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?

  • PagingDoctorLove@lemmy.world
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    7 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.

      • PagingDoctorLove@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        We went with the APEC 5 stage RO filter. It was the best mix (for us) of easy to install and maintain, good reviews on multiple platforms, and affordable. We’re getting replacement filters for each other for Christmas 😂

        Batten down the hatches!

  • Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world
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    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.

  • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
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    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.

  • PSoul•Lemmy@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Probably a computer. I still don’t know if I want a laptop or a desktop. Still don’t know if I want to stay with Apple products or try something new. The frameworks laptops look cool but not the best bang for the buck. I also assume the tariff will kill the supply chain of spare parts which makes them attractive in the first place.

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 days ago

      The coolest part about the framework is the fixability. I’ll be able to run on 16gb of DDR5 until DDR6 becomes the hot new thing, at which time I’ll get 32gb of ddr5 on sale and be set set for another good while, and during all that if anything breaks on it I can get the parts cheap enough and do the repair myself easily. Then maybe in like idk 15yr or so if framework is still around I can buy a new mobo/ram and maybe screen to slap in that bad boy and now I have the laptop of Theseus that’ll keep trucking until I repeat the cycle.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I’m holding off and waiting for tariffs in the US to make prices lower where I live by reducing demand.

    • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      I dont understand, how will prices raising lower the demand until it was cheaper than before prices rose?

      Ohhh you don’t live in this dumpster fire, lucky

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Zactly. And if retaliatory tariffs come in to increase prices of American products, our exports should become more valuable and increase foreign reserves to strengthen our currency and improve our buying power on imports.

        I assume that fat cunt will add tariffs on our stuff as well, so we’ll work on disentangling ourselves from US dependency, and open markets elsewhere, which is good. That’ll raise more prices for you and inflation should become rampant in the US, and weaken the USD.

        Hate to see what’s happening down there, but in the short term, it’s probably good for us as the US steps on its dick for a few years.

        • PresidentCamacho@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          Trust me, the US economy unraveling will be felt by everyone, do you think a country this big, and so militaristic is not going to make our economy everyone elses problem. Half of the reason I’ve cited for not wanting children is that I’m not trying to raise a kid to watch them die in the next global catastrophe we are racing full speed towards…

          It’s infuriating how ignorant the majority of our country is to the state of affairs…

          But hey, at least our 401k’s grew a bunch before the dollar became worthless…

  • kamen@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I have very little to do with the US and said tariffs, so I’m not affected directly.

    In general though I try to be rational with big(ger) purchases - I research things for at least a week or two before buying (but more often it’s months) and try to maximise my use of what I buy.

  • Fake4000@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Been archiving a lot of my favourite shows. I expect a lot of them to either disappear in ten years, or sit behind some subscription.

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 days ago

      This is probably a different discussion, but anybody with tips, tricks, and details of where and how to do this safely, this might not be a bad place to show off what you know.

        • QualifiedKitten@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Can anyone recommend some stable general purpose instances that federate with dbzer0? I believe lemmy.world defederated, as the link doesn’t work for me. I had a kbin account, but that seems to be dead, and I’d like to minimize the number of accounts I have to use to access things.

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          How much does the setup cost? assuming I’m already self hosting and have some disk space.

          VPN and a seed box?

          • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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            7 days ago

            Yes, you definitely need a good VPN service. I use Proton VPN and it works great. I don’t use a seed box or anything like that. I just see stuff right out of my media library that I keep on several external hard drives. So pretty low cost of entry and then you’re not paying any of the subscription costs for streaming or cable or any of that nonsense. Plus there’s movies they’re software there’s music there’s audiobooks there’s e-books. It’s a cornucopia my friend.

          • QualifiedKitten@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            I’ve been using whatbox as my seed box for nearly 10 years now. I’m on their USD 15/month plan, and they’ve upgraded my storage & bandwidth twice now in that time without increasing my costs.

      • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Step 1. Get a VPN. Probably a paid one that aligns with the needs of the client. Step 2. Get an app for p2p/torrent downloads to make things fast. Step 3. Configure your app of choice to strictly use the tun0 (VPN) only and nothing else. Just in case you get a lapse. Step 4. Do it like it’s 2008 again baby!

          • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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            7 days ago

            most crypto is useless and practically a scam, it’s a rabbit hole in itself to find a worthy one. paying for vpn with crypto only helps if you use an untraceable crypto

            if I would recommend one, it’s Monero, because it’s private by default and untracable, but nobody should believe me without doing their own research. I mean it.

            • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
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              7 days ago

              “Crypto” is such a vague term it’s almost comical to imply it’s private. Sure there are ways to use crypto privately, but it takes a lot of steps.

  • Coasting0942@reddthat.com
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    7 days 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.

    • blackbrook@mander.xyz
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      6 days ago

      If you are willing to grind your own grain, whole grains can be stored in plastic buckets for years without spoiling. You’ve probably got to like whole grain stuff, sifting to get white flour is a pain.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

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

  • hark@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

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

  • sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days 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.