Chinese

If you want to see real waste, take a walk around car boot sales, kids toys,,clothes prams, push chairs, just about everything and mostly in great condition and hardly worn or played with, all for peanut prices so the seller can buy more of the same, madness. No wonder some folks are in deep debt and can't afford their energy bills etc, lots of foreign chappies and ladies buying suitcases full of our cast off stuff to seel in there own Countries it seems, we love the car boots buying stuff and enjoy the banter often make a bob or to as some stuff sells easily on line, free to advertise on Gumtree and F B Market Place cash on collection, no brainer.
 
If you want to see real waste, take a walk around car boot sales, kids toys,,clothes prams, push chairs, just about everything and mostly in great condition and hardly worn or played with, all for peanut prices so the seller can buy more of the same, madness. No wonder some folks are in deep debt and can't afford their energy bills etc, lots of foreign chappies and ladies buying suitcases full of our cast off stuff to seel in there own Countries it seems, we love the car boots buying stuff and enjoy the banter often make a bob or to as some stuff sells easily on line, free to advertise on Gumtree and F B Market Place cash on collection, no brainer.
At least they get reused, good no? At least India is a democracy and no threat to us.
 
Show us yer chest

Actually it was a 5 drawer chest that I got from the boot sale, not a 7 drawer one. It was in a very scruffy condition, I painted the carcass white, stripped & polished the drawer fronts & turned some rosewood handles. the chest is residing in the cellar at the moment full of tools & bits & pieces.
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42 years ago I paid £1,000 for a craftsman made 8 feet long Chesterfield sofa and one Club chair. It was a lot of money back then but has been a great investment. The sofa has been recovered once but only because the African Grey Parrot we had caused a lot of damage to the leather, the Club chair is original.
In 42 years we would have had a number of Sofas and chairs, costing a lot more than the original investment.

I worked in China for 6 months and saw at first hand the brand new massive Trading Estates built to accommodate Western companies. There was nothing Mickey Mouse about them, they had brand new manufacturing equipment, were supervised by Western Staff and the locals were properly trained. The products are well made, quality checked ..... and cheaper.
 
Very true, but I can only witness the other side of the story, a lot of cheaply made well photographed items which either didn't work or work very long fell apart, I have had some good stuff, but not much, and this is now not 42 years ago when most countries we making decent stuff, even us.
 
I know a chap who imports chinese sofas, they cost him £30 each, we have a real horse hair sofa in the house from the early fifties still going strong, I was offered a large sum of money for it and some other chests of drawers by a film set co.
 
Very true, but I can only witness the other side of the story, a lot of cheaply made well photographed items which either didn't work or work very long fell apart, I have had some good stuff, but not much, and this is now not 42 years ago when most countries we making decent stuff, even us.
There are still quite a few bespoke manufacturers around today, especially for furniture. Their prices may sound extortionate today (just the same as 42 years ago) but that is for their labour charges and skills at making items from quality materials. I probably paid around 5 times more than if I had bought a 3 piece suite from a shop in 1980. So look at the suite prices in the TV adverts, multiply by 5 and check how a much a top quality suite costs, one that will last for a very long time. I expect it will work out much cheaper in the long run.

Actually, thinking about it, I might get most of my £1,000 back if I advertised mine for sale. :D
 
There are still quite a few bespoke manufacturers around today, especially for furniture. Their prices may sound extortionate today (just the same as 42 years ago) but that is for their labour charges and skills at making items from quality materials. I probably paid around 5 times more than if I had bought a 3 piece suite from a shop in 1980. So look at the suite prices in the TV adverts, multiply by 5 and check how a much a top quality suite costs, one that will last for a very long time. I expect it will work out much cheaper in the long run.

Actually, thinking about it, I might get most of my £1,000 back if I advertised mine for sale. :D
A good one build as mine was now costing around 3 grand, how many folks would buy that these days, very few except the Hillery Hamiltons who drive a Jag, thats Irish for thought to be snobs.
 
My sweetheart (wife, well generally she is) wants a new 3 piece. I recon a skilled refurbisher could make the leather as good as new and stain it to the colour she wants which we can't find anywhere, but no. She wants new even though we are not exactly rolling in it and it is an electric reclining set that still works beautifully. No amount of persuading will change her mind.
 
My sweetheart (wife, well generally she is) wants a new 3 piece. I recon a skilled refurbisher could make the leather as good as new and stain it to the colour she wants which we can't find anywhere, but no. She wants new even though we are not exactly rolling in it and it is an electric reclining set that still works beautifully. No amount of persuading will change her mind.
Nothing wrong with wanting a change. And THAT is why spending a large amount of money on something that will last a great deal of time is not actually the best thing to do always.
You either end up keeping something you don't really want anymore, just because it is "too good to get rid off", or you do get shot and are annoyed as there was plenty of life left in it.
 
We have a black leather 3 seater and one of those wide chairs, I like em, they are in perfect condition, Liz wants a new one, but with her it's change for the sake of change, I'm happy with things the way they are and it took a year to pick this one as she procrastinates so much about everything, I just said go out and pick one as I'm fed up of trawling the stores, she got a bit more focussed then.
 

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