The joy of hand me down

When I was growing up it wasn’t unusual for a bin liner of hand me downs to arrive in the house. The joy of going through the bag, not knowing what I might find in there was akin to a stocking at Christmas! I loved experimenting with different styles and colours and putting outfits together. A big bag of pass me downs would allow this whereas my pocket money wouldn’t. Admittedly, it could be a bit hit and miss, the clothes might not be my size or taste and out of a full bin liner I might only get a couple of wearable items, but what fun looking!

However, there is one fundamental problem with hand me downs - I was never fashionable. As a child I didn’t notice, and by the time I was a teenager I didn’t care and actually found it a challenge to make the most hideous item wearable. But there must have been a time in between when it bothered me as I clearly remember being in town with my mum and bumping into family friends and looking longingly at the daughter’s drainpipe jeans. Mine were flared – flares in the 80s! I consoled myself that the said drainpipes would make their way to me one day in a bin liner….

I still do hand me downs now and still love it. It’s a bit more selective, people pass clothes on to me that they think would fit and suit me, and I’ll do the same to them. Ingrid and I swapped coats last winter and look the better for it. What I really like is that I get new clothes without having to go shopping. Believe it or not, I don’t really like shopping (one of mine and Ingrid’s differences). Of course I enjoy a quick potter round the shops but a full on shopping session is my idea of hell. But I do like clothes and having lots of them, so “new” stuff, just given to me is brilliant.

Also, other people seem to know what I like better than I do. Recently my mum passed me down a spotty t-shirt top that I would never have looked at, even if it had been 99p on the sale rail in the Salvation Army shop. But I tried it on; it looked good, goes with lots of my clothes and often gets complimented. Ingrid gave me a summery top which again, I thought I wouldn’t like, and again goes with lots of my clothes and is really pretty on. Of course, if I do get complimented, I can’t help but say “thanks, it was my mum’s/Ingrid’s, they have better taste than me!”

So, all in all, I’m a big fan of pass me downs. Who cares that I wasn’t fashionable in the 80s. If there was one time not to be, that was probably it.

 Sophie x

1. 

   My Oxfam find x

    
2. Its not all about me you know...
    When I go charity shopping, I’m pretty much always looking for something for me. Selfish I know but my kids have lots of toys and plenty of clothes, I tend to wait till we go on our “holiday rummage” to get them what they see as a little treat or two. I do look after my gorgeous little God Daughter Beth every couple of weeks and we often head to different Charity shops on our girlie mornings. I think my friend Cathryn despairs in the regular return from the shops with another pink stuffed toy or more books or tops. I suppose I feel like I’m treating her, its not expensive but I’m slowly becoming know as the one who buys the teddies– a bad trait – absolutely and I love it!

   I do love buying second hand books, both for the kids and for me. I remember the moment I found a whole set of reading books which were the perfect reading level for my son. To buy them full price would have been a fortune but to get them from the British Heart Foundation shop was a dream. I always but my chick lit from charity shops, it just makes sense to me.

   One of my best buys was a rather battered book which really caught my eye. It was in one of my unusual forays into Oxfam and was in what they call their “vintage” section. It was a book of watercolour pictures of Oxford, I bought it for my friend Suzy who went to University there. We have got to a stage in life where buying gifts is getting tricky as we are apparently “a nightmare to buy for”. She loved it, there was a photo of her college and plenty of others and she was delighted! I did have that moment when I thought this is it, this book is indeed a rare treasure worth thousands!! I googled the book and found that rather than being a one off, you can buy the same book in better condition for the same amount of money. So sadly my trip to Sotherby’s will be on hold for now…

Melinda does Charidee shopping

I love clothes. In fact I wear them everyday. I especially love jackets, just ask my children, in fact maybe don’t, they have a lot to say on the subject.

There are so many great reasons to buy second hand. Chances are if you are reading this and following the Prudent Pair then I don’t need to tell you that. One thing I love is that you find styles and cuts that may not be on the high street this season.

Recently I had a day to myself and chose to ignore the endless list of ‘stuff’ to do and have a leisurely stroll around the many charity shops in town. I hadn’t done it for ages but winter was on it’s way I and I felt I could justify the purchase of a woolly, or two…..

What is it in a garment that catches one’s eye? It’s so hard to define. Often I get it wrong I pull out a top only to discover that it boasts an unexpected jewelled embellishment or a lattice-work back……nice enough maybe but not for me. Perhaps it is the quality of the fabric that speaks out? It might be the turn of a collar or the colour. 

