THE CHARITY SHOPAHOLIC

I’m a cheap date there’s no doubt about it.

No, quite literally I am.

For chances are if you were to ask me how much anything I own has cost me I can almost guarantee that it won’t have set me back much more than a tenner.

Reason being, of course that I love a good charity shop, me.

Offer me an all expenses paid trolley dash round some high on price but low on originality boutique or department store and you’d be hard pressed to find anything i might even show the tiniest glimmer of interest in.

 However give me free reign to have a right old rummage through rails of donations in Age uk , Oxfam , shelter or the cats protection league and I’m totally in my element .

It started in my teens I suppose when I first decided that I didn’t want to dress the same as the rest of my peers and took to referencing previous era’s especially the 50s and 60s.

With the dawn of the Britpop era in the 90s and its dedication to the movement of 70s crimplene couture and all things trashy and tacky nothing could beat filling a bag with stuff to clothe and furnish your life with for just a couple of pounds not to mention the buzz of being able to brag not how much the outfit you’d chosen to wear out that Friday night had cost you but how little.

60’s and 70s genuine leather coats, half a tonne of vintage dresses, a vast array of handbags, sunglasses, jewellery, swimming costumes and footwear and the piece de resistance an Astrakha leopard print fake fur that brought me nods of approval from a notoriously hard to impress grandma, especially when she found out it had only cost me £7, that’s still going strong to this day.

Over the years charity shops have fed my vintage habit handsomely with some quality items that you’d probably end up paying a fortune for on eBay now and my love of good old forage through rails and shelves of stuff people have donated hasn’t waned.

I love finding that one unique piece in amongst all the modern stuff , that jewel in the rough that no-one else has spotted , vintage Polaroid sunglasses hidden beneath hundreds of plastic high street numbers , a 50s wicker handbag pushed to one side in favour of something not  quite so pretty in faux leather.

A vintage camera case that has become your favourite go to holdall for just £3 and an original 50’s Marks and Spencer’s polka dot tea dress that so impressed one lady she felt the need to follow you up the stairs in a charity shop in Gillingham just to tell you how lovely it was .

There’s nothing quite like a compliment to make you feel like a million dollars but let’s be honest it’s even more rewarding when you know you’ve supported a deserving cause to receive it.