Comments on: Too cheap

By: Death by 1000 Paper Cuts | Becoming Self Sufficient. Towards self sufficiency

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:53:03 +0000

[...] things on it without needing fertilisers – will be in shorter supply. People will also pay the real cost for their goods that take into account the total energy cost of the product as well as the [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:56:41 +0000

@NoMoneyLeftBoy – the “buy local” thing is a good driver to raise awareness, definitely. Interesting to hear about the Canadian angle.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:51:25 +0000

@Ackers – yeah, couldn’t agree more. The city/country “hard marketing” angle is a really interesting one which I hadn’t focused on before

By: NoMoneyLeftBoy

NoMoneyLeftBoy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Having just got back from a trip to canada I was interested to read this blog as Canada currently has a drive to encourage the purchasing of goods made in Canada. Incidents involving goods made in china’ (such as lead being found in the paint of a childs toy) have driven canadians to question not only the quality of goods imported but also their quantity. On the way to the airport yesterday evening I read a car sticker which said bluntly: ‘MADE IN CANADA IS BETTER’.

By: Ackers

Ackers — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:16:45 +0000

Hi Mike
I’ve clothed our kiddos 100% from charidy shops for the last 3 years and probably about 75% before that. I buy my clothes from charity shops only too (but not undies). It is officially WAY easier not to shop when there are no shops near to you so I do feel for you city peeps as the marketing men are paid a lot to help persuade people from window displays that you need their things.

When we lived in E. London the local Primark store was a regular haunt for me and although I felt sick and ashamed I would still queue up to buy ridiculously cheap offerings.

I now know so much more about how much of an impact our buying habits can have on others than I did 3 years ago so now actively baulk when people tell me ‘I’m kitting out a nursery with brand new stuff for our new babe’ or that they got yet another handbag for no real reason & try to promote the campaign to buy 2nd hand kids clothing, clothes swapping etc. If just one person stops buying new because of me then that’s fab!

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:02:02 +0000

@Adam – this is one answer.. but I also think it is about a wider mindset which starts to question the availability of these goods a bit more. As Darren says, we’re not entirely stupid, and something clearly doesn’t come from nothing.

By: The Elephant in the room | Becoming Self Sufficient

The Elephant in the room | Becoming Self Sufficient — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:29:32 +0000

[...] July 25, 2009 Mike Ellis wrote a blog post yesterday entitled Too Cheap which relates to mass consumption that is largely driven by goods being produced at a cost that is [...]

By: Adam Robertson

Adam Robertson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:51:49 +0000

Don’t buy any of them and use Ebay or other clothes recycling options…

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:45:40 +0000

Cheers for the comment..

Actually I really like the elephant in the room / big pile of shit metaphor

By: Darren Beale

Darren Beale — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:43:06 +0000

Great post Mike.

Did you see the toaster project? An interesting take on the £3.99 toaster I thought.

It strikes me that our western society is made up of millions of intelligent, considerate and clued-up people that should simply know better. The facts are there, the way we live is unsustainable and things need to change.

The elephant in the room is there look it in the eye, it’s going nowhere and the longer it’s left there the pile of shit it’s leaving is getting bigger.

/crap metaphor