With donations being made in abundance, the start of the year is a great time to find charity shop bargains.

There are a number of reasons for this donation trend. Perhaps the most obvious of these is that many see the beginning of the year as a perfect time to declutter - particularly with the annual receiving of well-intended but misguided Christmas presents!

Nick Smith, Head of Retail at Age UK, told MoneySavingExpert.com he believed that the surge in donations around New Year was "due to a number of factors, including a greater awareness of environmental issues, which leads to more people reusing and recycling". Specifically, the awareness of green issues coupled with people wanting to make positive changes at the start of the year leads many to head to their local charity shop instead of the tip.

This is a good choice. Charity retailers reuse or recycle 95% of items donated to their shops, making the sector the greenest on the high street.

Also, some charity shops get high end donations that haven’t sold on the high street over the Christmas period. Javed Khan, Barnardo's Chief Executive, told MoneySavingExpert.com: "Our shops do receive items from high street and high‐end, sometimes designer, retailers. This includes fashion and sample homeware items. We de‐tag donated items from brands if they request this, and have done this for quite a few large companies. Unfortunately, we do not have permission to name them.

"Some high street brands don't require us to de‐tag items, so often there will be high street brands with the labels intact."

Now that you are in the know, make sure to visit our 11 charity shops in and around Worthing, including our Littlehampton Charity Superstore & Donation Centre!