Results! Charity Shop Hit-rate Survey

In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that I had been keeping a note of charity shop visits and my purchases. Well, after 4 weeks of keeping a record of where I went and what I purchased, the results are in....

Total number of charity shops visited = 35
Number of shop visits in which purchases were made = 13
Hit rate =1 visit in 2.7 visits results in a purchase
Number of different towns visited = 4
Total amount spent = £36.36

What did I get for that money:

Clothing - Handmade black pencil skirt £4.99, Rose print scarf £3.99, Red Scottish wool cardigan £2, Jacqmar 1950s silk scarf £1.49

Accessories - Vinyl Holdall £3, leather belt £1.50, hand knitted mittens £2

Sewing & Knitting supplies - Lots of vintage knitting patterns £8.40, sewing patterns and needlecraft book £4.50, buttons £1.50, 1960s embroidery transfers FREE!, Fabric & 2 embroidered tablecloths £3

And since I promised a pie chart - here's one! It shows the percentage of my overall spend from each of the three areas.

Unusually for me, and with much restraint, I did not purchase any ceramics this month. I very nearly did, but was on the way to meet a friend to go for a walk and didn't want to cart it around with me. I would normally probably need to have a 'Home' section in the chart to cover such purchases.

It was an interesting experience to record the outcome of my frequent chazza visits. I definitely spent more during the month than I thought - it was a little shocking to see it all totted up. All of the £2 and £3 purchases here and there certainly add up. I think being more aware of how much you are spending does help to stop those unnecessary purchases which later get returned back to the charity shop again. That being said, I think I did well for the amount I spent as I got some lovely items.

 I'm in love with the orange mittens, which remind me of pumpkins.

The silk scarf was a real score, hiding among other boring scarves in a normally so-so charity shop. £1.49 was an absolute bargain - I've spent over twice as much on polyester scarves.

I wouldn't normally go for the dusky pink as I'm a bold colour girl, but I clocked the hand rolled hem (always a sign of quality) and took it to the cash desk before anyone else picked it up. It was made to mark the Coronation of the Queen in 1953 and is quite large, with a gorgeous, typically 50s illustration. I am going to pack it away for Spring, as it will look perfect with my trench coat.

I think I was lucky to find so many good sewing and knitting patterns this month (48% of my total purchases to be exact!) - they're often pretty scarce. My collection has been well boosted, plus I have even more for a giveaway in the future (tantalising, eh?!). My purchases were made in 4 different towns. I had a great trip to Helensburgh where I bought a bundle, following a tip that the shops there were good - thanks Frances! I used the very handy charity shop map on the Charity Retail Association website (cheers Vix!) to check out where the shops were before I visited too.


Do you keep a track of your charity shop visits? How much do you think you spend per month in charity shops?

I think the above results are difficult to interpret without anything to compare them to. So with that in mind - Would you be interested in keeping a note of your visits and posting here about them? I think it would be really interesting if a couple of people kept a note of their visits in a similar way to the above, and then shared them here. Let me know if you would be interested in doing this - I'm so nosy, I love to see what everyone else is buying! I could even produce some kind of blog button or picture - I'm right into the old Picnik these days.

Hope you've had a nice weekend

K x