Selfsufficientish.com

wedding dress, christmas decs, loads of clothes, books...

Loads of things but most importantly I found a book which gave me the idea for, and some start up reading for my dissertation - I got a first for it!!!

cheap plants and seeds

Fleas!

And I bet the fleas were free lol.
We've bought too many things to list but the latest bargains were a new 9 armed mug tree for 20p and a Tefal roasting rack, new with label on, for £1.50........ooooh I need a fix and soon!

The memorable ones are - old bits of fabric including a length of beautiful airforce blue wool made for...the airforce - it still had a 1940s MOD label on it,some black lace evening shoes with kitten heels (don't exactly suit my current lifestyle!) lots of old craft books, buttons and zips, some 1930s plates, a glass dressing table set, loads of little ramekins and pretty mismatched glasses, and a book about how to be green. Love looking!

In the last three years I've had five pairs of jeans/cords which fit me perfectly. And two of those pairs still had the labels and price tags on!

Every single one of my shirts barring one pressie from a sister and one I bought 15 years ago are from charity shops.

The biggest bargain was an almost-new Regatta windproof, waterproof jacket which has now done me for two years cycling in Irish rain. €12.50 - the dearest thing I've ever bought in a charity shop.

blimey... so much of our house & wardrobes are furnished from the charity shops!
got a bird cage & a small dog crate which have been great for newly hatched chicks. oh, and a hamster cage complete with bedding.
Lots of pots - some for the kitchen and some go to the animals (chickens currently eat out of a Denby server with a light crack on the underside!)

we collect all kinds of ornaments relating to our animals or musical instruments... one man' s junk!

even my copy of John Seymour's Self sufficiency bible & most of my gardening books are from the charity,

Years ago, an old man's raincoat (I was a sulky goth) for 10p, and I found a Fiver in the lining.....*result*
My lovely lambswool cardie
Brand new Doc Marten boots for the better half
Loads of toys and books for the kids, including a 160 piece jigsaw still shrinkwrapped for 50p

And....here's a weird one....an old 'Observer' book (you know 'The Observer Book of Birds' etc). My grandparents had quite a few of them and used to buy them for my mum when she was a girl, and handed them down to me (they were the ones with the beautiful painted illustrations) but always told me about one that had gone missing when they moved from Birmingham back to Wales in the 60s. I was in a charity shop in York, and saw a copy of the missing book so bought it for the princely sum of about 30p. Got out of the shop and looked inside the front cover..................................

to find my mother's name and address in Birmingham, dated 1962. The exact date was the 18th October 1962, exactly ten years before I was born. That book found me, after all those years.

a brand new monopoly game ( all the parts still wrapped - money cards tokens etc)

trivial pursuit ( 1980's edition so some interesting questions ) plus those wedge shaped question boxes - all at 50p each - so i now have a mix of old and new questions!

a kingsize heavy cotton blanket/throw that was £4 ( i had a look and they retail around £35-£40 )

my LO's baby blankets brand new with the mother care label on them 20p each

moses basket and stand £10

a pair of jeans for a £1 that fit perfectly before and after my pregnancy

my first (and current dinner set thats had to be replaced) all pieces are odd, brightly coloured and different sizes.

a 1970's 4x cup and saucers funky green pattern 50p

some large dinosaur teddies for LO at £4 each (they are huge!)

... the list goes on

I received a message via friends reunited from a complete stranger recently. He'd bought, from a charity shop, my old copy of the Jam's All Mod Cons, complete with a flyer for a northern soul night in Brighton, which had my name on it. Anyway, he asked if I wanted it back as it was a bit of sentimental rock-memorabilia

Well I've lost count over the years how much I've brought in op shops.But my latest buy was a really nice open lotus flower tea light holder for my little shrine!Looks fab too,was unused and still in original package and not a bad buy for £1.99!

I bought a lovely kingsize patchwork quilt last year for £8. I'm not sure but I think the fabric is Laura Ashley so probably cost a fortune. The only downside was that I was walking and had to carry it all the way home.

Apart from most of my clothes, many of my kitchen bits and enough curtains for my conservatory, a Le Cruset frying pan and grill pan, one of my best buys was a Thai silk throw, big enough to cover a double bed. Both beautiful and warm!

Recently found a couple of little treasures.

Keats;collected poetical works.
Kafka;Der proces.
Edible mushrooms of Europe.
Clive Barker;Everville.
And a truly odd early 90's book full of cocktail recipe's...and large pin-up photo's of models with mainly huge hairstyles. And venetian blinds,neonsigns etc. A sort of boozy equivalent of a Duran Duran video.
And two Jazz-CD's,both from the Bluenote trip series.

The whole loot was about 16 euro's.