Magpie Monday - charity shop finds from my weekend away

I went away for the weekend for the first time ever without the children. I was in Kent visiting my brother.

I was quite excited that I had never visited his town before so was looking forward to what treasures I might find in the charity shops there.

On the whole, my trip was disappointing charity-shop wise (although wonderful in every other way!)

My first port of call was an animal charity shop which smelt like a dog kennel. It was dark, dingy and disorganised with a poor range of products. The next two shops were not much better so very unusually, I only have one purchase to report this week. This was a bundle of Match Attax Trading Cards that I knew my son would love and that they were practically giving away. I got loads of packets of them for just £1 in total.

Part of my weekend away included having a funky new haircut. When I returned to my brother's, I went to the loo and wanting to admire myself noticed there was no mirror in the bathroom. So I bullied him into taking me to the British Heart Foundation Furniture Shop he had told me about.

This place was amazing - just as much fun as looking round Ikea but with cheap and cheerful price tags. It was an Aladdin's cave of tables, chairs, wardrobes, beds, magazine racks and the like. Some genuine antiques, some retro reminders and some modern wonders.

We went to the bedroom departments and found a large and wonderful mirror for £10. Perfect!

I now want to hire a van and travel back down there to buy a Mexican style bedroom suite and a huge bookcase amongst many other things ....