Jaw dropping prices but where else to go?

[Iceni]

NickP

I am always correct though sometimes, as Di will confirm, I am asked the wrong question for my correct response.

John

[bubbles]

Well, I definitely don't put anything more than warm water on my hair thanks to your sound advice. Coming up to my first anniversary sans poo and my hair is much stronger and thicker than it used to be!!

Everyone should try it!!!

[Jonzjob]

Good for you Bubbles!!

It's made me stronger and thicker too [8-)]. Or should that be it's made my hair??

I'll definately have to remember that one John. After all, the last time I was wrong was when I thought I was [8-|]

[Théière]

[quote user="bubbles"]Well, I definitely don't put anything more than warm water on my hair thanks to your sound advice. Coming up to my first anniversary sans poo and my hair is much stronger and thicker than it used to be!! Everyone should try it!!![/quote]

I tried it and failed [:(]

After a couple maybe three days, it was itchy and dirty (partly through the work I do) and my scalp was [+o(]

so back on the poo

[mint]

Well, I'm still sans shampoo and the eczema is definitely non-existant even though it is winter (when it's usually at its worst). 

Tried recommending it to a few other people but none of them has managed to stick with the discipline of no shampoo for a minimum of a month (I reckon it takes at least that long for the benefits to become apparent).

Hello, Bubbles!  I think of you often and wonder whether you have stuck to no poo and now I am glad you have posted and I know we have lovely thick hair in common with each other [:D]

Wonder how much I've saved in the last year not having to buy shampoo? 

[bubbles]

Hi, sweet dix-sept.

I reckon mr. bubbles will have to live to about 150 if he is to get through all the different shampoos left in the cupboard. Before giving up I kept trying (and discarding) different ones to see if my hair would be any better.

Would just give one bit of advice to anyone out there who wants to have a go sans poo - make sure you use LOADS of lukewarm water to wash your hair - rinse and rinse and then rinse some more.

[mint]

Yes, you do need to wash your hair very thoroughly; in fact, probably more so than when using shampoo![:D]

[Jonzjob]

Yup! I agree with you both and this is on thread too, cause it's a real money saver init!!

Glad to hear that you are both still doing well and pleased with the result. Just over 20 years 'poo free for us 2 now. I wonder how much we have saved?

Anyone who wants to know what on earth we are on about then just yell and you will get it in triplicate..

[Théière]

Well the thought of Sweets disciplining me is encouragement enough [:D] but with all that mistletoe around It will have to wait until after New year to try again.

 

[dave21478]

It doesnt look like much does it?

[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc297/dave21478/short/DSC00496Small.jpg[/IMG]

Its the drive belt for a washing machine. The old one burst last night and I needed a replacement asap. I was in town so popped into the first parts shop I found. I had reckoned around a fiver....perhaps as much as a tenner since this is France.

€30.

Thirty Euros.

THIRTY EUROS!.

Also, Since I was given no receipt of any kind, the cynical (realist, perhaps?) side of me wonders how much a Frenchman would have paid, and what percentage of my €30 went into the lady`s pocket.

[Clair]

[:D]

Too late for now, but just in case it happens again... http://www.cyberpieces.com/machine_a_laver_courroie0.htm#1

[Scooby]

Dave - I thought you were showing us what Théière should be using to discipline Sweet [blink]

[Chancer]

When I started this thread I was determined that when I found something significantly cheaper in France I would post as it would inevitably degenerate into a France expensive UK cheap thing.

Well after nearly 6 months I have can finally post something positive.

It concerns those kitchen cupboard magic corner jobby trucs that are used for storage under corner units, kitchen fitters charge about £500 for one installed, they can be found from £199 in the UK, the cheapest on the net was £178 + (UK) delivery.

Leroy Merlin list them at €199 which I thought considering the exchange rate was a good deal, luckily for me like most things they promote they had no stock, "might have some in quinze jours but its soon les vacances quoi!"

Then I took a trip to Brico-man which is a little way beyond my usual radius and found that they sell them for €90 - happy days [:-))] I bought one, fitted it and it works well and seems to be a quality (Chinese) item.

I find Brico-man is cheaper than Brico-depot on any things and vice versa, like Lidl and Aldi you have to compare and profit from the differences which can be considerable, one thing I like about the Brico-man web site is it tells you the in store stock level of the poduct and seems to be reasonably accurate, also the Abbeville store by comparison to Brico-depot at Amiens and Arras has an empty car park, loads of free vendeurs and cashiers without a queue.

[Gastines]

At least this posting explains why my French neighbour ,a good carpenter,gives me a list of bits and pieces to bring back from UK. 20 years ago I used to buy tools in France to take back to UK.I still have some in use.

[Chancer]

My best set of woodchisels are French and I bought them from Axminster Power Tools.

I dont think French manufactured products (those that still are) are expensive, only when they are sold in France!

In the good old days when the price of a car wasnt distorted by government scrappage schemes, bonus malus, eco taxes etc I seem to recall that Renaults and Peugeots cost less in the UK than France.