Anyway I picked out a snug, hooded, cable cardigan with quite long sleeves. This is a big plus for me. My arms are of gibbon-like proportions, so long that it is hard to buy tops that don’t stop halfway up them.

 I also picked out a tweed jacket, I would guess 1980’s. It was a bit odd and I knew the children would hate it but to my mind there was something smart about the shape of the collar. The sleeves were not quite long enough though. I fancied it had what my grandma called a’good cut’. It is this kind of detail that can be hard to find in anything but the more expensive lines. Guess what? The long sleeves of the cardigan worked under the jacket, how great is that?! Both sold to the lady whose knuckles were grazing the floor….

Another couple of shops later and I had also bagged a navy silk shirts and a stripy T. A good haul by anyone’s standards and I fully expected that to be it for the day.

Then I saw it. I had actually spent enough and had had my fix for the day but we are need of the second Harry Potter and I thought there was no harm in looking for this in the next charity shop. Of course I found myself drawn to the jacket rail.

Now I am not a snob and if I like something I will wear it irrespective of where it comes from. That said expensive clothes are usually cut pretty well, they hang nicely and they feel good to wear. If they feel good to wear I feel good wearing them.

I spotted a good looking cream sleeve and pulled out a good looking cream jacket. It seduced me before I even saw the Whistles label. Slipping it on I discovered that is fitted beautifully and the sleeves were so long that even I could turn them up in a stylish-yet-casual fashion, but and it was a big BUT it was £10. What a dilemma.

Then I thought, this is a Whistles jacket, a luxury item. What are the chances of another luxury item entering my life right now? I can tell you they are low. And the sleeves, those lovely long sleeves…..

And yet did I need another jacket? No. Did I need to part with another tenner? No, definitely not. Was it a warm and wintery jacket that would keep me snug? Well that would be a no too. Oh dear, what to do, a queue was forming outside the changing room…..

So did I buy it? Of course I bought it. When I got home I checked and by my reckoning and a dash of twisted logic I am one hundred and twenty pounds up. So if you see me sporting an unseasonal cream jacket now you know why. Oh and no looking at my monkey arms……

Stop Press The 80’s jacket has more votes in this house than Whistles…….

By Melinda Lomas, Guest blogger x

(photo of Whistles jacket to follow) 

The dress

The same dress. Yes, I still have it. I’m sure I could wear it now without fear of bumping into someone else wearing it too. If only I could get into it!

The same dress

When I lived in London I did not charity shop so much – more disposable income and less opportunity to do so. I still didn’t spend lots on clothes and mainly shopped in sales, H&M and it was at this time that I discovered the delights of TK Maxx which I still love. In a way it is a larger and more expensive charity shop.

But, looking back, I missed charity shopping. Thing is, I’ve always liked to look a bit different. I put this down to having to spend the first year of my adult life wearing school uniform. My birthday is at the beginning of the school year and I went to a strict 6th form by way of explanation. I remember my flatmate at this time telling me about his new girlfriend saying that she gets all her clothes from charity shops. I realised that this couldn’t be said of me anymore and it felt a bit weird, like I wasn’t being true to myself, odd, I know.

Then the unthinkable happened. One night after work I went into a pub in my new green H&M shirt dress only to be confronted with a girl wearing exactly the same dress! Shock, horror! She was on the phone and announced it to her caller and consequently the whole pub. It was awful, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. Ok, that’s not true, I think I just said “snap” as I walked past her and was surprised that it wasn’t more embarrassing. But I didn’t like it. I think the thing that bothers me about being dressed exactly the same as someone else is that one of you is always going to look better in the outfit. I’d like to think that in this case it was me, but it probably wasn’t. So the point I’m trying to make is, if you shop in charity shops you’re more likely to avoid the awkward situation of bumping into someone else wearing the same dress.

However, a good friend of mine recently told me a story that started – “I went to a dinner party and there was a girl there wearing the same dress as me…” it ended with “ ….and I had to hide my knickers in the bishop’s umbrella stand.” I was going to use this as a moral tale to back up my point. But honestly, where would we be without tales like this, and if that means wearing the same dress as someone else, I’m all for it!

Sophie x

My first trip t’market

The lovely Sophie has been talking to me about visiting the St Neots Thursday market for about 100 years. Apparently there is a stall there which is the outside version of all the charity shops put together. Now the kids are back at school, we made a date and met at the market. I’ve seen this stall from afar and I always thought it was just full of beige slacks and the odd cardi. How wrong can a person be. I must say I was pretty impressed, everything was laid out on rails for short dresses, trousers, jeans, jumpers and even a maxi dress rail too although it was quite high up! There were quite a few people there and some were a little bit elbowy but once I got into my stride I loved it!

