Charity Shop Challenge: Revolutionising the way we do and think about shopping

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Charity Shop Challenge, Charity Shops, Ethical buying, Faith, Human Trafficking, Mother and Daughter venture

A Mother & Daughter’s Charity Shop Challenge: Revolutionising the way we do and think about shopping….

The summer holidays always finds me in challenge mode. I always have a good clear out, de-cluttering is like therapy for me.. I love to have a good clear out at the beginning of the hols; clearing the house, helps to de-clutter the mind. I also like a good challenge, to give myself a new goal and focus. As you will have seen before within my ramblings I am a firm believer in the simple life, working hard to ensure that I do not consume too much. I am trying to be ever more savy in my shopping but also socially conscious of what I buy. 

Mum and I love to go charity shopping, she knows me so well that on my recent visit home I think she found a number of my buys. I think I am even turning my sister towards to second hand and swap shop way of thinking. When she rooted through my wardrobe, looking at what I had, every item she pulled out ooing and ahhing over was either from a charity shop or a swap shop… The revolution begins.. 

So Mum and I have come up with a challenge that we are going to do together. All be it, I think this challenge will be a little easier for me than her but we are up for it. Mum and I live at opposite ends of the country, but meet up every 6 weeks or so. I will be introducing my lovely mum on here soon as she will update finds and keep you posted on her perspective on the challenge on this blog too. 

The challenge is for a year to only buy in charity shops, swap shops or dress agencies. The key is that the clothes that we buy must be second hand. We will only buy when absolutely necessary. This rule applies to me especially, as I surveyed the wardrobe I have with my sister, I realised I really do have lots- Enough really! There are a couple of exceptions to the rule; we are allowed to buy underwear and pjs new!! We are also allowed to buy presents for others new, however I am going to use this as an opportunity to try and make lots of my pressies this year. I better get started now 🙂

This challenge will also include items for the home, all must be second hand or sourced for free or made; excluding white goods. Let the up-cycling begin…

We will do the challenge from 1st Sept 2013- 31st August 2014. If we slip and buy something new ( to help prevent this I simply am going to go nowhere near a high street!!) we have to donate the cost of that item to a charity or the church ( whichever we choose).

We are going to run a big swap shop event in May 2014, down south, in my parents home town, at their local church to raise money for local charities. I love clothes swaps and think they are such a great way to get women together and get some new clothes in a really ethical way. So keep an eye out for that one, especially if you live in my home town of Southend 🙂  

My faith in God has rooted me in the thinking that less is more and my love of craft and making has helped to not buy into the consumer culture too much. I hope that this challenge will help me to steer clear of the throw away fashion ideas that sometimes I do get sucked into. I was challenged further this year at a Christian conference I went to, New Wine North, to push my buying habits further and make them as ethically minded as I can. A number of the children who make the clothes that we buy from the high street have been trafficked, forced to work in terrible conditions, taken from their families. I am a strong advocate campaigning and praying to see the end of Human Trafficking. I hope to ensure that this ethos seeps into every aspect of my life. I want to make a stand against this practise and will continue to lobby high street stores to ensure that they are not using trafficked children to make their clothing. Buying from charity shops, making do and mending, thinking ethically in how I buy all my goods is just one little step. Please feel free to share any other ideas you have for being ethically minded shoppers?

I’ll be sure to post up my recent finds very soon and introduce you to my lovely mum; guest blogger for the year 🙂  

Happy vintage and ethical shopping.. let the challenge begin 🙂 

With Love Olive & Emxxxx

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Charity Shop Finds Update….

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Charity Shop finds, Karen Millen, Knutsford, vintage fashion

Goodness me, it’s been a while. With it being the Easter holidays and having just spent a lovely half an hour sitting making cards at my lovely bureau I thought I would check in on here and update you on some of my recent finds. I’m trying to limit myself recently as I realised I really do have too many clothes. I find that if I get too much stuff in the house it affects my mood, I am attempting to continue to cultivate the simple life..

Consumerism seems to have adverse effects on me.. We were at our local high street the other day and it made me want to run as fast as I could to the nearest field! Ok so you are thinking I’m going slightly crazy, but honestly I have found that only going to the odd charity shop, every now and then really is doing my little soul the world of good. It is crazy how fast you can get sucked into the buy, buy , buy mode of thinking. I suppose that I console myself, when I do a charity shop jaunt with the idea that I am helping someone by giving my money to a worthy cause. Something else I have started to do when I buy something, I pass something on. It really is truly satisfying. It may be at a clothes swap, simply passing on to a friend or to the local charity shop, but giving away the same number of items you bring in or more really seems to work for me. Some of you will be reading this and thinking I couldn’t do that but honestly have a root through and I bet you will find things you no longer need that another person will absolutely love. It gets a little addictive. I’ve started to pass on at clothes swaps things that I do actually like, but don’t really wear. Seeing others getting pleasure out of it is just as good as getting something new I am discovering. 

