Recent Charity Shop Finds

It was another beautiful morning when the sun started to peep over the hills in the distance. We decided to hit the charity shops as there are some quite decent independent charity shops in the area. We avoid the standard high street charity shops these days as they charge stupid prices and often more than the brand new price. Why do they do this? Was it Mary Portas and her series on a charity shop that increased the prices? It irritates me no end as often the reason people shop in charity shops in the first place is because money is tight and charging inflated prices just defeats this.

So we went to Carnforth first and visited the Salvation Army shop where I got 6 home magazines for £1 in total and 3 DVDs for 50p each. One was new and unopened and contained 3 films inside. We then walked a little further up the high street to visit the Christian Aid shop and I bought a further 4 DVDs for 50p each, a pair of leather shoes for £1 (I must have an inner Bet Lynch) and a birthday card for my brother in law for 50p. David bought 3 CDs for £1 and my sister bought a pair of shoes and two swimming costumes for £1 each plus two books at 20p each.

Then it was off to Milnthorpe where I bought 6 books by one of my favourite authors, M C Beaton from the Bay Search & Rescue charity shop. These books were 50p each so a £3 spend. I also found a Gucci glasses case with Gucci cleaning cloth for £2.49. I found a brand new and sealed jigsaw puzzle for 50p that I bought for selling on via eBay. David bought a large glass beer stein for 50p. Karen bought a cotton blouse for £1, two 50p books and a glass liquidiser for her Kenwood Chef at the knockdown price of £1.99.

Finally we went to Grange over Sands where I bought a Tresemme hairbrush hairdryer for £3 at the Bay Search  Rescue charity shop. There is also a local hospice charity shop where I bought two as-new linen and cotton shirts for my dad for his birthday next month. These were £3.50 each and will be great for him to wear on holiday in April when the whole family goes to Tenerife. An Age Concern superstore charity shop has opened in Grange overlooking the duck pond. I bought 6 DVDs for £4. Three of them were a series boxed set so I was delighted with these. David bought s new seat for his bicycle (random I know!) for £2 and my sister found two Pyrex roasting dishes for 75p each. We came home very laden down with the car boot bursting.

Back for a late lunch of reduced price sandwiches from Tesco & Booths.

We lazed around the log cabin in the afternoon as we needed a rest after all that shopping. We watched one of the DVDs that I had bought which was The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus by Terry Gilliam. It is an all star cast - Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Lily Cole even Paloma Faith. What a weird film! I don't know whether I enjoyed it or not. I think I did overall. We went for a swim and a laze in the jacuzzi around 6pm and then got back for drinks and evening meal. We watched another film, Shirley Valentine. What a classic. It was filmed in Mykonos and David and I stayed there a year after the film was made and again about 15 years later. We kept saying "been in that bar or been to that beach, restaurant" etc. etc. all the way through the film until my sister told us to shut up (she was laughing as she said it). Another lovely day.