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This seems pretty important to crowdsource and talk about, so I'm gonna go ahead and risk violating the no politics rule from a few days ago, because I don't see a better community to ask this. My defense for it not "being politics" is, I'm asking you to keep it to purchasing decisions and how the details of how the tariffs are likely to work, as opposed to who did what. This thread has the potential to save people lots of money if it gets big!

Tariffs are gonna make things more expensive for Americans; what are you planning on buying now instead of later, or stockpiling a little of?

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[-] hark@lemmy.world 62 points 6 days ago

Panic buying like this only leads to more price increases. I just buy the minimum, like usual.

[-] SquatDingloid@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

The real question is does panic buying now make goods cost more than a 100% tariff will?

[-] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 9 points 6 days ago

In the short-term, absolutely. Look what happened when panic buying happened during the start of COVID.

[-] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 82 points 1 week ago

Fill up your pantry. Focus on grains which are labor intensive.

Once the deportations camps get rolling expect all the grocery prices to rise again. Having a full pantry will let you float for a while so you can adapt to newer recipes in your price range.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 25 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Yup, started focusing on that this week myself, just buying extra rice, pasta, canned goods at least until the inauguration.

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[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago

I'm American.

I dont have the money to stockpile anything.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 54 points 1 week ago

Canadian grocery prices have increased something like 20% since 2019. At this point I think we're all buying less, eating less, and making sure we waste less.

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 10 points 6 days ago

It's only going to get worse here.

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[-] Retro_unlimited@lemmy.world 48 points 1 week ago

I’m in the process of buying land to homestead on. Solar, rain water, green house, etc. my goal is to be as self sufficient as I can be.

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 24 points 6 days ago
[-] PagingDoctorLove@lemmy.world 33 points 6 days ago

To prepare for food shortages/price increases: I'm buying seeds for things I know I can grow in our garden, and stocking up on one or two of each of the fungicides, pesticides, and soil amendments that we regularly use. I bought 30 pound sacks of rice and beans, two large boxes of shelf stable nutrition shakes, and shelf stable vacuum sealed bread. We're considering buying half a cow with the neighbors, who have a deep freezer. I want to buy a pot plant, it'll probably depend on how much they cost. I already have a good supply of sunflower lecithin so I can make my own edibles.

To prepare for the EPA being gutted or other impacts of climate change: we bought AA and AAA batteries and refilled everything in our bug out bags, including first aid stuff and emergency high calorie food (in case of natural disasters.) We're installing a reverse osmosis filter in the kitchen sink (we're concerned about water safety as there have already been problems in our area due to old infrastructure) and it comes with a storage tank. Made sure we had plenty of candles, matches, flashlights, charcoal, lighters and lighter fluid, and a small grill for outside. Have an adapter for the car so we can plug things in if the power goes out.

To prepare for FDA/insurance/medical issues: We bought extra vitamins, and we're asking our doctors to prescribe as much of our necessary drugs as they are allowed to. I learned how to do all my physical therapy at home and have been collecting home exercise equipment for a while, unrelated to this but I'm grateful to have it all now. We also bought a few large bottles of rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. We already have a massive collection of OTC meds because I'm chronically ill and use them often. We plan to add a couple extra boxes of the most important stuff the next few grocery trips. Most important for us: painkillers, epi pens, allergy meds, inhalers, hydrocortisone, and diaper rash cream. No baby but it's useful for a lot of skin irritations.

For general preparation: I looked at the labels on all our personal care products (lotion, face wash, etc) and if it's made outside of the U.S. we ordered as much as we could afford, usually 1-2 of each. We're low maintenance so thankfully it wasn't too expensive. New undies for everyone, filters for everything that needs them (furnace, vents, pet fountains, etc.) Made sure we had needles, thread, super glue, duct tape, white vinegar, borax, and a couple things of Dr. Bronner's soap. We're also saving all our glass jars, packaging, etc (thank God we have a garage...) My grandparents lived through the depression and taught me how to make do and mend. That's my mindset right now.

