Love Charity Shops, Kids

When I was a lad money was tight for my parents, it’s only once I became an adult and parent myself that I realised just how big a struggle they had. My mum invariably bought clothes from charity shops and it never bothered me until one Saturday a rather unpleasant lad from school saw me in the local Oxfam store with my mum. The following Monday I was picked on for it and from then on I refused to go in there with her.

Looking back this saddens me that I let what other kids thought bother me so much, but as teenagers are caught between rebellion and compliance I guess it was only natural to rebel against my mum and comply with school mates. Thankfully I grew out of it and I’ve learned to love charity shops.

When you have four growing children you appreciate just how quickly they grow out of those and the constant demand is often difficult to supply. They all appreciate the clothes they have and they all know that quite a lot of them are sources from charity shops or bought second hand. And why shouldn’t they?

The vast majority of my wardrobe is sourced from charity shops, and you only have to ask my wife just how many items of clothing that actually means. I was looking there yesterday when thinking about writing this and it took me a while to find something that was bought new! Mostly it’s my sportswear that is bought new although some of that is second hand.

Our little market town in North Yorkshire is lucky to have two charity shops, an Age UK and a Children In Distress. They are both great shops and the stock rotation is excellent. I’m usually in them each week and just yesterday I picked up the jeans in the photo above for a bargain price and even though they had no tags on I suspect they are practically brand new. Then today I was back against with the eldest as I was looking for items to use in costumes for the up coming dance showcase performances. A denim jacket and cheque shirts were procured this time.

I often forget than buying from a charity shop means you are actually doing something good. You are donating money to great causes and helping others. Move away from our town to neighbouring towns and the range and number of shops expands; last year I picked up a pare of Armani pants from the British Heart Foundation shop in Thirsk.

I’m proud that our girls are happy to wear clothes from charity shops, in fact they love browsing in there and selecting items. I will continue to source my clothes from them and see no reason not to, supporting charity and the local economy at the same time.

So, do you shop in charity shops? What do you children think about it? Let me know.

Thanks for reading.