She has volunteered in charity shops for over 12 years now and has always been 'gob smacked', to put it not so politely, at the amount and quality of stuff that people give away.
Children's toys and clothing, ok, children grow out of them. Books too, but why not go to the children's library and read for free.
Yes, of course, the charities gain from the sales of all these items but in the present shop where she works, she knows a couple of these donators are well known for keeping their clothes only for a couple of months.
Goodness me.. she's got clothes that still fit and are in great shape that are over twenty years old.
A particular favourite is her tartan Donnybrook Duffle coat, with its deep pockets and proper closures, she knows that she bought it in the Autumn of '93, because she had it with her when she went on the long trip to Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany and Denmark in 1994.
This lovely coat is over 25 years old and because it has always lived in a proper coat bag on a coat hanger, it looks new. And a friend complimented her on it when she wore it out to lunch last Friday with him to Sheekey's Fish restaurant.
She has a pair of exquisite leather shoes made by Swan, which she bought in the autumn of '66 when she worked the Easter and Summer holidays in the department store called Ricemans of Canterbury - now part of the Fenwick group - she paid £15.00 for them, they're 53 years old this Easter.
She keeps wooden shoe trees in them and has always applied neutral shoe polish to the inside and to their leather soles.
She took them recently into Crockett & Jones and the members of staff 'oohed and aahed' over them and said they were marvellous. Sadly Swan don't make this quality of shoe any longer.
Electrical goods.. her washing machine is a Hoover Washer Dryer, she has had it for over ten years and it was second hand when she bought it.
She maintains it carefully, the filter is cleaned regularly and she does a descaling wash on the 1st of every second month.
Sadly her very good Zanussi dishwasher has a problem, the actual machine is still good, it is the rubber seal that has perished and which leaks water BUT.. she's learnt that it is possible to replace this seal for the sum of £10.00 which is certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick or than buying a new one for over £250!
Shoe menders abound! In London in every area there are Timpsons, then for her very good shoes she goes up to George, he is a wondrous cobbler up behind Euston station and he is the only man in London who can repair a high steel heel. She was told about him by the manager of Chanel shoes.
Tailors.. she is fortunate enough to have two brilliant men who work out of a small dry cleaners on the North End Road.
She has a much beloved and favourite gardening jacket, it is an old tweed Barbour jacket whose corduroy collar was worn.
So she brought, for very little money, just enough tweed from the company who run her great grandfather's company Wain Shiell in Saville Row, they recovered the collar and whilst they were doing that, they added an inside pocket with a zip large enough to take her mobile.
Goodness knows what that jacket now costs at Barbour, several hundred pounds that's for sure.
There is a very, very old cashmere cardigan that she uses as a bed jacket, in fact, she's wearing it now. It belonged to Bill, it stayed here with other clothes for when he flew in for a short visit and didn't want to bring a case.
It's old, it's lived here since '75 and he had had it for a few years before that, it is darned and much beloved, sadly, of course, it no longer smells of Bill but she keeps it because of sentiment and because it is the snugliest, most deliciously warm thing to wear when the weather is chilly.
His raincoat also lived here but she gave that to Debbie the goaty mum, it was far too long for her but fits Debbie perfectly as it slides on over the multiple layers of fleece that she wears at Farmer's Markets and is long enough to come well below her knees to the tops of her long boots.
Make do and mend. Learn to sew, or at least darn, find a good shoe mender, most good dry cleaners employ someone with a sewing machine to replace a broken zip, you can certainly sew on a button.
The newspaper article is primarily about the electrical appliances that appear to self-destruct after a certain length of time, there is a particular brand of mobile / cell phone which are famous for seeming to slow down as soon as the new version comes out.
Our iPad is older than my blog and that's saying something! Yes, it is a bit crunchy sometimes but she is vigilant in cleaning out the history and looking for updates, not opening emails from people she doesn't know and her email providers are good at chucking things into spam that they don't like the look of.
You don't have to have new stuff all the time. Be selective of what you buy in the first place and if you do want to get rid of stuff.. have a think if there's anyone you may know who would either like or need it.
We were given a bag of children's toy this week, she took them down to Fulham and walked into see her hairdresser. Why? Well, Anissa has a grand daughter and a child's Scrabble game is just what a granny needs for when her munchkin comes to stay!
The rest went onto the charity shop. Someone will love and use them.
The water is still off and there's lots of noise being made, several men are working on this problem, some working on the main junction / connection up on the pavement and a couple of them down in the vault. What a good thing she filled those jugs and buckets full of water yesterday!
Hey ho.. off I go.. it's time for a snacket of fruit.
GeeGee Parrot.
January 11th, 2019.
Children's toys and clothing, ok, children grow out of them. Books too, but why not go to the children's library and read for free.
