How do they make these things so cheaply?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (345136)
Rockingham, Australia
March 3, 2023 7:46am CST
Vince has made friends with his hair-dresser, an adult apprentice who is from Iran. He was the one who was going to Turkey to have his teeth all fixed as it would be cheaper to go there and have them all repaired as to have one crown inserted in Australia. However, he hasn’t been to go to Turkey yet as the necessary paperwork is holding him up.
He, his wife, their 2 ½ year-old son and, I think, a baby are coming for lunch on Sunday. After lunch, we might go to the nearby park which has a sandpit. We bought the little boy the beach set you see in the photo. It was ridiculously cheap.
While we were in the shop, we also bought some socks, some men’s hankies and a pair of tracksuit pants for Vince to wear as pyjamas when we go to Ireland, as it will be colder there.
It was surprising how much packing I’ve thrown out just from these few items. The hankies were a pack of six and each was wrapped round a piece of card. I’ve kept the pieces of card to write shopping orders on. Waste not, want not.
19 people like this
19 responses
@Beestring (14868)
• Hong Kong
3 Mar 23
@JudyEv Actually, China's labor costs have increased in recent years. Some companies have shifted their production facilities to Vietnam, Philippines and India where labor costs are also relatively cheap.
4 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (48357)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
3 Mar 23
I think I have a lifetime supply of "scrap" paper that I haven't wanted to throw out. 
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (184664)
• United States
3 Mar 23
That is going to be a big adventure being around a little tyke like that. You and Vince are quite the social butterflies.
2 people like this
@LindaOHio (183822)
• United States
4 Mar 23
Unfortunately it's much cheaper to have things made overseas. I reuse a lot of packing material too.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Mar 23
@LindaOHio We have two bins - one for trash and one for recyclables.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (183822)
• United States
5 Mar 23
@JudyEv Do they have recycling where you are? We can leave recyclables out with the trash.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 23
We haven't been since covid started but we're off at the end of the month. And yes, it will be easy to do now although we are actually swapping houses with people in Ireland. They will move into our house and have the use of the car and we'll move into theirs. They live about 40 minutes by car from our son.
1 person likes this
)@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 23
@YrNemo We went through a website. Our son has met them now and with luck we'll meet the daughter who is a fly-in-fly-out worker here. I'm sure it will work out and will save us a small fortune in accommodation and car hire - and we can make our own meals if we want to.
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (110870)
• Marion, Ohio
3 Mar 23
Those little sets are very cheap here too. They use to much to package stuff anymore
1 person likes this
@wolfgirl569 (110870)
• Marion, Ohio
4 Mar 23
@JudyEv They do that here too. And then you are searching all over them making sure you get everything off
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
6 Mar 23
Fleur says a lot come back with problems which British dentists then have to try to fix. Also infection seems quite common.
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
3 Mar 23
It is surprising how cheap some things are, but that means very low pay for the workers who made the stuff.
That is good use to make of those cards, then maybe recycle too. Our garbage pickup each week has recycle pick up too. So I put out one container for glass & one for carboard & cans.
Nice of you to have that family over for lunch.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
3 Mar 23
@JudyEv No not much at all.
Recycling makes me feel good, but I do wonder where it ends up.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 23
@JamesHxstatic Me too. I think some of it still goes to landfill.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Mar 23
He was planning on staying a month and having all his teeth fixed. I find it hard to believe that going to Turkey would be cheaper than having it done here. Apparently in England they talk about 'Turkey teeth'. However, some have a lot of trouble when they get home again with infection, etc. Fleur spoke about it on the first post about the hairdresser.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Mar 23
@Ronrybs I'd never heard of them either but since then I've heard that some of our people have dental work done in Bali which is very close to WA in particular. Everything seems so cheap there but I wouldn't have any medical procedures done there myself.
1 person likes this
@porwest (95461)
• United States
3 Mar 23
I always use old envelopes and other pieces of paper left over for doing preliminary budgeting, writing notes and whatnot. Like you, waste not want not.
Yeah, a lot of this plastic stuff is just mass produced plastic extrusion, and that helps to keep the price down. It's particularly notable when you find a good price with all this inflation happening.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (140043)
• India
3 Mar 23
I use the back of old envelopes and other stuff that comes with packets bought online for making shopping lists.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91531)
• Arvada, Colorado
3 Mar 23
Nice he is cominmg to lucnh with you.
Cute little toy there JUdy.
Oh yes Ireland cold be freezing
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (140422)
• United States
3 Mar 23
I finally stopped keeping the odd bits of paper/cardboard for taking notes on... I just jot notes to myself into Notepad on my phone and throw the clutter out. We really don't have room to keep odd bits of this and that in this house so virtual notes are the way to go.
@DaddyEvil (140422)
• United States
3 Mar 23
@JudyEv While Pretty was in her last year of high school, Walmart sold school notebooks for 19 cents each. I bought 4 cases of the notebooks... We still have one and a half cases of them. 
Pretty took a case with her to college and gave them to anyone that asked for one. 
While Pretty was in her last year of high school, Walmart sold school notebooks for 19 cents each. I bought 4 cases of the notebooks... We still have one and a half cases of them. Pretty took a case with her to college and gave them to anyone that asked for one. 1 person likes this
@JudyEv (345136)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Mar 23
@DaddyEvil It's seems such a waste to just chuck them but what else can you do with them. I could tear them up and use them to make paper I guess (that's meant to be funny!) 
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (83629)
• United States
3 Mar 23
Playing in the sandpit with that pail will probably keep that little boy very entertained. It is crazy how something like that can be so inexpensive.
1 person likes this
@Virtually2021 (828)
• Southend-On-Sea, England
3 Mar 23
OK that is a nice bucket and spade.
1 person likes this
