I've always loved a charity shop

I’ve always loved a charity shop – it’s so much more exciting than a “normal” shop, you never know what you’ll find in there. And they’re cheap, what’s not to like?
I didn’t have an impoverished childhood by any means but money could be tight and there weren’t shops like Primark back then so charity shops could be a bit of a life saver. A primary school teacher friend of ours tells a story about how she’d had some misgivings about her new job in a seemingly very middle-class school. That was until she said to one little girl “that’s a nice swimsuit” to which the girl replied “Thanks, it was 10p from the Oxfam shop”. Of course, that girl was me. I still remember the cossie, it was rainbow stripes with a yellow frill. So, as you can see, I started early.

Even though I’ve always been a charity shopper, I’ve really got into it again recently. This is mainly because St Neots doesn’t have many clothes shop, as Ingrid has mentioned, but it is very well served for charity shops so charity shopping is a bit of a must. My husband does say to me that I don’t have to get my clothes second hand (I’m a full time mum and can feel guilty spending money on myself), then laughs at me when I go “normal” shopping and can’t find anything I like. The last time I went on a shopping trip to “proper” shops I did find it quite daunting, they’re so big and they don’t categorise by colour!

The thing I like best about charity shopping is that you can afford to take risks and buy things you probably wouldn’t if you were paying full price. I often get clothes I know I would never have bought if they hadn’t been cheap but end up really liking them and wearing them loads. If it does end up being a complete disaster, which in all honesty it rarely has been for me, at least you can feel good about having given some money to charity.

Sophie x