Anyway, enough of my shopping philosophy down to my bargain buys from the last couple of weeks. First up we have this gorgeous summer dress, which has been customised and rouched (not sure how to spell)  at the bottom by the previous owner. I am yet to try this little number on actually, but plan on buttoning it in at the waist with a big waist belt. At just £4 it was a little steal for the summer. I found this one at the East Didsbury Sue Ryder Shop.

 

 

My next set of finds were on a recent trip to Knutsford. The hubby and I went there to celebrate our 3rd Wedding Anniversary it really is well worth a visit if you love history, quaint villages and charity shops.  Normally the array of shops and the excellent surrounding clientèle provides for a find in nearly every shop however this time I only found that the Cancer Research was tickling my fancy. I blew my £10 budget however, not by too much, but came out with three really lovely buys. I guess in hindsight I could of spent a lot more but I am trying to be good. 

So I fell in love with this little dress and with my hair recently bleached blonde and bobbed, this dress looks so cute 🙂 This I think will be the birthday outfit for this weekend’s stay at the parents 🙂 It was £8.50 originally from Miss Selfridge, not a shop I would usually go for but I couldn’t resist. 

 

Next up was this gorgeous Karen Millen shirt for just £7.50. It fits perfectly and I’m going to wear it for evening going out. I could wear it to work but I have lots of work shirts to I figured I would keep this one for home attire 🙂 I’ve even done a close up of the tag to prove its authenticity. I love the pattern on it and it will be great for summer evenings. 

 

 

My last find in Cancer Research was this simple summer top. We are off abroad soon and I don’t do hot sun dressing particularly well. I like to snuggle and cover up so I tried this on and liked the floaty feel of the fabric and figured it would be great for our beach holiday. It is originally from America I think and was only £4.50. Happy days:-) 

 

 

 

Just thought I would squeeze in a little find I have customised. I found this bag in Mind down in Essex on my last visit to see the family. It only cost me £2 and I have been looking for a bag to sling over me for a while. So I got this one home and decided to customise it, make it look a little different. I sewed on an old 1940’s original button, provided by my lovely Grandma and stuck on some jazzy 70s fabric then added a brooch I have had for ages.. See what you think, not bad for £2 hey?!! 

So Happy belated Easter and happy bargain hunting lovelies. Until Next time.. 

Much love

Olive & Emxxx

Ethical Shopping… A fab little swap shop..

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Afternoon Tea, Olive & Em, Swap Shop

Last Saturday I spent a lovely day doing something that I love.. Ethical shopping. Well hosting an ethical shopping event, A Swap Shop. I have a bit of an obsession with trying to find unique ways to shop ethically. My charity shop challenge, car boot bargains but a swap shop has to be one of the best ways to get girls together and share items of clothing that you no longer wear for a friends clothes which were heading for a clear out.

We had lots of little extras, cakes from The Chocolate Cake Cottage, decorations by Olive & Em crockery ( see crockery hire page above) and the lovely Gemma Tulson provided a little repairs corner with her nifty sewing skills for a small fee. We entertained all the ladies who came with fab music from Hannah and Adam Smikle.

All the money the we made went to two great organisations Beauty Cocoon run by one of my best friends, the lovely Jennie Frost. The other is In Your Own Skin created by the fabulous Hannah Smikle. Both organisations have been established to develop positive self esteem amongst young women and female adults. They encourage conversations in safe places for women to talk about their emotions and feelings, focusing upon personal value and worth.  Both courses are simply fantastic and deal with issues so close to my heart.

An image which will stay with me of the day, has to be when I declared, “The Swap Shop is Open,” eyes turned and determined, brisk walking commenced towards the clothing area. It made me giggle, us ladies just love clothes 🙂 I took a step back, watching people’s eyes scan another ladies arm full of clothes, watching as others picked things up and put things down again, ready to nab. It was all good fun and a great time to just chill, chat and eat cake as well as get a couple of new items of clothes. If you would like any details about how to run a swap shop, please just pop me an email. I am sure you are all dab hands at it. Let me know if you’re organising one. I would love to pop down.

I managed to nab myself some brand new, never worn Next white linen trousers and a white and blue stripey top for work.

So here are a few pics of the day, sorry there aren’t too many I was running around like a crazy lady. Next time I will be sure to take more. I hope to make this a 6 monthly event raising money for different causes each time, so watch this space 🙂

Having a nosey and a rummage…

Cakes provided by the fabulous Helena at The Chocolate Cake Cottage..yum yum yum…

As you can see flowers and all things girlie and beautiful were the order of the day so we just had to use the gorgeous Olive & Em crockery to decorate the church hall and had LOTS of bunting out of course. 

Happy Ethical shopping 🙂

Lots of love,

Olive & Emxxxxx