Yes, of course, the charities gain from the sales of all these items but in the present shop where she works, she knows a couple of these donators are well known for keeping their clothes only for a couple of months.
Goodness me.. she's got clothes that still fit and are in great shape that are over twenty years old.
A particular favourite is her tartan Donnybrook Duffle coat, with its deep pockets and proper closures, she knows that she bought it in the Autumn of '93, because she had it with her when she went on the long trip to Sweden, Russia, Poland, Germany and Denmark in 1994.
This lovely coat is over 25 years old and because it has always lived in a proper coat bag on a coat hanger, it looks new. And a friend complimented her on it when she wore it out to lunch last Friday with him to Sheekey's Fish restaurant.
She has a pair of exquisite leather shoes made by Swan, which she bought in the autumn of '66 when she worked the Easter and Summer holidays in the department store called Ricemans of Canterbury - now part of the Fenwick group - she paid £15.00 for them, they're 53 years old this Easter.
She keeps wooden shoe trees in them and has always applied neutral shoe polish to the inside and to their leather soles.
She took them recently into Crockett & Jones and the members of staff 'oohed and aahed' over them and said they were marvellous. Sadly Swan don't make this quality of shoe any longer.
Electrical goods.. her washing machine is a Hoover Washer Dryer, she has had it for over ten years and it was second hand when she bought it.
She maintains it carefully, the filter is cleaned regularly and she does a descaling wash on the 1st of every second month.
Sadly her very good Zanussi dishwasher has a problem, the actual machine is still good, it is the rubber seal that has perished and which leaks water BUT.. she's learnt that it is possible to replace this seal for the sum of £10.00 which is certainly better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick or than buying a new one for over £250!
Shoe menders abound! In London in every area there are Timpsons, then for her very good shoes she goes up to George, he is a wondrous cobbler up behind Euston station and he is the only man in London who can repair a high steel heel. She was told about him by the manager of Chanel shoes.
Tailors.. she is fortunate enough to have two brilliant men who work out of a small dry cleaners on the North End Road.
She has a much beloved and favourite gardening jacket, it is an old tweed Barbour jacket whose corduroy collar was worn.
So she brought, for very little money, just enough tweed from the company who run her great grandfather's company Wain Shiell in Saville Row, they recovered the collar and whilst they were doing that, they added an inside pocket with a zip large enough to take her mobile.
Goodness knows what that jacket now costs at Barbour, several hundred pounds that's for sure.
There is a very, very old cashmere cardigan that she uses as a bed jacket, in fact, she's wearing it now. It belonged to Bill, it stayed here with other clothes for when he flew in for a short visit and didn't want to bring a case.
It's old, it's lived here since '75 and he had had it for a few years before that, it is darned and much beloved, sadly, of course, it no longer smells of Bill but she keeps it because of sentiment and because it is the snugliest, most deliciously warm thing to wear when the weather is chilly.
His raincoat also lived here but she gave that to Debbie the goaty mum, it was far too long for her but fits Debbie perfectly as it slides on over the multiple layers of fleece that she wears at Farmer's Markets and is long enough to come well below her knees to the tops of her long boots.
Make do and mend. Learn to sew, or at least darn, find a good shoe mender, most good dry cleaners employ someone with a sewing machine to replace a broken zip, you can certainly sew on a button.
The newspaper article is primarily about the electrical appliances that appear to self-destruct after a certain length of time, there is a particular brand of mobile / cell phone which are famous for seeming to slow down as soon as the new version comes out.
Our iPad is older than my blog and that's saying something! Yes, it is a bit crunchy sometimes but she is vigilant in cleaning out the history and looking for updates, not opening emails from people she doesn't know and her email providers are good at chucking things into spam that they don't like the look of.
You don't have to have new stuff all the time. Be selective of what you buy in the first place and if you do want to get rid of stuff.. have a think if there's anyone you may know who would either like or need it.
We were given a bag of children's toy this week, she took them down to Fulham and walked into see her hairdresser. Why? Well, Anissa has a grand daughter and a child's Scrabble game is just what a granny needs for when her munchkin comes to stay!
The rest went onto the charity shop. Someone will love and use them.
The water is still off and there's lots of noise being made, several men are working on this problem, some working on the main junction / connection up on the pavement and a couple of them down in the vault. What a good thing she filled those jugs and buckets full of water yesterday!
Hey ho.. off I go.. it's time for a snacket of fruit.
GeeGee Parrot.
January 11th, 2019.
I’m very impressed with your advice
ReplyDeleteI don't mind being described as frugal Pegeen. I'd rather make do & take care of the things I have either inherited or worked hard for. How much stuff do we really need anyway, it is shocking to see the amount of new, hardly worn stuff that is brought into the shop by people who think that shopping gives them pleasure. No wonder credit card debt is so high. That would scare me to death..
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