Fashion - Thrift Shops & My Tips for Shopping in them

Hi guys!

Even before I started my blog, I was always on the hunt for a bargain when it comes to shopping. One of the best places to find a bargain when it comes to clothes, shoes and books is thrift (or charity) shops. I know people may have negative opinions about shopping in thrift shops, but there's really nothing to be negative about when it comes to them. I've actually got some of the nicest dresses, skirts and tops from them over the years for very inexpensive prices, so I'd really encourage you to check out your local ones. Not only are you getting a bargain but you're supporting the charity too - guilt free shopping, yay!

I understand though that there's people that just don't know where to begin when it comes to shopping in them, and that's where Shelly Says So comes in with my advice on shopping in them. Some of these tips can also be applied to shopping in general. You're welcome! xo.

Tip No.1: Be patient!
As a rule, charity shops are as organised as can be but they're quite a different experience from shopping in Penneys (Primark for all my lovely British friends!) or New Look. In Penneys you walk in and you see a pretty dress. That pretty dress is all in different sizes, all on the same rail. However, it's quite a different story in  charity shops (with the exception being the British Heart Foundation here in Carlisle, everything is so organised). You see a pretty dress, but it's not in your size and on the same rail there could be up to thirty different dresses. It leads to expected frustration, so you must be patient. Rummage through rails like your life depends on it because you never know, the dress of your dreams could be stuck behind a load of other boring dresses....

Tip No.2: Know when something is a bargain or just shite! 
From personal experience even from shopping in the likes of Penneys, I know how easy it is to get swept up in the moment just because a product is a low price. Charity shop clothes are of good quality, there is no way anything would be allowed through their doors and put on a rail if they had holes in them where there wasn't supposed to be holes or were in need of rescue. But I've lost count of how many times I've fallen in love with what a dress looks like and the low price of it and abandon everything else that's important when it comes to selecting an item of clothing. Yes, it looked nice on the rail and was as cheap as chips, but when I came home and tried it on, wanting to wear it for a night out, I found that it just wasn't the right fit and was drawing attention to the parts of my body I'm insecure about. Therefore it was a mishap on my behalf and felt like money down the drain (a fiver doesn't seem like too much but when you're a student, a fiver is loads to spend and could have been used for other things (like alcomohol haha), and the dress never did get it's night out on the town.

Tip No.3: Think practical!
This kind of ties in with my second tip above, and it's a mishap I'm equally guilty of making when it comes to thrift shopping, as well as regular shopping. Again, I fall in love with a skirt, dying to wear it out, and then realise it doesn't go with anything else in my wardrobe whatsoever. I know fashion is all about experimentation, but fashion is also like a relationship; if it's a strange fabric/material/colour it could be difficult for it to get on and work well with the rest of your clothes. Same thing applies if you have a million of the same type of clothing at home. If you already have a LBD at home that you barely wear as it is don't bring another one home with you - no matter how cheap it is - to hog further valuable space in your wardrobe.

Tip No.4: Try to not get disheartened. 
It's happened to me many times. I walk in one week to a charity shop and I come out with a bagful of bargains, the next week I go into the same one and I'm lucky if I find a book in it I want to read. It's often a matter of luck and being there at the right day and at the right time. Anyways, shopping should be fun, and shopping in charity shops is even more fun, if you let it be that way. This may be a sign I'm getting old, but I enjoy nothing more than spending an afternoon browsing through the rails, even better if I have a friend with me and we can laugh at some of the items for sale in the shop (High School musical calendar from 2005, anyone?). It's such a good feeling when you finally get a good bargain that you weren't expecting that it's well worth it.

Tip No.5: Wash the clothes!
Like I've mentioned already, charity shop clothing is at a very high standard. You'll never walk in and see clothes with vomit or any other bodily fluid on them, but they do have quite a strange smell that obviously transfers to the clothes, so I always wash the clothes after I purchase them, just to make sure all smells are off them and they smell fresh and fancy for your nights or days out.

So here are a few of my charity shop bargains!!

Flowery Dress: NCBI (National Council for the Blind Ireland), Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Cost €5.

Polka dot Dress (by AX Paris)
: Oxfam Dublin, €5.

 

Polka dot dress (by AX Paris):
 Oxfam in Dublin, €5.

Shorts: 50c (NCBI, Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland).

Lifestyle - May is Mental Health Awareness Month!

Rewind back to this time last year when I was in my final year of college. I had just handed in my dissertation on the Attitudes and Knowledge of students in my college to Mental Health and Mental Illness and was feeling disappointed by the predominately negative attitudes to mental illness among the student population.
I wanted to do something to lower the negative attitudes around the issue as some people seem to forget that we all have a mental health, and it it needs to be nourished and looked just as well - if not more - than the physical health, and it was then I got in touch with an Irish organisation called See Change. They are a national charity who work hard to raise awareness of mental illness as it is the belief that the more people know about the issue, the less frequent these negative attitudes and opinions will occur, and frustratingly enough, receive little funding whatsoever by the Irish government (because, like I've mentioned, Mental Illness is just not thought of as the same way as physical illness even though 1 in 4 people will suffer with a mental illness at some stage in their lives). They rely on volunteers completely, so I went along to their training day in Sligo which taught us how to start a conversation with people about mental health and openly discussing it.

May is Mental Health Awareness month, so it means it's a huge month for See Change's campaign to promote open discussion of mental health. Throughout the month, hundreds of local and national events will take place as part of the Green Ribbon campaign. This social movement, in it's third consecutive year, is led by partner organisations plus volunteers who attend training days like I have mentioned above. Many of the volunteers who attend training days also have some real-life experience of mental health problems ready to share their own stories to help others and end the stigma that surrounds the issue.

You can support See Change's stigma-reduction campaign by picking up your green ribbon at major Irish rail stations at at every Citizens Information Centre and MABS office nationwide throughout the month, and by taking part in National Time To Talk Day on Friday May 15th by simply making the time and space for a conversation about mental health with friends, family and collegues. See Change have set themselves the goal of having over 500 social media users similtaneously posting about the Green Ribbon campaign on May 15th, for more information please see here:
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/25702-national-timetotalk-day-2015. 

Other ways to support the initiative:

• Wear the Green Ribbon on your Twitter or Facebook (or both if you have both!) profile picture in 3 super simple clicks (like I have done on the right!). To do this: please click HERE.
• Get a Green Ribbon banner to use as your business page Facebook cover page (download HERE).
• Get a Green Ribbon banner to use as your personal Facebook page cover photo (download HERE).
• Get the Green Ribbon email signature (download here, or if you're using Gmail, simply add this URL to your signature settings: http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y350/SeeChangeSorcha/Email%20Banner%201_zpsc39xxpga.jpg​​​
• If you're a blogger like myself, add the green ribbon bloggers badge to your blog (download HERE).

We often hear that we need to talk more about mental health and the simple Green Ribbon provides a practical way of turning that into action. The 500,000 people who will be wearing Green Ribbons this May will not only be showing their support for the campaign but also leaving the door open for conversation. For someone who might be going through a tough time, just knowing that they don't have to avoid the subject with you can make all the difference. You don't need to be an expert to start talking about mental health or be expected to have and know all the answers. You can go to the volunteer training day like I did, but you don't have to. I just went purely because I wanted to find out interesting ways to spark the conversation among college students.
Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is to let someone know you are there for them and simply listen! 

1.6 million conversations were started last year during Mental Health Awareness Month, so this year See Change are hoping there will be more, and with everyone's help it is possible!!

To find out more about See Change's inspiring work, please visit their website (www.seechange.ie) here.