For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 25, 2009

Sadly to close to to call . If that kind of philosophy works for ya , go with it .

quality is always worth paying for. part of the reason North American auto makers lost market share was the perception that Japanese vehicles were more concerned about delivering quality vehicles. they fit together better and lasted longer. even though the NA vehicles have largely bridged the gap, the perception remains.

Bought shoes for my 13 yr old in the beginning of summer. Lasted about a month, then I had to buy the more expensive ones. Didn’t save much money on that one…

yyyguy said, about 3 hours ago

quality is always worth paying for. part of the reason North American auto makers lost market share was the perception that Japanese vehicles were more concerned about delivering quality vehicles. they fit together better and lasted longer. even though the NA vehicles have largely bridged the gap, the perception remains.

ya but most of these foriegn cars are made in U.S. but a lot of the cars( e.g. toyota of ky) are shipped backto Japan becaus they are built with better steel and engines. I know peoplewho work there. and as for wallyworld jimmers ibuy a pair every 2 years.

Larry - they may be MADE in the US, but they are made in the same way they are abroad. The people are NOT paid the same as Ford/GM/Chrysler, and I don’t believe their factories have had to be bailed out.

As for the comic - I have to replace my WalMart shoes 2xyear … I bought some REAL Nikes from “Footlocker” and they are now into the 6th month and strong. Just have to replace the insole this time, instead of the whole shoe.

Allan, I think you’ve stopped growing, except for reading toons of course, so buying something long lasting may be best, therefore more expensive maybe, but those NIKEs are made by slave labor kids/women in Bengladesh or other poor 3rd world country where they are paid 10cents /day and work in horrible conditions and NIKE laughs at you all the way to the bank and back. The point of the cartoon is that El didn’t want to buy ‘cheap’ or copied items but if forced to due to the economic problems (yes this even happened in Canada, where she lives)!

I agree they may as well be at Wally World where I refuse to shop!

I am rasing an 8 yeare old child. We have been going to yardsales since she was 6 months old. She has been in all of the major children’s cloths for about a dollar an out fit. S this way she is well clothed and we don’t care too much about how dirty she gets. Of course now she does the yard sales and hits Justice for 2 good ourfits aseason. this wa everyone wins. Do they have yard sales in Canada

So, Elly’s a snob!

Garage/yard sales are a great way to go, if you’ve got the time to search for the right sizes & styles. I live out in the country, and don’t have time to go to garage sales in the city. With homeschooling, my kids don’t wear their shoes as many hours in a week as most kids, so they last longer. My son is still wearing his $15 shoes I bought at Wal-Mart about 4 years ago, and doesn’t want them replaced yet. I think I had to pay about $20 for the other son’s favorite shoes, which have lasted about 3 years at this point. For casual clothes, Wal-Mart clothes (at least the ones I’ve bought) last just as well as the high dollar brand my sister has bought for my kids. Knowing how to sew helps to make any repairs needed, but I rarely have to repair anything because it wasn’t made well. If you’re not a snob about the label on your clothes, Wal-Mart clothes are usually just fine unless you need something dressy.

There’s a store near Downtown Toronto, Ontario that opened in the late 1940s that is very similar to the one they are depicting in today’s strip. Sadly, the name of that store escapes me at the moment (haven’t been there in a couple of years), but it’s one of the few stores still around that has that “bargain paradise” atmosphere.

Hope they found a place to park. Parking around that area has always been a nightmare!

salvation army and good will shops are a great deal to make your money go farther.

I always think twice about shopping at big box stores where all the products come from china etc. there are consequences

Blitz and Burgundy; yes it was Honest Ed’s. Great deals and quality items … somewhat.

I bought a pair of shoes at Honest Ed’s when I was a kid, and I swear they fell apart after one wearing. I wasn’t rough-housing or anything, they just kind of dissolved! I still love the store, though. It’s as bizarre as depicted in the Scott Pilgrim comic series, if anyone here has read that.

I don’t think Elly’s a snob. She’s just concerned that the clothing won’t last and she’ll have to buy more, thus the savings means nothing. Notice that with Anne’s last statement, Elly is carrying items to buy, apparently just not having thought of things that (reasonable) way before.

