Hard work trying to buy local in a Chinese dominated world

IN our house over the last month we have set ourselves a challenge to try and buy Spanish, or European, if possible.  Boy has it been hard.

First off we needed to buy a fan heater for the bathroom.  Every model in our price range came from China.  And in the end we couldn’t stand shivering in the shower any longer and settled on a Chinese heater.

Next was a form of heating for the sitting room.  We wanted a gas heater and once again nearly every one was made in the PRC.  Only by chance on the way to the cashier did we spot a heater made in Italy.  It was a little more expensive, but the delight of finding something made in Europe was enough to make us buy it.

Next were Christmas presents.  My husband needed a leather messenger bag for his iPad and bits and bobs because he cycles.  Lots of nice and reasonably priced bags are available online, but what about in Spain?  Not a chance.

Numerous shops I entered could supply a bag, but at triple the cost of those online.

Also, while the leather was nice, for some reason the bags couldn’t be made with the same secure zip-up inside pockets and quality lining.  Not wanting to make it any easier for pickpockets, I was forced to buy online, rather than local.

Then came the task of buying Christmas toys for all the kids in the family.  The biggest problem is that anything made locally is much more expensive than what’s available online.

A lovely toyshop near us sells beautiful old-fashioned toys including quality picnic baskets for little girls and beautiful handmade wooden toys.  They are to die for, but so are the prices.  And while I would love to support this shop, I just can’t afford to.

So once again, the toys came from Amazon and after opening all the packages, guess what?  Made in China!

At least the food we ate over Christmas was locally sourced.