How I de-stress; Charity / Thrift Shopping

I have a fight or flight mode when it comes to my mental health, and usually I choose flight. In the past I have gotten on random buses or trains and just gotten off at the last stop to have a walk around and clear my head, which can be a bit dangerous for me because I have no sense of direction. So when I need to de-stress or try to get away for a hour or two I try to stick to my area of Cardiff and have a look around charity shops. This way I don’t spend money that I usually don’t have, its kind of guilt free knowing it’s going to charity and can get my frustrations out by rummaging around boxes and coat rails of clothes. The best thing to do is go with an open mind and you’ll find some things you were totally not expecting.

My favourite place to go is Albany Road. I’ve heard that Canton is also great for charity shops as my friends have managed to pick up genuine bags and purses for under £5 because the shops think they’re fake, but I’ve yet to go there.

Click ahead to see what I’ve recently grabbed while having a travel around.

At the moment this vintage blouse is my favourite bargain that I grabbed for £1. The Red Cross has a discount rail and I always have a little snoop around and this immediately caught my eye. It’s been customised by the previous owner and has safety pins in the shoulders which I have left in, as I feel like rolled up sleeves really work for this style of shirt. I’ve styled it with a black dress here with some black PVC mary jane shoes.

Some recent finds also include this Paris SF Adidas shirt. I purely bought it as it just screamed for my attention and knew it would be something me and my boyfriend would appreciate and possibly fight over, which we both did and he quickly claimed it as his.

I recently also took my boyfriend to his very first car boot sale and to Splott Market where we found a friendly vendor who sold computer games and memorabilia. Anyone who knows us know we love Pokemon, and neither of us are ashamed to admit that we love the trading card game. We were insanely lucky to be able to take home a gold Pokemon card each which were only available in the U.S at Burger King. He grabbed Mewtwo and I got Togepi for £10 each.

Before we bought this, earlier on in the week we actually talked about how lucky americans were to be able to get these in their meal boxes and checked up some of them online, so when I saw them I got a bit confused because in the UK they are rare to find!

Earlier this year I managed to pick up this holographic oversized crop top for just £3. I’ve actually yet to wear this properly because I’ve not had the right occasion to, but it is fun to look at and would be cute with some dungarees or a high wasted skater skirt!

I’m always up for a hunt in charity shops, do any of you guys have favourite places in south wales to go to?