Llanrumney family set up charity shop in their front yard to help with cost of living crisis

A family from Cardiff have set up a charity shop in their garden to help people during the cost of living crisis.

Jennie Gough, 42, from Llanrumney has created the shop on their front lawn with the help of her daughters Claudia, 18, and Naomi, 14.

They offer a wide variety of items including clothes, shoes and toys, and (as the name Bag it for Free would suggest) people do not have to pay if they cannot afford it.

The idea came to Jennie her after seeing similar ventures elsewhere and decided she "would love to do something similar" in her area.

She said: "You can come and shop, fill your bags, and there is no cost whatsoever. It is absolutely free."

With people struggling to afford the cost of living, Jennie said this service is needed now more than ever.

Helping others through difficult times is what motivates Jennie: "The cost of living has excelled over the last few months. Everyone is struggling."

She added: "We figured if we can help put clothes on someone's back then there's a little bit more cash for food, gas and electric."

Jennie's daughter Claudia, 18, is helping her with the shop. She said: "The best part about it is seeing people come in and then go back out with a smile. Especially with little kids."

But she said it is not just people looking for items who come to the shop, adding: "It's an enjoyable thing because some people don't necessarily come to take things. They just come for a cup of tea and a chat."

Bag it for Free is reliant on help from the community, as Jennie explains: "These are donations that the public have given us. We just take them in, sort them out and they go straight back onto the hangers."

Since the idea was first thought up, the attention the shop has got has grown massively.

Jennie said: "It's gone from nothing to, I think, over 7,000 people coming in the matter of three weeks. The [social media] post's reached endless people, and there's more and more people coming here every single day."

Trina Thomas, who uses Bag it for Free, said: "I work part time. I'm on maternity at the moment. And it's tough when you're running car, running a place. The electricity is going up, food prices are going up. It is tough. You've got to budget. You've really got to watch your money now.

"So every time we come we bring donations. Then if I see something for my daughter I pick it up. I bring her old stuff and I walk away sometimes with nice little things for her."

The shop provides a helping hand for people struggling to manage with spiralling costs.

But Jennie said there should not be a need for the service: "In an ideal world this wouldn't exist but if we can just do this to help people's situations at the moment until things hopefully get a bit better then we're more than happy to keep doing this."

She added: "It's hard to see people struggling as much as they are but you have to take the feel good factor out of things and know you've made a difference to somebody else's day, and that makes you feel better."