It took some rummaging but I managed to find myself (well with a bit of help from Sophie) an amazing stash. My favourite is a lovely Warehouse empire line dress, it’s a 14 so not great for the ego but I can see myself wearing it tomorrow! I also took a bit of a gamble on a brand new strapless Coast top which I love but I’m not sure whether to keep it for one of those big nights out (which now happens about once a quarter rather than once a week) or maybe pop it on a small auction site. I also got an M&S denim pencil skirt which I thought would be great but I’m not sure if it’s a bit too wiggly for me. I’ll try it on again in the morning and see. I also got another strapless top – can you see there’s a bit of a theme here, which was cream with black lace which I thought as a Next 12 would fit me perfectly. Well I was more than wrong there, Gray tried desperately to zip me it, it did fasten but breathing was somewhat tricky. So, do I hang on to it and hope that my extensive fitness regime and diet of wine and Lidl cooking chocolate will get me into it one day or maybe put it on t’internet. Another Next top was a button up see through shirt with some lovely little flowers on it. It fits really well and I know it’ll come in really useful.

So, along with a brief trip to Barnados – everything £2!!! I bought a Reiss bag and four tops – a Coast one which is gorgeous and I’m definitely keeping! So a mistake or two but the vast sum of £21 and I have loads of new clobber. Now, I think I might need to clear out some other bits and move the summer wardrobe out!

Till next time, Ingird xx

Ingrid's charity shopping on tour

Over the summer, we spent a few weeks in lovely Wells Next the Sea on our holidays and had a fab time. Lots of time on the beach, a bit of crabbing, plenty of time spent in the lovely pubs in the town and a bit of dancing and singing at the annual carnival. Along with all this frivolity I was able to spend a morning with my mum having what we call a “mooch” round the numerous shops in Wells. After a bit of time in a gorgeous little jewellery shop called Mine, we stumbled across not one but two charity shops. One was for a local hospice and the other was a Sue Ryder. The first one we went into was crammed full of all sorts of clothes and brick a brac. The layout was chaotic to say the least but it did have lots of seaside charm and felt like a bit of a treasure trove, first appearances can be deceptive… I don’t know if the stock was from locals or bits that holidaymakers had left behind but considering Wells seems to be a fairly affluent place but the clothes were anything but great. It didn’t help that some guffawing students who seemed to find great delight in taking the mickey out of the clothes joined us. I did however buy two lovely bracelets, one was made of shells, which in turn had been made into little flowers, and the other was made of large silver flowers. I will be having a play around with them and restringing them so watch this space for the photos.

The Sue Ryder was a better layout and was much better arranged, it was however absolutely rammed with people and was only quite a small shop. We struggled in and had a quick look round but the space was limited and again the clothes didn’t look that great.

They had an area outside at the front that had rails of scarves and tops for a £1. There were plenty of books (probably to stock up the reading shelves of the many rentable cottages in this neck of the woods!) and had we had more patience and a bit more room, we would probably have been able to find a few bits and bobs..

A few days later, we had a trip to Holt, this time it was with the In-Laws and as they all wanted a coffee, I took the opportunity to nip off and have a quick “mooch” round the charity shops in this delightful little town. Holt has a lovely feel to it; there are lots of crafty shops, some v expensive clothes shops and 4 charity shops. There was one called the African Charity shop which seemed to focus primarily on crockery and there was soooo much of it. There were only two clothes rails and they were full of dated stuff to say the least! I do think the welcome you get in any shop is important, whilst the volunteers in many charity shops do a great job, some really do need a bit of customer service training! One shop I went in (on my own and not a child in sight!) the lady behind the counter was definitely aggrieved that I had made it through the door. A quick look round and I felt inclined to leave – such a shame. I did come across a wonderful Sue Ryder shop (again?) the chap behind the counter was lovely once he had stopped looking in the mirror at his new glasses. I bought some lovely birthday cards and one quirky idea they had was if you bought a shopping trolley key ring token thing, you got to chose from some jewellery. I chose a necklace which on the surface looked a bit naff but I will take it apart and make something else a bit more special with it – again photo to follow.

So my sour Jon into charity shops elsewhere was a bit of a damp squib, I think I like the familiarity of the St Neots shops, the layout, the size and maybe the time I have. It was worth a look but I’m quite looking forward to seeing my old favourites when I’m back xx