charity shop. She went in and as it’s an affluent area, there were fantastic prices on fantastic items. She often revisits before my nephew’s birthday and finds bargains on high end nearly new items. Maybe there is an area near you which is notoriously expensive. Check out the charity shops in that area! You never know what you might find!
Donate Too
Why only buy from these local charity shops? Why not donate your unwanted things to them too? Of course, you might want to sell them on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay, but if they remain unsold for an amount of time, could could donate them to the charity shop so they can earn money. You can also benefit from doing this with schemes like Oxfam’s Tag Your Bag. When your items sell you’ll get 2 Nectar points for every £1 they raise . You can donate these back to Oxfam should you wish. With this scheme you also get regular info about how much has been raised from your donations. So, if like me, you have to submit a self assessment form, you actually know how much you can put in the charitable giving section. My Mum volunteers in a charity shop which accepts rags. They have a ‘rag man’ who comes and collects them and pays for them. So even if you have torn or tatty clothing, it can still help raise funds!
Buy Bargains, Support Charity
The heading of this conclusion says it all. You can find immense bargains in your local charity shops and buy them to support great causes. So many of these are helping local community projects and people in need who live near you.
