We live in a smallish town in North Norfolk and although we’re only 30 minutes away from Norwich by train, I don’t get into the city much. This means that, as well as a lack of money, I don’t go shopping much at all. Something we do have where I live is quite a lot of charity shops though. I think we have at least 6 or 7 in our market square and they’re great to have a rummage in. I have one favourite thing that I’ve bought locally and it really is a charity shop bargain!
One day, I think it was probably getting on for a year ago now, I found my best purchase yet. My sister and I had nipped out to have a look for puzzles I think and we stopped by one last shop on the way home. I actually tend not to go in this particular charity shop too much because it’s one of the more expensive ones in town. But, when I saw this item I knew I had to have it. I actually thought that Erin would like it to begin with and as I carted it home (luckily we live around the corner) I realised it was perfect for something else entirely.
So, what I actually bought was a vintage sewing box which is actually a stool with storage. The woman at the shop laughed at me when I asked how much the stool was because she said there wasn’t any for sale. I honestly thought this was really just a beaten up footstool with some cool storage. I initially asked my sister if she wanted it for her crafty items.
My footstool cost a whole £4 and I fell in love with it immediately. When I brought it home it was dusty as hell, smelt really fusty and needed a really good clean. I beat out as much dust as I could and cleaned what I could and it’s now in a usable condition. Really, it could do with recovering but 1. I don’t know how to do that and 2. we need to decorate the living room eventually so I might as well wait.
Having a footstool really makes me so much more comfortable when I’m sat on the couch doing work. It’s the perfect height for my feet and it’s so soft too. As for the storage, we really don’t use that well. Although the footstool is really mine, as soon as Erin looked inside she very quickly claimed it as her own. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any other toddlers who have a vintage sewing stool as a place to store their multiple pairs of slippers!
It’s not very often I find something as fantastic and perfect as my footstool but it really is my best ever charity shop find.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found in a charity shop? I’d love to know what your best charity shop bargain was!
I love charity shop shopping! My most recent finds (before COVID anyway) were a Hatchimal for £1, a Trespass boys coat, new with tags for 50p and a women’s Hell Bunny coat, new with tags for £10 – looked online and it was worth about £90.