We have a bidet and already buy TP in bulk so I'm not super worried about paper products. All our pets got checkups and boosters. We made appointments to get all our boosters as well (tetanus, covid, flu shot, etc.) We got a pet first aid kit and book. I got some general house stuff like wood filler, wood conditioner, nails, screws, and cleaning supplies. We shop at costco so honestly it's not much more than we usually have in the house.

I might be over prepared but I don't care. We've only spent ~$500 and decided to skip Christmas gifts so thankfully we can afford it. I'm considering a few more things but as it stands I'm feeling prepared.

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[-] cogitase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 1 week ago

I’ve got a big pile of lumber I had milled that is almost finished drying. I’m buying up the remaining woodworking tools I need to process it into various items. The American made options are out of my price range.

[-] godot@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago

Tools are a good idea. Probably should follow your lead on that…

[-] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 29 points 6 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Got some kitchen appliances I've been putting off upgrading, buying a new TV now, new PC. Basically if theres electronics that probably won't make it for four years, buy it now.

Get your garden going too. Been extremely poor, it helps a ton.

Oh just fyi, of you have to buy from a big box store, Lowe's donate the most to Democrats and last to Republicans. Fuck home Depot.

[-] roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 6 days ago
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[-] NABDad@lemmy.world 29 points 6 days ago

My personal desktop machine is a Linux box I assembled from $500 worth of parts about 14 years ago. I've increased RAM and added about 8TB of storage for an Emby instance.

It still manages to get the job done, but it is obviously way, way, WAY overdue for replacement. We've been struggling financially for about 25 years.

Now I'm thinking I need to finally pull the trigger and get it done before January.

[-] IMALlama@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

IMO there's little need to buy new in the computer world unless you want to do something silly like have a snapdragon x laptop or have the disposable funds to go the gaming rig route.

My desktop is a retired business workstation, a HP Z420. I bought it for $250, installed a smaller SSD ($100 new) for the OS + apps, upgeaded to the "best" Xenon that fit the socket ($150 used), upgraded to 64 GB RAM ($107 used, yay ECC memory being dirt cheap on the used market), and a 1070TI ($225 used, purchased just before covid).

It's more than fast enough for my needs still.

This was all about 4-5 years ago, so you could probably do even better with more modern hardware.

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[-] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 28 points 6 days ago

Nothing. These companies don't deserve it, I'll do without today and continue into tomorrow.

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 24 points 6 days ago

Its rough because your talking years. you might be able to stave off a little of the pain but eventually your going to feel it.

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[-] Ceedoestrees@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago

I predicted this. I said if we ever tried to block politics it would devolve into nitpicking what is and isn't political.

But to answer the question: If your computer shit is about due for a upgrade, don't wait.

Grocery prices would probably keep going up no matter who got elected, so gardening supplies would be a good investment over time. Along with gardening comes the peripheral skills of cooking and preserving when it'll hurt your soul to see any of your sweet baby tomatoes go to waste.

[-] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago

as someone else said, plan for a long term(longer than four years). as for me I'm going to phase it out over three years to be reliant on the system as least as possible. the fourth year would hopefully be close to 80% self-reliant.

I'm planning on going all out on a garden next year. nothing fancy; potato, onion, carrot, tomato, squash (fall and winter), peas, string beans, misc herbs, sun flowers, maybe some corn(everybody grows it around here so bartering for some would be easy, besides corn is a pita to grow).

whatever I can't dry, I'll can.

my goal is to be at least 50-60% self sufficient after the first year. this should only require me to buy meat and seasonings mostly. then add on anything else I'll need.

consumables like TP and tissues can't really be stocked reliably as they degrade over time due to humidity.

I'll also be stocking up on common medications for my kids for at least the four years. the last time we went through this there were many product recalls. this time there's talk of defunding the FDA/CDC. I can only imagine the chaos parents will be in when a pandemic sweeps through again and you can't even trust the medicine anymore. common things like cold/flu, fever reducers, epi-pens. (if you plan on doing this, don't be a dick and buy everything at once. take a third so others can still get what they need and get more next week).

