Friday 27 November 2015

The end of an era

I’m afraid I’m going to go all dramatic and a little sentimental this week as I say goodbye to one of the things that got me into charity shopping in the first place.

This time last year I wrote all about the joys of St Neots NCT Nearly New Sales. The wonders I found when I first went shopping in the madness and organised chaos of these bi-annual events. On my first visit I bought so much stuff for my son and for my daughter I think my husband thought I had gone mad! As much as I love shopping, I also enjoyed being a seller, the labelling and pricing was always a bind but to me it was a way of clearing out (hard to do as a resident hoarder) and to make a bit of money for the charity. This fun has lasted for years, well at least 7 as I started out when my daughter was a baby.

I therefore looked forward to the recent sale with great anticipation; I had sorted out the loft (no mean feat) and had plenty of stuff to sell. I got it all ready, washed, ironed, labelled and bagged ready to go. Now as an old hand at this, I obviously didn’t read through the sellers’ notes, even when it was stressed I should do so. So it came as a massive surprise when I read they had dropped to top age of clothing you can sell to 5 years old! I had bagged up so many clothes age 6,7&8 I was gutted that I didn’t read the notes! I also felt a bit silly that those people sorting and hanging my items would have wondered what on earth I was thinking! I think I got most of it back but anything else will hopefully have gone to a charity shop nearby.

So it was with some melancholy and a tinge of sadness that as I realised I was too old. Another nail in the ageing coffin. This age thing isn’t something particularly new for me, I’m never to wear hot pants (thank god I hear you cry), go clubbing “down Ashton” as I used to as a teen and sadly I will never be in a girl band or be a prima ballerina. So this is something else to add. Thank you NCT for all the fond years but you have now gone the way of the gold sparkly hot pants and pints of Snakebite and Black.

Maybe I should organise an over 5’s Nearly New Sale, any takers to help? xx

Friday 20 November 2015

A quest for a dress

Next weekend Ingrid and I, along with friends, are going to a fundraising event to raise money for the refurbishment of the local scout hut – the Beaver Ball as I keep calling it. (My son is in the Beaver section of the scout movement by way of explanation.)
I’m very excited about this as I’ve not been to many black tie events, actually I’m not even sure I’ve been to any. Consequently I have nothing to wear. Ok, that’s not strictly true, you can’t have a wardrobe as bulging as mine without having a posh frock or two. However anything I have that is suitable seems to have shrunk in the wash; that can be the only plausible explanation!
Not to worry, it’s the perfect excuse to go charity shop shopping and I’m always seeing posh frocks that I love but have no occasion to wear them. It’s the right time of year for party dresses, the charity shops are full of them, and I tried on loads. However, I came home empty handed. There were dresses that would have certainly done but I didn’t want one that just did.
Ingrid very kindly lent me two dresses to try, one from Coast, the other Per Una, both charity shop bargains and both stunning. I would have been very happy to wear either and even rethink my “anything from Per Una makes you look a bit mental” policy. Unfortunately, they are both strapless, and I just don’t have the chest to hold them up, even straps wouldn’t help, I just can’t fill them. Very disappointing. Now, if it had been my bum that was too small I wouldn’t have minded in the least.
I’ve asked friends what they are wearing and they’ve all got charity shop dresses or borrowed one. I’d love to think that it was the influence of this blog, but I’m sure it’s not. They, like me, want to wear something “new” but don’t see the point in spending lots of money on something that they’re only likely to wear once. I’m hoping they will let me take photos, so watch this space!

But my quest for a dress continues. I’ve still got a few options and if all else fails I’ll wear my wedding dress. I’ve always wanted an excuse to wear it again and where better than a Beaver Ball!

Friday 13 November 2015

Bubbles, bakes and wearing purple.


