I expect that others are in the same boat and that we’ll see a downturn in consumer purchasing very soon.
I havet bought anything but groceries since Trump took office.
I’m planning that by the end of the Atlantic Storm Season is over to literally be in my boat sailing away. Beans rice fish bananas & plantains are my life now because cheap cheap cheap. Recently took a job at a boatyard to learn, network, used parts, reduced prices. So far shaving between $500-$1000 month of prices, so bravo me.
Then head to Central or South America to make major purchases like solar, controllers, tech, CE … etc. Tariff stuff. Mexico and Panama seem to have decent trade agreements with China.
And I’ll reflag in Panama too.
That sounds amazing, fair winds!
About the only thing the tariffs have done for me is put the final step in the slowly-building boycott of all goods from the USA that I started off in the 1990s. I now have only one product that has an American component in it (my phone uses Android) and once that stops being useful I will have successfully de-Americanized my life.
I’m cutting back on unnecessary purchases and trying to save more. My job is iffy right now, so on top of the economy I have to worry about that.
We go to a big warehouse store for our basic supplies, so I’m just trying to stay stocked up on essentials. Might buy some n95 masks just in case of a new plague.
I already did a month or two ago, I knew he was going to ruin it. Everything he touches dies.
Been planning on it, but shit just got complicated as I’m switching jobs, and I’ll probably have to provide a vehicle if I want a healthy amount of hours. But I’m also NOT going to buy and modify a car before I’m through probation, that’s madness.
So basically I may or may not get screwed by the vehicle tariffs, we’ll see.
Other than that, I’m kind of playing it by ear. I’m already not a huge spender, but I eat well. I decided a long time ago that that’s the last expense I’ll cut, I love food too much. I’ll get rid of everything else before I go back to living on ramen.
That philosophy is about to become unsustainable. I already know I’m going to have a give up lifting weights soon, so I don’t get as hungry, I just don’t know when.
Well, lucky for you, most packaged ramen is imported.
Beans n rice! Healthy, cheap alternative.
I’ve been selling off unused items in order to take away even more from retailers.
Wdym?
Sell some of your unused belongings to people, so the money stays within the community instead of that person buying from a chain store. They lost a sale.
Sirdubdee has wares if you have coin
I see. Thanks for that clarification.
I got car parts at rockauto, stocked up on razors and underwear, got my tech up to date, and splurged on a couple other things. The only shopping I’ll be doing the next few years is thrift and garage sales. If you don’t know about goodwill outlet: you pay by the pound.
Money is incredibly tight and will be for the foreseeable future. I got a car the day after Trump announced tariffs because I knew the one I had was starting to fail. I wanted a reliable vehicle before they became completely unaffordable. Now I have like no money for fun stuff, but that’s whatever. Just focusing on surviving now.
We replaced our old, crummy laptops a couple months ago in preparation. I bought some new underwear. And tomorrow (day after?) we’re going to go stock up on cans of tomatoes, rice, and sugar. And vitamins. We have a lot of stuff laid away but I want to really be sure…
The only thing I’m not prepared for is… and I know a lot of people haven’t thought of it… My medication. I take generic medication. Most of our generics are either imported, or rely on ingredients that are imported. We’re going to be looking at some really, really bad news in the next few months on that alone. I recommend anyone reading this, if you haven’t already laid away stuff like ibuprofen, aspirin… Might be smart.
We did ours in December and January so we were sure to miss tariffs, rebates ending, and things like that. Shouldn’t have any expected major purchases for at least a couple years.
I work retail for a major corporate entity, I’m always broke anyhow.
Short answer is yes, long answer is I’m conflicted… I’ve already decided to get everything that could be affected by tariffs back in November/December… but things changed, I already have job & stuff lined up out of the US, and I might not ever coming back. On one hand I really want to make some splurges on experiences (restaurants, concerts, things to do), but on the other hand I really need all the money I have, and I don’t have a salary at the moment…
Yeah, I don’t see how I have any other option.
Managed to pick up some pre-tariff drone parts
Inb4 trump announces a nationwide no drone zone.
(There’s zero check on that power btw, its completely under the purview of the president)
Fuck