I used to manufacture and sell security equipment across Europe, we could never afford the patronal and social charges to have an office in France so we used two different independant commercial agents, the result was that our products cost more than twice as much in France than other European countries and the French end users were always asking us to export direct to them which we could not do under the terms of our agency agreements, they were however free to buy from our Belgian and Dutch agents which most of them did.

I dont reckon that any medium or small scale manufacturing is viable in France given the high marks ups on everything, only those big companies that can buy their raw materials direct from even bigger companies or elsewhere in Europe have any chance but with the patronal and social charges and the overhead costs of running and maintaining a manufacturing unit in France they will never have a sustainable competitive advantage.

[dave21478]

Wine glasses - You would think France would be the place to buy them, no?

Well, no - its not. Its really, really not. The cheapest ones I could find were around 60 - 70 centimes each and they were so thin and flimsy that they would be certain not to last long at all. Back in UK, ASDA sell 4 glasses for 88p. 22p per glass is pretty damn cheap and they are quite decent quality - much thicker glass anyway. Since I was looking to buy around 400, it was significantly cheaper to buy them in UK and have them sent here by DHL. Yes, some were broken in transit, but overall I made a decent financial saving. Time will tell how well they resist going milky in the dishwaser, but they will definitely be less prone to breakages.

Incredible.

[cooperlola]

I've never shopped at Asda since I watched this:

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

 

It does, however,still seem nuts that it's so much cheaper to buy stuff in the UK and get it shipped (even if you're paid in €).  My local friends are amazed at the bargains I point them towards on t'internet in the UK.  A farmer friend of mine recently imported a tractor from the UK and even drove it here from the channel port (I kid you not!) and still saved a packet.

[chessfou2]

I find it fascinating (well, no I'm not really that sad, but there are sometimes surprises - in both directions) to compare prices between

www.lidl.fr

and

www.lidl.co.uk

[AnOther]

Try Ikea UK -v- FR whilst you're at it.

[Chancer]

[quote user="chessfou2"]I find it fascinating (well, no I'm not really that sad, but there are sometimes surprises - in both directions) to compare prices between www.lidl.fr and www.lidl.co.uk

[/quote]

Like the 6 pack of 50cl perlenbacher beers?

€2.99 in France

Or £5.99 in the UK

Or some of the conneries that sell sell on the promo aisles, a little stack of organiser boxes of screws, nails, plugs and general household stuff, tap washers, picture hooks etc, I bought one in the Uk as it was only £1.99 and it has come in handy, the same one when it was on promo in France was over €10 IIRC

[AnOther]

Here's one for the list.

I was looking for a CH pump as part of my pool heater system so I looked on eBay.fr where I was astonished to see the bog standard Grundfos for sale at anything between €158 and €239.

On eBay.uk there are loads @ £35/£40 and even retail they can be got for under about £75.

No prizes for guessing where I'm buying from !

PS: If anyone has got an old one laying around PM me.

[Chancer]

I have found my second cheaper in France item, - wrought iron or timber gates, made in China and sold in the Brico-Sheds.

I have been waiting for a promo to buy some hardwood gates for my UK property and recently found a pair of solid arch top provencal style gates with all quincallerie as a fin de reference for €189 at Brico-depot.

I have them in pieces at the moment as I am reducing the width involving cutting 12 new tenons and plugging and moving the top mortices, anyway I have the chance to look at the quality and workmanship close up of the bits that normally would not be seen.

They are definitely as good as the ones that I had made in the past for my customers but they cost me between two and three thousand pounds a pair 8 years ago and the hardware was on top of that.

[Richard51]

Hmm - we tried to get a basic (small) garden gate from Point P and were quoted over €1000.  Same thing in the UK <£100.

[DerekJ]

Looking through this thread I can see so many examples of high (by UK standards) French prices. Our own experiences would seem to support this view.

The most recent was the purchase of our John Deere sit-on mower where we saved over 1000 Euros by buying in the UK (and this includes the UK sellers shipping costs).

My question, though, is...   how do the French and others reliant on a French income afford to live? Does anyone know what the average French wage is?

[YCCMB]

[quote user="dave21478"]It doesnt look like much does it?

[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc297/dave21478/short/DSC00496Small.jpg[/IMG]

Its the drive belt for a washing machine. The old one burst last night and I needed a replacement asap. I was in town so popped into the first parts shop I found. I had reckoned around a fiver....perhaps as much as a tenner since this is France.

€30.

Thirty Euros.

THIRTY EUROS!.

Also, Since I was given no receipt of any kind, the cynical (realist, perhaps?) side of me wonders how much a Frenchman would have paid, and what percentage of my €30 went into the lady`s pocket.

[/quote]

Well, I'm not French (although if I keep it short and sweet, I'm given to understand that you can't tell) and I got one last week for our washing machine (it had to be ordered in because they didn't have it in stock)  for €18.