"Thrift is not an affair of the pocket, but an affair of the character."

Dress- £3.99, Bag- £2, Hat- £4, White Shirt- £2.95, Striped Shirt- £1.99

I happen to live in an area with an abundance of charity shops. I happen also to relish a bargain. Furthermore, I happen to be comfortable in all kinds of weird apparel. Even clothes that look like they were potentially worn by an old cat lady who may or may not have died in them someone's Nan just the other week. So when my friend Nina asked me to go on a charity-shop-pub-crawl-type-thing (there was, admittedly, only one pub involved) I perhaps came across as a bit too keen. As in, I instantly screamed "Of COURSE, thiswillbesomuchfun!". Poor Nina.

For anyone Glasgow based, the best charity loot in the West End is to be found along Dumbarton Road, more commonly known as 'The Street Where Dreams Come True'*. Byres Road is good for the unexperienced, but overpriced and lacking in character; remember this also when you are looking for a pub. We started up towards Crow Road and worked our way right down to the Salvation Army, and it is in this stretch that I purchased all these goodies.   

As Nina found out, I have very few rules for this kind of shopping, but those I do use are working pretty well for me so far:

1.  "A bargain ain't a bargain unless it's something you need".
   This is just a rule for shopping in general. Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean you should buy it. If I like something, I won't buy it unless I can think of at least 3 outfits using it. Otherwise 2 months down the line it's getting re-donated to Cancer Research.
   
2. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
   Charity shopping is not like high street shopping where everything is new, in your size or laid out well. It's also not like vintage shopping, where most things are at least interesting. You will have to sift through everything to find something, and most likely that will mean a lot of fleeces.
    
3. Try anything!
   If something is suprisingly/ weirdly/ strangely nice then ignore the adverb and go for it. However, beware the fine line of "This is either really ugly or really great". It could go either way, although if you have to ask if it's ugly, it probably is. A point of note: not everywhere has changing rooms, so wear a vest top to try things over your clothes. 

Ok, so it's not a foolproof guide, but as long as you don't come home with a dolphin fleece then you should be fine. Unless that's your thing, of course. In which case there's no help for you.











*Disclaimer: I'm around 90% certain that it is only me who says this. The other 10% of me reckons my flatmate, who has a collection of blinged out iPhone cases and a love of cheap nail salons, feels the same way.




Title quote attributed to S.W. Straus