Mending holes

I've been sewing for a while now, more specifically mending holes, although it's definitely not my forte, and I have a hard time threading the needle because of my age (oh, yeah, I'm still relatively young, but my eyesight, you know🤭) I do this with my underwear. I buy underwear from the Chinese store because it's the cheapest and I've already adjusted their size to mine (usually XL, while in German sizes I'm an XS😅). I buy my underwear there because it's the cheapest, as I said, I already know what size I should buy, and in other stores the underwear is also Chinese and is more expensive anyway. And because it's low quality, it soon starts to come apart on the sides, so I have to sew it back on. The material wears out easily, but honestly, I've already forgotten how long underwear can be worn before it has to be thrown away. Everything is of such low quality in this country. Even the goods imported from China.
I'm not saying this because it's something that goes without saying. Even the goods in the Chinese store in the town nearby are of particularly low quality, often with manufacturing defects, as if all the scrap goods produced anywhere are directed specifically to Bulgaria, the cesspool of Europe. As I've always suspected.
As I've written before, many stores have been importing once quality Turkish goods for many years, Turkey is a neighboring country of Bulgaria after all. Now such stores are becoming rarer, quality clothes have disappeared, even Bulgarian ones are no longer of good quality, like everything else produced in Bulgaria, and one has to adapt to the situation, as well as come to terms with reality. That's why I often deal with patching holes in panties and socks, extending their life as much as possible.

I don't throw away cosmetics. I rarely experiment with new products anymore that might not be suitable for my skin, although it does happen from time to time. Then I just try to find another use for that product. So for a long time I kept a hand cream with me, which I finally started using as a foot cream. There are shampoos that I wash the windows with, or face cream that I apply to my body, which is what I did this summer with an old anti-aging facial sunscreen.
I stopped throwing away cosmetics when I lived in Belgium and saw how difficult, if not impossible, it is to throw away cosmetics with the thousands of garbage requirements in that country. And I think that's right.
And it's not just what I do. Do you know how much cream is left in a tube that you think is empty? Well, cut open an "empty" toothpaste tube for example, and you'll see how much material you're throwing away.
That's what I do too - I cut open the tubes before I throw them away separately so I can use the material that's still stuck to them...

But well, that wasn't the original intention of this post - how "frugal" I am 😅, how frugal life in this poor country has made me. I'm pretty sure that no one mends their underwear anymore, everything is worn and thrown away, even by poor people. But whatever.

This December I'm back in survival mode and stocking up, in addition to patching holes. I'm buying toilet paper, tissues, shampoo and bandages, soaps, coffee... everything in multiple packages, as much as possible given the expiration date and the possibility and available storage space, because... the big crisis is coming. It has already come.

In recent months, the prices of goods have skyrocketed. I have a basis for comparison. I bought several electrical appliances that I needed and wanted to get before the crisis. And the price of one appliance changed on the website of a trader every day by cents or even euros. The prices of some medicines in pharmacies have doubled, as they even said on television.
Some people think reassuringly, and there is logic in this way of thinking, but unfortunately, this is not true - that prices in the country are already high, much higher for some goods than in developed Western countries, so there is nowhere else for them to grow, there is no way they can continue to grow. But here they are, they keep increasing. That's why I stock up on some goods, those that will always be needed. But my God, can one stock up in a country like Bulgaria?

A few months ago I bought several shampoos from the same company, different types, ones that I have already used and have proven to be good, it is strange that the manufacturer is Bulgarian and I was really happy with them.
But here I am, I bought several shampoos at once. The price had already started to increase, and as you can see, there is no limit, so I rushed to buy in advance, I didn't even wait for December to come. And the first thing that became clear later, not at first glance, because the packaging and bottles were the same as before, is that the amount of shampoo inside has been reduced. The second thing was that the quality has changed as well. And the shampoo is now very liquid, almost the consistency of water, i.e. diluted, except with a reduced amount. In addition, it caused my scalp to peel, which had never happened before, probably from the lack of one or more of the ingredients anymore...

So, can one stock up on things in Bulgaria, in your opinion? Well, they can't. 🤷‍♀️

We already have experience with the recent crises and price increases during Covid and the war in Ukraine and we learned not to buy/eat certain foods. So we stopped eating dairy products.
Now I wonder what else we will have to stop eating. And I guess that from now on life will revolve around discounted products and promotions, which in Bulgaria are usually of dubious quality anyway, but we are already buying them, trying not to ask ourselves the question: why is this discounted now? What's wrong with it?
So, life will revolve around discounted products and expired promotions. People, I suppose, will line up for some product that will quickly run out, will be acquired with connections, etc., as it has always been in Bulgaria, especially under communism. And I will understand the old people who will now say: here the capitalism. Initially, there are products, they are available, but they are terribly expensive and unaffordable for a large part of the population. Whereas during communism, there were no goods and nothing was available. Either way, again, nothing was affordable for the population. Now I hope you don't think I'm for communism or against capitalism. The truth is that whatever political regime there is in this damn country, in the hands of these damn people, everything gets distorted to the point of being unbearable.
And I never imagined, even in my greatest fears, that my entire life would go from crisis to crisis, in a sense of misery and in deprivation...

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|