Charity shop lovin'

Dress- Charity Shop; Shoes- Topshop; Sunglasses- New Look; Ring- YSL

Well, this is my latest bargain. Literally had been on the Isle of Wight roughly 20 minutes, and I just rolled up into a charity shop, only to find this little nipper for £5.50! I was tres chuffed. I also picked up a Cribs album AND a Bloc Party album for £5. Was a very good finding. 

People often email me and ask me how I find such good things in charity shops, and I think the answer is pretty simple when you know there ins and outs of them. I certainly do, as I work in Oxfam every Saturday for a couple of hours for my Duke of Edinburgh award. The main things that I have learnt whilst working there on how to snap up a good bargain are that...

•  The 'good' stuff that you want to buy, isn't always obviously staring at you in the face when you go in. Too many times I've seen young girls come into the charity shop, take a feeble look around and then leave. You just have to look deeper! Sometimes the good stuff gets moved to the back simply because when it gets picked up by someone, they put it at the back of rail/in an awkward place (for a number of reasons, i.e. want to come back for it, closest place to where they're standing- just like in a normal shop etc...).
• Another thing that I see happen all too often is the good stuff going early. Think about it logically, charity shops put all the good stuff out at the beginning of the day, and so, you should get in there quick! You would be surprised by how many bargains you can get if you just come straight in as soon as the shop opens! It's exactly the same concept as the January sales.
• Finally, charity shops work in a specific way. Once the grand masterpiece has been sold in the window or at the front of the shop. It'll be replaced. And then it'll be replaced again, and again and so on... This means that there is ALWAYS new stuff being put out ALL of the time. By this we can learn two things... One is that if you see something you like. It won't be there next week. I can guarantee you. (Except swimwear... nobody buys swimwear...). The second thing that we learn is that you have to keep checking back in charity shops. Just because you went into Marie Curie/British Heart Foundation/Oxfam once and you hated everything, it doesn't mean that when you next go in (even the day after), that there will not be an oh-so-stunning piece in there that in a perfect fit in your size for £2.50. So, the main rule is to not get frustrated with a charity shop, but to be persistent with it and eventually something will turn up! Take me for example, I've worked in Oxfam for nearly 8 months now and I've only ever bought two pieces from there, but both are wonderful! (Kate Moss for Topshop top and a COS t-shirt) I was patient and eventually the perfect things arrived right in front of me.

So, there you go! Hope that made some kind of sense. Possibly. I'd love to know any of your tips that you have for charity shopping, as even I am not the most experienced!