Charity Shops

Back to Basics

The thing I love about Charity Shop shopping is that you never know what you are going to find. This always surprises me about myself as I am a bit of a planner - I like to know what is happening next.

I love the fact that you can find a little treasure snuggled in amongst a whole load of what, lets be honest, are other people's hand me downs, for £1.50.

Some Charity Shops are really savvy now about their pricing and sometimes unfairly so with items from Primark as much as they were full price. However, we have a few little gems where we are and I hit the right day last week. Someone had obviously recently dropped off with similar taste to mine and I came away with some bargains!

I think the older I get the less inclined I am to go around dressed the same as everyone else . I don't have the budget to buy designer everytime. When I do, it is a treat saved up for and cherished for many a year!

When I buy on the high street I am always so conscious that I might be turning up at the school playground in the same top or coat as the next Mum.  I try and think how items will fit into my wardrobe and whether they will stick out like a sore thumb as a particular brand too. I don't like items that cry "Look at me I'm from........" 

 Clothes can be such a important statement you make, but....

I prefer to write my own rules and wear what I love and what I'm comfortable in.

Shopping at charity shops allow you to find an item that might not have been a one off a few years ago, but is now and all for under £5. It just takes a bit of patience. Here is the post I wrote about getting the best out of your charity shop.

Here are a couple of my homeware items that I have got this week. A brand new (was £14) coffee cup for £4. This shall go in my present drawer. A gorgeous mottled grey Poole vase for my new kitchen. I just couldn't walk away from this.

When buying clothes I look out for colours I love, styles that catch my eye and brand names.

My favourite was this brightly coloured top from Wallis. My hubby said he wouldn't lose me in this, but who cares what he thinks, I love it! 

I'm not sure what I found so funny in this photo, but you get the idea with the top . Looking forward to getting some colour on those arms before I venture out in this! It is lined and fitted with a hidden side zip. All for £2.00. 

Is a good thing or a bad thing that the older you get the less you care about what people think?

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Beyond the tick in the box.

34 -45

I've always been pretty laid back about the passing years, adopting the somewhat careless attitude of, there's not much you can do about it anyway. I'm also helpfully married to someone 8 years older than me and I generally feel smugly young by comparison. However, I had to recently complete one of those forms that asked you to tick the box to indicate which age category you fall into and it unsettled me slightly! It has only been in the last few years when I have become more aware of the fact that the world around me is ageing and therefore so am I, that the number associated with my name has begun to have a bit more significance! My eldest son has begun to drape, rather than sit on the sofa and he wears shoes a size one larger than mine, reminding me he is rapidly approaching adolescence. The kitchen we installed as newlyweds needs replacing and even though we never finished the whole house the first time round, it needs  painting again. My children are now all at school and the option of returning to teaching was met with a ' you would need to be retrained to be on our books' type of attitude. I'm considered presently unemployable having been at home looking after my children for the last decade.

The birthdays we celebrate with our friends are increasingly 'landmark' birthdays and these tend to be borne with steely determination and much alcohol to ease the transition into the next decade. Somehow, it is not so much the next big birthday looming that has the ability to drive dread into my heart , but the thought that I am moving beyond the box I can presently tick! The next box includes ages I don't want to think about yet, let alone admit I am approaching with ever alarming speed. Whose decision was it anyway, to cut off our inclusion in a group mid way through a decade and suddenly thrust us with rapid certainty towards our 50's with the  34- 45 box....

What does it take to maintain membership in a box  - must I deny that I love to wear  Boden , or that I need to do my pelvic floor exercises more often than I brush my teeth, or admit that I thought that 'Url' was the latest trendy baby name. It seems that age not only catches up with us in our appearance, but also in the bureaucracy that closes in on us. I'm still not convinced there is any point trying to hide the advancing years - I'm sure even Tesco could hazard a pretty accurate guess at my age (as well as details ranging from  my bra size to the actual day my youngest child was potty trained and I stopped buying nappies). Anyway, for the moment I am still safely ensconced in my present box so why do  I even resent having to tick this damn box ? 


I suppose I'd rather just write my actual age.... or lie.