So far Save The Children has provided help to 500,000 people in Pakistan's devastated flood…read moreaffected area, including medical care, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene items, water purification sachets and food. They have established 63 child-friendly spaces and are working with communities to address issues that affect children's well-being. With the threat of water born diseases such as cholera taking hold, it is imperative to act quickly to avert many more deaths in this region. There are several ways of supporting these efforts. Money can be donated or you can sort through your unwanted household items and pop them down to the shop. Items wanted include ladies fashion, children's and menswear, books, DVDs, CD's and vinyl records. All of these items are clearly for sale as well... and now that the weather is turning you may want to consider getting your Christmas cards a little earlier this year?

As charity shops go this one has a lot of great stock from some pretty good donations. Clothes,…read morebooks and other nick nacks are everywhere. Many bargain hunters will be looking to get some retro or boutique quality wears from here, but for me I am on the hunt for that ever-elusive prey, a good book at lowest prices. Save the children is only slightly better kept than Vision gift shop and that a shame as a lot of the other charity shops put a lot of effort into sorting and making the shopping experience more professional.

This is a large charity shop situated at the end of the high street, there are loads of charity…read moreshops in Burnham and this is probably the nicest one, it has nice big windows with good displays. The staff are always friendly and happy to help. Inside it is spread over two floors, downstairs they mainly sell clothes, ornaments, books, videos and toys. And upstairs they sell large items of furniture such as tables, wardrobes and sofas. I normally come in here to look at the toys as they have some nice second hand toys in here for toddlers. It is also nice and spacious and one of the only charity shops that you can get around easily with a pushchair.

British Red Cross is the only charity shop where the music of Gun N' Roses' "November Rain" floods…read morethe shop floor. Grannies sifting through knick knacks against Axl Rose's shrieks - Awesome. British Red Cross is located on Central Square, which is the line of shops leading to Cardiff Central Railway Station. If I have a few extra minutes before I have to catch a train, this shop (along with neighbours Marie Curie Cancer Care and Cancer Research UK charity shops) is where I go. I usually come to this particular shop to see what kind of records are on offer (yes, I love the thrill of the hunt!). This time around, David Bowie's "Life on Mars" 7 inch single was propped on the shelf for a meagre £2.50, and sat behind it was Elton John's "Madman Across the Water" priced at £8. This charity shop offers your usual range of second-hand books, clothing, CDs, greeting cards, and of course, a selection of albums. The shop assistants here are always cheerful and helpful, which are some of the reasons I keep coming back.

Shopping at British Red Cross charity shops is always a pleasant experience. They tend to be…read moremodern, well laid out, and always stocked with some great stuff. There's a number of charitable causes that I like to support, but I still always prefer to buy things from the British Red Cross wherever possible. They do the most amazing work in war torn areas around the world, and are led by such compassionate values that I totally trust their mission! They also take huge personal risks to protect and save the lives of others... really very commendable. This shop is really well located in the close to the centre of town, and is particularly good for books. Prices are really reasonable, and the service is impeccable, (as it is at all of the British Red Cross charity shops).

Tenofus is a cancer charity, as is the Cancer Research Charity that also has high street charity…read moreshops, just like Tenofus...! So what's the point in that? In my estimations charity shops are less competitive because they tend to stock a bit of this and a bit of that... if they joined forces they could stock a lot of everything, so making a trip to invest in your favourite charity a more worthwhile option for you as well! If I need a pair of shoes in a hurry, I don't think, 'oh, I must go to Tenofus to look at the small selection that they have there, with perhaps none in my size". If I need shoes for a night out or an interview, or something with a deadline, then I'm going to go straight to the High Street! However, there is something quite delightful about riffling through a hotchpotch of stock and seeing what you might find... so if you have the time, this is always an option... occasionally you'll find a real gem in here!

Charity shop book hunters take note, if you're in Barry, this is the place to be…read more This usually sleepy little shop has a really lovely quiet vibe about it and a really decent rack of books at the rear of the shop. It seems to be lots of quality over quantity here, so there's only one copy of the Davinci Code and not 7. I picked up about 6 books here, one of which was a pristine copy of a collection of Audrey Hepburn photographs and another being a hardback copy of the Satanic verses. All 6 books came in at under a tenner, an absolute bargain. All in all a little shop with hidden treasures inside.

This is by far the largest charity shop in Cowbridge, and was an endless source of reading material…read moreand clothing when i lived in St Hilary. Iused to live at Coed Hills Rural Artspace amid a community of artists and eco-warriors, and this was our natural home! The need for recycling kept all of the eco-warriors happy, and the artists and crafts people used to come here for arts and craft supplies, adapting their purchases and reinventing them into something new. I was office-bound when I was living there and so I simply used this charity shop as a means of buying things I needed. They usually have a good selection of good label clothing, as well as a great supply of current reading material. Their bric-a-brac section is also extensive. A great charity shop in every respect!

Penarth is the obvious choice for charity shop bargain hunters because there are so many in a small…read moreconcentrated area. They each have their specialties and I pride myself on being able to sniff out just what each one is famed for. There isn't a huge selection of books unlike the almighty oxfam a few door up the road but there is a huge choice of clothes and retro kitsch bric a brack items.

Cancer Research is a clean and tidy charity shop in Penarth selling the usual ranges of books,…read morebric-a-brac and clothing. It's one of the more well-presented shops I've been to, boasting a wide selection of both new and second hand items. The front window features the newly-added Breast Cancer range, with pink dominating the display: toys, slippers, jewellery, bags, with all proceeds benefitting the afore-mentioned charity. There's not much in the way of bric-a-brac, but clothes horses will be more than pleased with the amount of garments on offer. Books, framed pictures and shoes also have equal billing here. Yikes, even the Christmas cards are out, which is a fast-approaching holiday I'm just not ready for yet. Sadly, there were no 12-inch records for sale, but there's plenty here to keep my bargain-hunting spirit lifted.

This branch of The British Heart Foundation has a spacious shop floor with which to display large…read moreitems of furniture that don't fit in the smaller outlets. It also carries smaller items of furniture, as well as white goods and general electricals. Sadly, the white goods and electricals are not reconditioned, and so they will only accept items that are working at the time of donation, but there's no guarantee that they will continue to do so once you get them home. They do perform function and PAT tests, so the portable appliances are likely to be more reliable. Nevertheless, white goods are the biggest sellers, which is pretty much the same story across the 87 outlets of this kind throughout the UK. Because of this they are always on the lookout for donations to replenish their white goods stock. It's always best to check with them first before loading heavy items into your car and hauling them all the way to the shop, as they will refuse certain items. They won't accept any gas cookers for instance. They also sell some new stock at reasonable prices. This is not damaged or redundant stock. Instead, they rely on buying in lesser known brands that do not carry such a hefty price tag.

Now we're talking. I've been looking for a place like this since I've moved to the UK - a showroom…read morewith an extensive range of second-hand furniture and electronics, not overpriced "antiques". Charity shops carrying larger home items are quite common in Florida, and all of the furniture in my respective family members' houses are sourced from these "thrift stores" and then reupholstered or repainted. Thankfully, this makes it difficult to spend £2,000 on a hutch or dining room table. Speaking of costs, the price here are rock bottom: Sturdy wooden dining sets for under £100, TVs for £25 and bedside tables for a fiver. For me, the appeal is owning a piece of furniture that can't be found in every home in Britain (ahem, IKEA). The staff here incredibly helpful - I wasn't in here five minutes before two members of staff politely informed me that the shop had an upstairs stock room, in case I couldn't find anything I wanted on the ground floor.