When our first was born we shopped at the local Wal-Mart and Thrift store for clothes. After he grew out of them, they went on to our second and later our third. Now, if the clothes are still nice, we keep them for eventual grandkids, otherwise they go back to the Thrift store for the next people who need it.

However, we also made a point of buying one or two nice outfits for each kid from higher-end stores so they had a few nice, quality items they could wear when the occaison required.

I never like the kind of things at discounted store ie; salvation army and good wills. Because the things I never like look so ugly and updated. Sometimes I find real nice things I like I would grab and buy right away. FYI, I NEVER like the old underwears hanging on the rack. Yikes! I refuse buy those stink underwears. I work in shoes dept at Wal Mart. I appreciated that y’all talk positively about products at Wal Mart. Speaking of shoes at Wal Mart, some of them look nice and other are ugly. If you wear the same kind of shoes, the pairs will wear out fast. If you wear different kind of shoes and save others, all of pairs you have will last longer and will not wear out fast. Do you understand what I am talking about?? I had old Nike athletic pairs only lasted for ten years I think but not sure. I bought “Eli” athletic shoe and wore it all the time, the pairs worn out fast at least four to five months. I threw them in trash and bought another different kind of athletic shoes and I still wear same pairs. I hope the pairs I wear will not wear out fast.

i was talking about good quality as opposed to cheap quality, not over priced “brands” versus “no name” goods. quality can be found in every price range, and i’m pretty sure that if Elly’s buying, she’s buying something that looks to be well made. my mother always bought the best quality she could afford, for us to wear, and never concerned herself with “brand” names.

Another way to buy clothes on the cheap is ebay. When my daughter was born I was able to win a couple of big lot auctions–girl clothes ranging from newborn to 12 months or so, and that helped us out a lot on the basics like onesies, pants and tops. It saves you time from running to garage sales every weekend, especially when you work on some Saturdays :)

I do agree with some people here that Elly comes off as snobbish here, and that this strip isn’t in very good taste in today’s economy.

But someone up above said in defense of this strip that it’s a “rerun from 20 years ago” that caught my attention. This strip isn’t actually a rerun, it’s a modern strip drawn by Lynn today. Yesterday’s was also new. The way you can tell, is that the strips from 30 years ago usually have thicker ink lines, little-to-no backgrounds and have lots of close-ups of the characters. The strips today have extremely detailed backgrounds, mechanical-like ink lines, and the characters are usually far away. The two styles are totally different.

So, yes, I agree, Elly shouldn’t be looking down her nose at a bargain store, especially since she has small kids. They won’t care about style and keeping clean until they’re teenagers, and they also grow like weeds. So, why not?

I shop at Goodwill’s myself and have found some really nice stuff there. Never seen underwear there before though! I refuse to buy sweaters at Walmart, because they are too cheap in quality and half of them end up in the lint screen anyway, leaving me with see-through sweaters.

Wait a minute @OldHipster, is that a racist remark I am seeing??!!

or are you just trying to be funny, in some way that goes completely over my head?

I have seen some yard sales here in Canada but I haven’t been to any yet. They look the same from the road so I imagine they are the same. I like shopping at the bargain stores we have here in London, Talize, Value Village along with Salvation Army and Goodwill. It’s a lot of fun.

RRAmom, same shoes for 4 years? how old is your son? Still being home-schooled, isn’t he growing or what?

My boys hit puberty around 12, so they haven’t grown much since they were 13 or 14. (Both are around 5’ 10” now, and size 11 shoes.) The oldest is 20, and going to college part-time, while living at home. He only wears shoes about 3 days a week, as none of us wears shoes while we’re home. I’m sure the shoes wouldn’t last as long if he had to wear them all day long every day of the week, but since he doesn’t drag his feet, they’re holding up quite well.

haha, ok, 13-14, that works. My place we don’t homeschool at all, so I wasn’t sure how long you do that - is it through high school? We don’t wear shoes at home either.

I homeschooled my sons from the beginning through high school. My youngest is in his last year of high school. Where are you from that there isn’t any homeschooling? I’m guessing outside the U.S.A. I always wonder why people bother wearing shoes in their own house. Why track all that outside dirt inside the house?

yep, I’m Icelandic, no homeschooling here, and actually hardly any in most of Europe.

I agree with the shoes thing, everybody here takes their shoes off inside, except when dressed up, can’t really expect that.