This month is Pancreatic Cancer awareness month and Friday 13th November is World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day. This is a cause close to two of my friends who have lost loved ones to this dreadful disease. To help with a bit of fundraising, these two friends are taking part in something called Host for Hope a great idea of hosting a night in and getting baking! What could be more fun! The night is called Bubbles and Bakes – happy days. Now the bubbles part I am more than happy with but the baking element has got me quaking. I’m not a natural baker but I’m going to have a go, always reliant on the fact that if what I bake looks terrible I will say the kids helped me!
As an extra little twist, we’ve all been asked to wear purple. A great idea, I had a little look in my wardrobe but couldn’t really find anything I could wear, well apart from my purple boots – hurrah a reason to wear them and look like a middle aged super hero! So with a purple challenge I headed to the charity shops.

Looking for a specific colour in charity shops does make the process a little trickier, it takes less time as you can quickly skim through the rails but it is hard not to get side tracked! The Salvation Army is perfect for this as everything is sorted by colour which in this case was more Bonne Marche floral lilac not really my thing. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find anything in my favourite shop so I headed to my other fave Barnardos. This shop has a new manager and now has much less stock to rifle through, the layout is better but there it does feel like something is missing. I did however manage to stumble on a little turquoise coat for £2, what a steal! It was a size 14 but when I tried it on it felt a bit tight round my shoulder. Never mind, it’s a Butterfly by Matthew Williamson and its only £2 so I bought it. It wasn’t until I got home I realised it was actually not a size 15 but an age 14! On the one hand I’m quite pleased I can fit in a kids coat but on the other hand, I’m afraid I’ll be matching the local schoolgirls! Anyway, I digress.  Undeterred I nipped in to the British Heart Foundation shop and had a good old rummage, there is something about this shop which I find really homely. Maybe it’s the lovely lady who works there or maybe it’s the way it’s laid out, BHF does have a higher price point but it is a really nice shop. Happily I found a fabulous little purple and black skirt from M&S, it’s a 10, which is a bit snug, but so long as I don’t sit down (!) it should be fine! I’m going to finally wear my purple superhero boots and I’ve bought a lovely little necklace which should look ok so fingers crossed it will all work out! I must say I did feel a certain level of satisfaction as I legged it back to the car as my parking ticket had run out. I’d achieved a double result, buying from a charity shop to wear something for a charity do – hurrah!

Photos will be uploaded after our charity night; I’m really looking forward to it. Now for the small matter of baking a cake, step aside Nigella; the new finest baker is in town………



Friday 6 November 2015

A family day out - to the charity shops.

Over half term, like Ingrid, I also went to Norfolk for a few days. We did absolutely nothing and it was lovely. We ate, sat around a bit, got the rowing boat out (we were on the Broads) then ate some more and had another sit down.
On the way home, seeing as we had done very little, we went to Norwich. We intended to be cultured and visit the castle and cathedral but we ended up just pottering around the shops. Now, you may find this hard to believe, seeing as this blog is essentially about shopping, but I don’t like shopping. A mooch around the charity shops for an hour, yes, I like but a full afternoon or day of shopping is not my idea of fun at all. So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself. Norwich is full of independent shops which are crafty or vintage or just a bit different. I kept thinking that I should come back without my men folk for a proper perusal. I particularly liked Loose’s Emporium on Magdalen Street which is full of antiques and collectables, the weird and the wonderful, and had the best toilets. Even they were retro.
On the same street were lots of charity shops and the whole family likes these, my husband and I because we like a bargain and the boys as they know they have more of a chance of us buying something for them than they would in a normal shop.
We were in the Norfolk Cancer Charity shop which was crazy, in a good way. There was people, furniture and stuff everywhere. Younger son was happy as we found him a rucksack; I was flicking through the rails trying to dodge the men carrying a three piece suite and absent minded-ly listening to my elder son. “What’s this, Mum?” he asked pointing at a wooden criss-cross wine rack. “It’s a wine rack” I said “you keep bottles of wine in it”. It was not until I heard the lady near us burst into laughter that I registered his reply – “There’s no point in us buying that, Daddy just gurgles it down”

He’s quite right.