I went to Lowe’s over the weekend because I realized that, if we’re going to do this homesteading right, or at least make a valiant attempt, that we were going to need a few more tools than we have. Sure, we have plenty of shovels and rakes and axes and useful tools like that, but we didn’t have a proper bedding fork:
It’s something my father-in-law, in particular, can use to turn compost, move leaf piles and straw, and chase the cat away from our chickens. In fact, I don’t think you can call yourself a homestead without one, lol.
But when I saw the price tag of almost $60 for a mere bedding fork, I began to wonder if I was in the right aisle. I mean, I knew I was look at garden tools, but that sure felt like a lot of money. After all, the last time I bought a bedding fork, which was probably a decade ago, I swear it was more like $20, but I could be making that price up entirely in my head.
In any case, I’d even considered shopping elsewhere, which I eventually did after already purchasing this one, but the best I could find was a very similar option for only a few dollars less. Although I didn’t, I’d considered buying that one, too! Even Amazon didn’t have anything decent and at a better price… now that’s getting scary. 😉
While I was at the hardware store, I figured my father-in-law could make use of a large scoop rather than the plastic snow shovel he was using for whatever he was doing in the yard:
And at a price tag of just over $35, I’d began to consider if that snow shovel he was using would suffice.
After another $100 on miscellaneous purchase, like more gloves and replacement rake handles, I realized, yet again, that inflation is hitting even the essential items that most of us don’t think twice about.
But essential tools are only the beginning. Just last night I’d heard that wheat prices were up 68% this year alone, apparently triggered in part by the invasion of Ukraine. Interestingly, wheat prices had skyrocketed to near this level back in 2008, though I don’t know why (see the chart referenced in the previous link).
Regardless, a rise in wheat prices for whatever reason is never good. With all of the baked products made with wheat, especially bread, expect prices at the grocery stores to rise or a hefty dose of shrinkflation.
Moreover, the previously referenced link also includes charts for other basic foodstuffs if you scroll down, and I couldn’t help but notice a similar trend. Corn, for instance, is up over 26% this year; soybeans are up over 24%. Sugar, however, is only up a few percentage points this year, and oats are down, but that’s after rising nearly 90% last year.
Dare I even mention gasoline prices? Here, again, this is largely due to speculation over the war in Ukraine–and certainly due to poor political decisions–so maybe they will turn around at some point, but even what prices were only months ago at three or four dollars per gallon is drastically more than it should be, in my humble opinion.
The trends, to put it mildly, are on the rise across the board historically. And I’m afraid they’re going to continue to rise no matter what.
Even if you have the money to afford a steep rise in nearly everything you need to survive over the coming months and years, I would encourage you to stock up when you can because, as even the well-off fail to understand: Having all of the money in the world won’t do you any good if that which you need simply isn’t available for purchase.
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