£25,000 to clear. Ready...steady...GO

ZTD

banwa wrote: »

I don't know if anyone watched Mary's Bottom Line the other night but it has really got me thinking about how 'buying cheap' has stopped us 'buying British'

People have always bought cheap:

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." - John Ruskin 1819-1900

The bloke died over 100 years ago; this is not a recent phenomenon.

The true question is "What happened to make British industry more expensive than other countries, and unable to move to higher quality to compensate?"

banwa wrote: »

and how that has contributed to the decline in British manufacturing. I'd never really thought about it before. And now I have, I am going to make an effort to buy British.

Not as easy as I first thought. I am going through my favourite brands, and my heart sinks every time one of them if manufactured outside the UK (Imperial Leather, Clarks shoes). I hadn't realised I was so brand loyal until I started doing this.

So what is in? (I call it the 'phew' list)

• Fairy liquid, Aldi own brand washing capsules, Sainsbury's own brand dishwasher powder
• Source shower gel, Bronley, Soap & Glory, Boots No 7
• New Balance trainers (Cumbria)
• Coffee, chocolate and pet food from my company (I obviously already knew they were British)

Can coffee ever be considered to be British? Yorkshire Tea isn't grown in Yorkshire...

banwa wrote: »

• My Honda Civic (Swindon) I :heart2: my car

But the money goes to Japan.

banwa wrote: »

What's out (I call it the 'nooooooooo' list)

• Clark shoes:eek: (I have barely bought anything else for YEARS - I have weird feet and nothing else ever fits right)
• Ronhill
• Imperial leather
• Radox
• Gilette
• Colgate? (not sure if that is the stuff I have right now or everything) made in Mexico

You are a bit of a brand fiend - aren't you?

Why do you buy Gillette? Are other razors not as sharp?

banwa wrote: »

Electronics might be a challenge.

They'll be made abroad, unless you're in the market for a terrain-avoidance radar...

banwa wrote: »

Clothes may take a bit of thought.

It's actually reasonably easy if you don't buy from the supermarkets/major department stores.

banwa wrote: »

Think I may have to stay open minded about some things - beer and wine?

Beer is *dead* easy. Wine is more difficult. It's usually expensive, and not good enough to justify the expense.

Bit like most of the rest of British Industry.

banwa

ZTD wrote: »

People have always bought cheap:

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." - John Ruskin 1819-1900

The bloke died over 100 years ago; this is not a recent phenomenon.

The true question is "What happened to make British industry more expensive than other countries, and unable to move to higher quality to compensate?"

People do buy cheap, especially in these hard times, and I am one of them.
I am no ecomomist but it does seem that imported products are cheaper because of labour costs. We can't get away with paying our workers tuppance ha'penny, which I am glad of, but it explains why production moved abroad.

ZTD wrote: »

Can coffee ever be considered to be British? Yorkshire Tea isn't grown in Yorkshire...

Until we can grow coffee and cocoa beans and tea here, we'll have to import the raw ingredients. But it can be processed and manufactured here, providing jobs through the supply chain.

ZTD wrote: »

But the money goes to Japan.

Lots of it, yes, but again, it provides work locally and for their suppliers.

ZTD wrote: »

You are a bit of a brand fiend - aren't you?

I would have said no about 4 days ago, but am realising how wrong I am:o

ZTD wrote: »

Why do you buy Gillette? Are other razors not as sharp?

Just happened to be what was on offer last time.

ZTD wrote: »

They'll be made abroad, unless you're in the market for a terrain-avoidance radar...

How did you know?

ZTD wrote: »

It's actually reasonably easy if you don't buy from the supermarkets/major department stores.

Yup, I have been very lazy about this in the past.

ZTD wrote: »

Beer is *dead* easy. Wine is more difficult. It's usually expensive, and not good enough to justify the expense.

Bit like most of the rest of British Industry

I'm going to try buying British manufactured products. I work in a factory and am grateful every day that they haven't shipped our work out to Bulgaria.

