This:

https://tumutbroomfactory.com/

Miele. My family has various Miele appliances that hit 20 years old without blinking.

You have no concept of how rough the old style agitator washers are on clothes until you use a good quality front loader.

Unless you regularly have filthy clothes full of mud or grease, those top loaders just cause huge amount of unnecessary wear on clothes.

Yes. Compared to a quality front loader like a Miele, they wear out the clothes very quickly.

I did a big outback road trip, and using the coin laundries in caravan parks and like (almost all speed queen), pilled, faded and thinned my clothes drastically faster than my front loader at home.

It was an outback trip too, so it was 90% cotton shirts and shorts. I wasn’t washing fine silks or delicate synthetics.

I had a couple of sets of ‘nice’ clothes for the odd dinner in a town, and those speed queens flogged the shit out of them too.

Until you have owned a quality front loader, you don’t realise how long clothes can actually last.

Good quality wool can last decades with basic care. It’s not as stain resistant as some synthetics, but with fast attention most things other than ink etc will come out. I have successfully got red wine out of my bone coloured wool carpet - but I got to it before it dried.

Wool is has some incredible properties around moisture regulation, resistance to wear and crushing and resistance to picking up smells.

If you can afford wool, go wool or an 80% wool 20% nylon blend.

This:

https://www.binglee.com.au/products/pedestal-fan-40cm-remote-lv16srapcygy?istCompanyId=2e85d4ef-af60-4224-af17-5b6c46620c44&istFeedId=92c02f7e-1383-4d02-b216-d25f90dbe327&istItemId=paraxrtmp&istBid=t&gclid=CjwKCAiA5sieBhBnEiwAR9oh2jVFRp2rlm774CC819SGqXp7v4VY2lyicdDSk7WZRphP_S5CjMkXlhoChQIQAvD_BwE

I have one. It’s quiet, heavy and powerful.

Like the old school fans from the 70s that last forever.

It’s well built and doesn’t have any flimsy bits that feel like they are waiting to break.

Bamix. Only Bamix.

Nothing else comes remotely close.

Go to a real old school shoe shop. The fit is the most important thing.

My family has been going to the same shoe shop for 55 years, nothing beats them.

There aren’t many timber finishes that will tolerate hot tea/coffee mugs without leaving rings. No timber finish will tolerate a hot pot from the stove or oven without marking.

You would either need a pretty rustic finish timber, and treat marks that build up over time as character, or go to some sort of stone, glass, reconstituted stone or porcelain.

It’s easy to forget how fortunate we are here in Aus that we can grow practically every fruit and vegetable here and very, very little fresh produce is imported.

Beautiful!!

I was on the money! Glad to see you are enjoying the Aussie produce. I know I sound like the agricultural marketing board, but it’s some of the highest quality, cleanest produce in the world 😊

I’m guessing somewhere in SE Asia, as the San Remo pasta is Aussie.

Edit: zoomed in, the oats are Aussie too.

There’s a Polish church down the road from my house in Australia named for her.

Like I said, don’t care whose ‘fault’ it is. We can blame the Queen of Sheba if you like.

The fact is that ‘made in China’ = ‘crap’ far more often than ‘Made in Germany’ or ‘made in Japan’. That fact doesn’t go away because you try to apportion ‘blame’ for the problem.

I don’t care whose ‘fault’ it is. I’m not attaching a moral judgement to the concept. My point is that you are far more likely to end up with crap if it’s made in China.

Yes there are exceptions, yes the reasons are complex, but it is what it is.

China can make to the same standards - but very often does not. Not all Western companies bother to be, or are capable of being as stringent as Apple.

Purchasing from a respected manufacturing location still gives you a much higher chance of getting better quality.

As a general rule, a quality brand that still manufactures at ‘home’ only makes their budget range products offshore. Canon cameras are an example. The top shelf stuff made in Japan, the ‘throw it out when it gets a lens fault code at 4 years old’ stuff is made elsewhere in Asia.

Chinese steel is also absolute crap (soft, and rusts if you look sideways at it) and that impacts anything made of that material.

Yes, China can make world class goods, but they are surrounded by a mountain of crap.

Buying something made in Europe, Japan, Australia or the States (most things) is a good place to start for getting long lasting products.

If Dualit makes a toaster that has slots long enough for you, it is the best quality available and has exceptional spare parts availability.

Thanks. I was only a few hundred km off lol.

Is that in the Blue Mountains somewhere? I know it’s not, but it looks a lot like the northern exit of the glow worm tunnel.

Can’t beat Felco. And great spare parts availability too:

https://www.forestrytools.com.au/products/felco-22-84cm-lopper?variant=40221244326042&currency=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqc6aBhC4ARIsAN06NmNxZTntLLUuaAjPUavteqbl2J-PAOeXBxAq_aBkdKwTZ9eJAAh-oWAaAqboEALw_wcB