What are your thoughts on buying gifts for people from a charity shop?
Personally, I have no problem with it and at least a few of the presents that will be wrapped up under the tree on Christmas morning will be second-hand.
Don’t get me wrong though – I’m very fussy about what I buy, especially when I’m buying gifts as I always like to buy something that I know the recipient will love. Something they’ll know that I’ve put thought into and chosen because I know how much they’ll like it.
Not long ago I was asked to pop along to our local Salvation Army charity shop and see what I could pick up for £15.00 and you’d probably be surprised at just how much I got. Especially when you see the condition some of it was in.
I’m making my friend a little pamper hamper and I’ve been buying bits and pieces to go in it when I do my weekly shop but a brand new manicure set (still in the cellophane) and a brand new set of 3 M&Ms candles means that I have everything I need now to finish that off. I got both items for the massive amount of £2.79.
I also bought Master Frugal some Horrid Henry books, all of which were in brand new condition and only one looked like it had even been read. I paid 99p for the big hardback book you can see above and another 3 paperback books for just 49p each.
For Miss Frugal I bought a gorgeous little handbag which the picture above does no justice to at all! It’s just so cute and has enough space for a phone and a lip gloss and at £1.29, it couldn’t be more of a bargain. I also bought her a girly DVD to go in her Christmas Eve hamper although I can’t tell you which one it is as she sometimes has a read through on here! I can tell you it was a bargain at just £1.49 though if that helps. 😉
I also bought a lovely large glass serving dish and a gorgeous small glass jug. The dish was £1.49 and the jug was 79p and I loved them both that much when I saw then that I abandoned all gift shopping as soon as I saw them and decided to treat myself. I’ll use them both at Christmas though so it still counts towards #SecondhandChristmas, right?
Our last two bargains were Miss Frugal’s – one is a dress that she’s going to wear on Christmas Eve and the other is a pair of purple Ugg style boots which were brand new and a huge bargain at £3.99.
Didn’t we do well?
I got some great Christmas gifts for the kids and my friend and a couple of treats for me too which is always good.
But there’s also the added bonus that we’ve helped a worthy charity and actually, if everyone spent just £5 in a charity shop this Christmas then we would raise over £130million for good causes. So why don’t you take the #CharityShopChallenge and see what you can find in your local charity shop?
Disclosure: We were sent £15 to spend in our local Salvation Army charity shop.
