Tariffs are hitting, costing average American household $4200+ a year.
What are you stocking up on now? What do you think will go up in price?

Let’s crowdsource some wisdom.

I’ve shopped local, first, and USA-first for years. But this will hurt Americans—middle class, lower class, children, farmers, local businesses, and our allies. That’s not cool. Below, we’re not encouraging hoarding! We’re talking about things that will go up significantly in price, and timing our purchases right, and buying less, and buying secondhand. Buying something now for 10 or 35% less than later…good. Bikes will be affected, for example.

PS: hey, dear folks being rude on either side of this complex yet simple discussion—your comments will get hid, then deleted, then you’ll be blocked if you are rude/mean/disrespectful.

Reader suggestions rolled in by the hundreds…here’s a few faves:

> Bidet. I bought a house in December with a bidet. Just in case TP goes up, since most of it comes from wood pulp via Canada.

> “Come summer, I plan on buying a lot of local produce from local farmers. I’m putting it in my freezer. This is something I haven’t done for many, many years since we moved off the farm, but I’m going to go back to doing it now. I already buy my meats from a local farm. So now I will just get all my produce. I will also make sweet pepper relish and a few other things that I used to make…”

Note: “Price of the farmer’s fertilizers and farm equipment is going up so the local produce will go up too.”

The U.S. imports 95% of its Potash (fertilizer). 80% from Canada. Kind of need that to grow enough produce for 340 million. Sounds like whether we try to buy American or imported….price will be going up. There are no “winners” in trade wars. Just losers, aka everyone.

My comment: only one candidate and one party had a plan to take on corporations and price gouging.

> Always prepped for emergencies but with all of this and unintended consequences that have not been foreseen-buying only necessities, buying local, and maybe a trip across the border to Canada to help our friends and neighbors.

I’m also considering simplifying, changing my diet, and eliminating items I don’t “need.” I may end up missing avocados, coffee, and other food items that cannot be commercially grown here in the US. Also, buying seasonally. I’m more concerned about the cost of housing, people losing their jobs, kids & elderly going hungry, higher prices in medicine, and low income earners suffering disproportionately. It’s so much more than about me.

> Coffee.

> I ordered the replacement parts for my pressure canner and bought extra jars. Food is going to be expensive.

We have been buying a little extra here and there since he got elected.

Canned good, cleaning products, paper goods, I got seeds inside of buying starts for my little garden. I plan to grow everything I can and make sure that I preserve everything that I possibly can.

> “Sadly, I am concerned about the price of produce going up. Most of the fruits and veggies sold by American grocery stores are imported—can’t ‘stockpile’ fresh produce. But I am stocking some extra coffee in case I need to start budgeting that as a separate line item each month.”

Concern around ability to garden in city apartments: “You’d be surprised at what you can grow in small pots. I had a 4×4 balcony lined with small & med pots growing carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, onions and even managed a pot of green beans. Pot, dirt, water, sunshine…”

> “Girl, stock chocolate. Not just candy, but the cocoa for baking, baker’s chocolate, etc. And vanilla extract!”

> I deleted my Amazon app. I won’t start letting myself originally go from “that’s expensive” to “oh that’s a good deal” a month later because I see it multiple times a day with algorithms when it’s $30 more. I have to break the dependency!

> Long shelf life items flour, sugar, beans…anything we can use if times get hard. Items we can’t or don’t want to live without.

> Meds…filling at the 75% mark and storing surplus over and over.

> Roof, repairs to house, washer, dryer, We got new tires on our two hybrid cars and my big truck last early fall, anticipating tires to dramatically increase in price. HVAC equipment going up.

Oh yes!! We are are seeing it and our customers are not happy

Same in the garage door industry.

Aluminum is already up. We wanted to build a screen patio and the quote is already higher than the one given less than 6mo ago. The small businessman is stressing out that he will lose his business.

> It can help a lot to buy things secondhand whenever we can! Whenever I need something, I always check the thrift first. I know thrift store prices are rising but it still helps a lot.

> Laptop

“My rent is so high I can’t afford to stock up on anything.”

My comment: This will also increase new-housing costs, so especially with factors like Airbnb, rents will only get higher.

> If you have SNAP you can buy seeds

But they’re getting rid of SNAP.

My comment: Can’t win for losing (with Trump)

> “I have slowly stopped spending on anything extra. I canceled my Amazon and I never felt better. LOL Seriously wtf was that about? Thrift Stores, garage sales are way more fun anyways. Produce I am lucky I have Amish farms nearby and Canada is 1 hr away to their cheaper grocery stores for canned goods and boxed items like GF pasta and homeopathic remedies.”

“In January I bought 50# rice and about 25# various dried beans. I have bought seeds and am upping my garden game, as well.”

“I’m not really stocking up on anything. I mostly shop thrift stores, and use things until they cant be used anymore.”

“I’d like to remind people that while this catastrophe is going on there are still so many who are hungry and homeless. I’m worried about people not having enough to eat. So when you go shopping, please try to get a few canned goods and other non perishables to give to the local food pantry/soup kitchen. If you belong to a church? You might be able to put a donation box in the church for food and personal hygiene items. Or food pantries/soup kitchens are always looking for monetary gifts. Instead of getting that coffee for a couple of days. Please think of donating to your local soup kitchen. Many people will be thankful.”

Also smart for disasters. Climate is changing, and it looks like FEMA will be cut. They already stopped shipments to food banks.

Loss will be “$4200 per individual per gov auditors and 358,000 full-time equivalent jobs will be lost immediate in auto/steel alone before any other industry.”

“Stocking up” on: healthy connections, skills to protest and advocate, mind-body practices that allow me to feel well, no matter the circumstances, adaptability and resilience, compassion and forgiveness, hope.

Prices will increase on: capacity to work with individuals who are different than us, tolerance for discomfort, adapting to the circumstances of the moment.
It is my hope that the resources I am investing in will allow me to respond wisely to the challenges that lie ahead.

“Where can I get American bananas?”

> “Work boots. Most people won’t buy American made work boots because they cost about $100 more. But with tariffs going up, boot prices will rise. Buy American, buy boots with a warranty. Then re-sole them. Don’t shop the large chains, support local.”

> “Share stuff, guys. Start neighbourhood x collectives, share your appliances, share your excess food, join Buy Nothing groups and use thrift shops as your first stop for anything ‘new’. Community is everything.”

> “As much produce as I can. Preserve it by freezing. The grocery store is going to charge what they want in as far as pricing. We have no protections from any of that. Fun times!”

“I think we’re going to see clothing go up exponentially. With 40 something percent tariffs on Vietnam and Cambodia. My focus is going to be on reduce, reuse, recycle. The recession is coming. Everything this President is doing is destroying life for everyday Americans. Retirement balances are crashing. Pharmaceutical costs will go up because we import a lot of pharmaceuticals. We were already in a housing crisis and now we’ve made building homes more expensive. A lot of our food is imported. Food banks have been cut off from funding.

I could go on and on but it’s too depressing. I’m so tired of trying to survive in America. At what point do we get to thrive?”

“I think that everything is about to be terribly expensive. I tried to buy anything that I really needed ahead of this. There is nothing that I can really stock up on. I am worried about home repairs and maintenance. I am a disabled senior citizen living on social security. I have no other income. Homeowner’s insurance is going to be extremely high. I am doing without anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. I already lost my Medicaid coverage and that took $300 dollars a month in assistance with groceries and utilities from me. Hopefully when I can no longer afford to pay my bills God will bring me home.”

~
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