{"id":209,"date":"2012-03-16T07:33:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T07:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sandralangston.com\/?p=209"},"modified":"2012-03-16T07:33:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T07:33:37","slug":"spend-wisely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sandralangston.com\/?p=209","title":{"rendered":"Spend wisely"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are going out to shop, you will have to make a decision; \u00a0stay in town where the shops are smallish and local, or head out to the big city where some supermarkets are so large that their workers get around them on roller skates. \u00a0You \u00a0may save money at the big box centers, but you will have to calculate the gas and the aggravation. \u00a0Keep in mind that I am talking about my small area of Italy, and of course Rome, Milan, and even Bari are probably a different matter.<\/p>\n

I have never figured out why many items cost what they do. \u00a0Plastics, everyday items such as washing basins, all manner of molded colorful utensils are incredibly cheap when compared to typical American prices. \u00a0I have heard about Italian Plastic, maybe this is what was meant. \u00a0Some of the most beautiful laundry baskets, lawn furniture, and kitchen utensils I have ever seen anywhere are here. \u00a0Why plastic should be so cheap and gasoline so expensive, well, it tells a story about how easily prices can be manipulated.<\/p>\n

Bathroom rugs are incredibly expensive. \u00a0They are ratty and badly-made, ready to fall apart at the first washing, and yet they are costly. \u00a0Things like band aids, hair bands, brushes, demitasse cups, faucets, door knobs, office supplies, insect repellent, and lamps are all incredibly expensive. \u00a0Why is this? \u00a0 There are two levels of commerce, the very nice \u00a0(places where I will not easily be found) \u00a0 and the kind of crappy. \u00a0It is either custom-made-to-order bookshelves or shrink-wrapped and assembly-required. \u00a0There really is no middle ground of decent quality and modest price. \u00a0There is a third option, the market on designated weekdays, which is made up of traveling vans which set up and then leave in the course of the morning. \u00a0But if you don’t know how to haggle and bluff, or if you have a face like mine, blond and foreign, this might cost you dearly.<\/p>\n

In the past few years one area which has benefited greatly from the influx of foreign-made merchandise is doors. \u00a0 The doors which were so lovingly made for our house twenty years ago, no two exactly alike, cost about four hundred dollars each. \u00a0I can remember having to sit down when I heard what our modest (compared to other houses) component of \u00a0seven doors would cost. \u00a0 Now you can get very nice doors and frames for about seventy five dollars if you look in the right place. \u00a0They are made in neighboring countries to the East, and they are now in every new house and building. \u00a0Walking into a charming old remodeled house and seeing these doors can be disconcerting. \u00a0It creates the same feeling of melancholy that peeking at \u00a0a kitchen in, say, \u00a0Japan produces. \u00a0You see your exact chairs and table, cutlery and clock, \u00a0and you understand that we have paid with our identity for our Ikea world, where everyone can choose the same items. \u00a0And they do, \u00a0 because they are so\u00a0irresistibly\u00a0cheap.<\/p>\n

However, there are some bargains! \u00a0Wine \u00a0flows and flavors most meals at \u00a0negligible expense. \u00a0When I first came here there was a\u00a0Cantina Sociale<\/em>\u00a0where you could buy red, white, or rose–these were the categories–by the case. \u00a0Twelve full bottles for about seventy five cents each. \u00a0Many areas still boast their wine cooperatives, which is what these are, where all the farmers can pool their grapes with generic but decent results. \u00a0 Unfortunately our cantina sociale is a thing of the past, a victim of in-fighting, \u00a0location, \u00a0and the boutique wine industry. \u00a0But lest you should be forced to stay sober, you can pick up all manner of hard liquors at your local supermarkets. \u00a0A bottle of Russian vodka will set you back about five dollars and a decent single malt whiskey, imported from Scotland, will cost no more than about nine dollars.<\/p>\n

Do you want to buy a nice carpet? \u00a0It might be very expensive. \u00a0There are a few televised infomercial sellers who have been around for many years, and one can only assume they do sell their Iranian and Indian-made rugs to someone. \u00a0From what I have seen, they are four times as expensive as the equivalent in the US, and nowhere near as attractive. \u00a0Even in high-end shops offering antique hand-woven carpets, red and blue are the colors offered. \u00a0Unless of course you prefer blue and red. \u00a0Tradition is a powerful beast.<\/p>\n

Strangely, \u00a0it would seem that television has cornered the market on art sales. \u00a0All those channels at the high end of the dial, presenting their line-ups of paintings by “quoted” artists, and will they constitute a bargain? \u00a0Not hardly. I have seen pieces offered, horrendous kitsch and pitifully awkward abstracts, \u00a0for upwards of fifty thousand dollars. \u00a0 The median price will be high, and never are there pieces of original art offered for less than a month’s salary. Sadly, while purchases are being made in this fashion, galleries are gasping for sales with no hope in sight. \u00a0 So I always wonder, who can be buying this art? \u00a0 Are they satisfied when the pieces are delivered and displayed? \u00a0 Who in their right mind would happen on a station, some afternoon with nothing better to do, and telephone to order a fifty-thousand dollar painting, plus shipping?<\/p>\n

Everyone here complains about the inexorable advance of the Chinese in all commercial areas. \u00a0But there is an almost total disconnect when it comes to consumer behavior, and if anything at all can be had at a cheaper price, then it will be had. \u00a0Every small town has its \u00a0storefronts with those red Chinese lanterns hanging out front, popping out like mushrooms after a rain. \u00a0They are a regular stop on everyone’s shopping trip, mainly to see if that item seen down the street can be bought at a cheaper price. \u00a0Usually a cheap imitation can be, and so another Italian shoe factory, fabric weaver, button-maker, \u00a0or small local shop \u00a0continues its \u00a0decline into bankruptcy. \u00a0Yet some hyper-protected areas of national pride are still safe, such as cheeses and olive oil, but you will be well-advised to read the label before you buy. \u00a0There are always alternatives to the real thing for the unwary.<\/p>\n

Today, March 12, 2012, gasoline is going to cost you almost exactly ten dollars \u00a0a gallon. \u00a0 \u00a0As far as I see it gas prices are a lot like skin; \u00a0they both have the capacity to expand almost indefinitely. \u00a0Over-eaters and drivers \u00a0have to adjust their intake in order to cope. \u00a0My car, a relative gas-guzzler at 27 MPG, is used only when absolutely needed for hauling a trailer or lots of friends. \u00a0 After all, there is another solution to high fuel consumption: \u00a0drive less. \u00a0In a small town in Italy, this is still possible. \u00a0I might note, however, that even at this price, the roads are still packed with cars. \u00a0Sometimes the very thing that we think can be manipulated with pricing will cause\u00a0unexpected\u00a0results. \u00a0Cars are still swarming over the roads, while local economies are suffering the slow death caused by shoppers going elsewhere. \u00a0In their cars. \u00a0There is a lesson there somewhere.<\/p>\n

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“Conspicuous Consumption” \u00a0 mixed media on paper, 2005<\/p>\n

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