I also plan on stocking up on slingshot rubbers and maybe some more ammo. There's a lot of wildlife around me that could either be eaten and/or used a fertilizer. I hope I'll never need to resort to it, but would rather have it and hunt rather than not and starve. probably add some bow strings and arrows to the list for bigger game like deer.

I have kind of been planning for this for years so it's not my first time doing this. my best advice, do anything you feel you can accomplish successfully. don't waste time or resources growing food if you don't have space for a garden (don't experiment with hydroponics if you don't have the time or resources to fail multiple times).

Find other ways to contribute to your community like; cleaning and maintaining weapons, fixing tools, home repair, technology/PC repair. anything you can do successfully will give you an edge that gives you an opportunity to barter for what you need, this includes credit in the community.

I once did tech support and one day someone couldn't pay me. so they gave me some deer they had hunted recently. a year later that person called me and asked if I wanted a job making triple what I was making at my old job(not IT related). credit can't be eaten, but it goes a long way and is indispensable.

stay strong, be smart, we'll get through this yet.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago
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[-] Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Espresso machine I've been wanting to buy.

Solar panel system for the house. (this one will get WAY more expensive)

Very thankful my girlfriend and I got ducks this spring. They'll be worth their weight in gold shortly enough.

[-] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Canadian here. I expect the supply of products that would otherwise have gone to the US to go up and the price here to go down. I'll just wait for the US tariff discounts to hit.

[-] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 week ago

I've definitely moved plans to build a storage NAS and some smaller custom home automation electronic devices up to start before December.

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[-] coffee_with_cream@sh.itjust.works 14 points 6 days ago

This is only tangentially related, but the best thing you can do is make stuff instead of buying it. Somewhat ironically, community building and self sufficiency will be more important than ever. Yeah everyone is going to say electronics but I feel like we all have enough of those already. Forbidden knowledge is far more valuable. Kind of doomer but... that's where I'm at lately.

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[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

Food, but not primarily for cost savings as most regular used things things don't last longer than a year, which cost wise won't bridge the gap.

55 lbs of 00 flour in the chest freezer, still have about 25lbs of AP flour in there. 1 30lb bag of Jasmine Rice, 1 25 lb basmati. I still have a ton of beans and and dry pasts in mylar/oxy absorb sitting in barens cans for long term storage. When covid started, I had 1 million calories in storage. I don't plan to go back to that, but I intend to be able to hunker down for a long time.

For work, I'm pushing to purchase more laptops before tariffs.

I've considered stowing fuel with a stabilizer but even if prices double on fuel, I don't use enough of it to make a difference.

It would be a good time to buy any lithium ion batteries and finish off those ali-express/temu orders.

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[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 6 days ago

A pixel to load grapheneOS on.

Other than that, I need to save as much of my money as humanly possible.

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[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago

Unfortunately plane tickets out of the country are already up.

Jk, mostly.

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[-] _bcron_@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

I'm a federal employee and my wife's a teacher so I'm trying to figure out how to very carefully and cautiously hide a PS5 Pro in the drywall and convince her I got a new controller for the Switch

[-] callouscomic@lemm.ee 19 points 1 week ago

Seems like a healthy relationship.

[-] TheRealCharlesEames@lemm.ee 10 points 1 week ago
[-] _bcron_@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's called sarcasm. We aren't buying stuff because obvious reasons, and if we did we'd have to hide it for obvious reasons

[-] philpo@feddit.org 10 points 6 days ago

Buy staff made in Taiwan.. So get that PC upgrade now and get the most RAM you can stick in it.

With Trump being Trump I guarantee that China will be putting that shiny new navy to use soon as Trump will simply do nothing for the prospect of a "good deal"(for a new Trump Tower in Beijing or something)

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[-] ogmios@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

During the lockdowns I learned to cook for myself, and now I eat better, cheaper.

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[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago
[-] sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago

I'm buying a new fleet of Ferraris

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this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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