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.

5700x3d and a to be determined gpu

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

Replacing some small to mid size appliances. Mine are generally 7-10 years old and some of the cooking ones are becoming unsafe to use due to wear. New air fryer to replace the one that smokes when it runs and the toaster oven that has two burnt out coils. Potentially a new dryer of the motor replacement is cost prohibitive.

If I can’t fix it and expect 3+more years of use it needs to be replaced in the next 6 months.

Computers

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.

Unfortunately plane tickets out of the country are already up.

Jk, mostly.

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.

Le Creuset.

Cast iron is imported from France.
Ceramics are imported from China.

https://www.lecreuset.com/signature-oval-baker/20188US.html

https://www.lecreuset.com/classic-3-piece-oval-baking-dish-set-/ST00979.html

A portable SSD. I need a new external hard drive anyway, so adding that November sales have reduced prices currently and that announced tariffs are designed to raise them very soon, there really is no better logical time for me to get one other than now.

I’m mostly looking at whether I would have made any medium sized purchases in the next two yearsl. I might buy some little things in bulk, too, but if there’s any one time purchase where the price is going to jump $200, $300, $500, it’s time to make a decision.

For me that mostly means furniture. I already bought a pair of commodity IKEA bookshelves I’d been considering buying vs building. I might still build replacements, but I would still use what I just bought and domestic lumber won’t be directly subject to a tariff. I’m looking at buying a papasan chair and a mattress as well, probably in the next week or two.

I’ve also considered electronics, but there’s nothing I would buy in the next two years short of some PC components that I’m sure I’ll want. I bought a Quest 3 a while back and it’s been a great purchase.

I did go back through some of my online buying this year to see what I used. I’ll probably buy a few pairs of work shoes and some good soap.

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.

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.

I don’t believe in such consumption unless it is warrant by some sort of real need.

ie, if you use the product over years and you know you will need it going forward, sure stock pile. but maintaining a stock pile has its own cost.

Also, using what you got until is fail is a valid strategy too for durable goods, most people don’t do this. We as society literally throwing money away.

I think one things anyone who has excess should be doing is buying US treasury bills or money markets, it seems people some people are still keeping their cash at boomer banks who won’t give you good rate unless you shop around etc.

While threat of tariffs is real, I doubt federal government will start fucking peasants outright in already inflationary environment.

US is food and energy sufficient. Them targeting china made plastic trash sold on Temu and Shein is or a domestic retailers really too, should be fucked tariffed the fuck out. You don’t need this plastic slop, sorry, not sorry.

Plus US can make all of these products home anyway, since some of these products do have strategic role within society. No joke, when Biden did his state aid package shit like trash bag manufacturing was covered. So US provided free money to corpo parasites to build or expand factories for this. While I don’t support state aid usage, at least this state aid result in more national security and pandemic resilience along with jobs for some peasants in more rural areas.

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.