I don't think I can solve the country's woes and I am quite sure I won't always buy 100% British products. But where there is an obvious choice, and a British-made alternative, I'll (try to) go British. Don't have owt to lose really.

debtfreewannabe321

afternoon banwa

Good for you trying to stay loyal to British manufacturers. My friend from uni used to only buy fair trade clothes, local organic fruit & veg & free range meats etc....she spent so much money on being ethical that it put me off trying (even though i agreed with her principals) so i will watch and see if you can do it MSE style and may be inspired to follow suit! Well done on getting a 10/10 mse-ness score


dfw x

banwa

Hello DFW. It's quite easy to get 10/10 when you score yourself. :pYou should try it


Good Things since I last posted

• Mr B having a night out (in truck, not for fun)
• Met up with MIL at the seaside and did fish and chips and bingo and still managed to only spend about £30
• Interest in one of the ebay items.
• Took sandwiched to work
• Had a wee peek at pay slip, I come out with £2920, with the bonus and whatnot which is better than I expected. Hoping this means we might get overdraft paid off finally

Bad Things since I last posted:exclamati

• No car share, had to drive myself today (and all this week, M & Q are on a course)
• Had a takeaway on Saturday. About an hour after I had been congratulating myself for not having one on Friday:o

MSE scoring 5/10. Lost points for playing bingo, and takeaway. Still could have spent a lot more and it was Mothers Day.

ZTD

banwa wrote: »

People do buy cheap, especially in these hard times, and I am one of them.

I certainly don't deny that. What I'm saying is that they've *always* done that. From the '90s, '80s, '70s and back over. That also includes the 1890's and back over.

Why does it make a difference now? What's changed?

banwa wrote: »

I am no ecomomist but it does seem that imported products are cheaper because of labour costs. We can't get away with paying our workers tuppance ha'penny, which I am glad of, but it explains why production moved abroad.

Doesn't that then mean we label a whole bunch of people "unemployed" and then pay them tuppance ha'penny? Is that an improvement?

banwa wrote: »

Until we can grow coffee and cocoa beans and tea here, we'll have to import the raw ingredients. But it can be processed and manufactured here, providing jobs through the supply chain.

So what's more important. wages or jobs? You've implied wages above, now you're saying jobs. You can't have both unless you have an outstanding workforce. Which we don't.

banwa wrote: »

I would have said no about 4 days ago, but am realising how wrong I am:o

:rotfl:

banwa wrote: »

I don't think I can solve the country's woes and I am quite sure I won't always buy 100% British products. But where there is an obvious choice, and a British-made alternative, I'll (try to) go British. Don't have owt to lose really.

If you do your research you will be able to buy extremely good things. Just less of them.

ZTD

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

Good for you trying to stay loyal to British manufacturers. My friend from uni used to only buy fair trade clothes, local organic fruit & veg & free range meats etc....she spent so much money on being ethical that it put me off trying (even though i agreed with her principals) so i will watch and see if you can do it MSE style and may be inspired to follow suit!

You can do it if you buy local (not neccesarily organic). It depends if you have a farm shop near you.

Just be careful of them. Some of them sell "local" produce from Kenya and places like that...

hillside777

Hi Banwa,

Trust you're ok as you haven't posted for a couple of days.

You're doing so well. Keep going.

hillside777

Hi Banwa :hello:

I hope you're ok. You're a bit quiet.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Take care.

banwa

Hello Bonnington, yes I have been a little quiet, Mr B's job is not going well again. Money is poor and he is very unhappy.:( He doesn't seem to be getting anywhere with finding another job either. It almost seems like the new manager is trying to get him out by making life unbearable for him (I'm sure there are laws against that). Trying not to panic about what will happen to us if the worst happens, the job market certainly isn't what it used to be.

On the plus side, my bonus has made a big dent in the overdraft

So Good Things:D

• Overdraft reduced
• Horrible old bike sold (for £30!)
• Only spent £17 on treat for getting £1200 bonus, all rest has been spent on debts and sensible things

Bad Things:(

• Mr B's job and my rising panic

That's all for now. Off to update my signature.

Beencounting

That's excellent progress reported today Banwa, well done on using the bonus to pay off the debt .

Sorry to hear Mr Banwa is unhappy at work, I hope things improve. I really hate it when people (bosses) treat staff like carp. If there's an issue they should deal with it and not just use bully tactics :mad:. Sorry, bit of a rant, but I see so much of it and it really makes me mad .

<hugs>

Been