We don’t have to look far to read or hear bad news about the U.S. economy right now. It’s as close as the cost of increasingly smaller bags of groceries, or the mail box where the credit card companies have been sending out notices about increased interest rates since mid-Summer.

Consider the data on a credit card balance of $1,000 outlined in the table below:

Right now, the LOWEST credit card interest rates available to customers with excellent credit are ranging somewhere around 19% APR while many store credit cards jumped to well over 30% this Summer. All of this means that paying OFF debt is costing everyone a little more each month – whether they’re racing to pay it off before interest is charged, or working to pay it down and minimize the compounding interest charges.

At the same time, the job market has been in a steady decline with the unemployment rate rising to 4.2% (highest in almost 4 years) and job creation – the metric that shows how strong the economy is based on how many NEW jobs have opened up – was down more than 330,000 for May, June and July (combined) of this year – much worse than projected.

This bad news is not hard to find, and people are hearing it, if not actively listening for it. This is going to begin to impact small businesses, if it hasn’t already started. AND, all of this before the full force of the many tariffs hit American consumers in the chops.

EXAMPLE: I buy organic coffee in compostable pods from a family business who sources their coffee beans from small farms – many in Central and South America. I just got an email that they would be raising prices due to market conditions outside of their control.

Why am I talking about such depressing news?

As the title of this blog posts suggests, many of us – me included – are significantly cutting back on our non-essential spending. We are “shopping our stashes” as it relates to fabric and yarn, shopping more intentionally (fewer impulse trips and purchases), and even shopping secondhand to conserve our budgets.

While all of this is being discussed far and wide in crafting and other communities, I always feel a little twinge of guilt for those wonderful small businesses – especially the fabric and yarn shops – that I know depend on people shopping regularly to remain viable.

I wish this was different, and I hope that it is a temporary blip. The uncertainty around how long this financial reality will remain is also adding to the general sense of unease among consumers, and is unlikely to suddenly turn around.

It’s clear that good intentions don’t pay leases on buildings, or for inventory that remains on shelves, unsold. If it did, fabric and yarn shops would be dripping in riches! For this I am sad, and feel deep compassion for small businesses who are, or will be, feeling the impact of these times we are living in.

Please know that it’s not that we don’t WANT to come in and spend money as we have done in the past; it’s just that things have changed, and many of us cannot, due to the rising costs of just surviving; or choose not to in anticipation of whatever fresh financial hell may be coming.

I don’t think people are shopping online as much either since the trade exemption known as de minimis is gone – for ALL COUNTRIES.

The de minimis loophole used to mean that goods under $800 could be imported duty free, or without import taxes. That $800 threshold likely gave crafters a LOT of cheaper imported options prior to the recent Executive Order that eliminated the de minimis exemption.

With that option GONE, orders that were once duty-free to bring into the United States have flat fees of $80 to $200 per item added to them – or are assessed tariffs which range from 10% to 50%, depending on the origin of the item and the type of product.

We are living in a world order that is very different from anything we have seen in a long time. I think I can speak for most of us that made a point to shop regularly at our local small businesses when I say that I am sorry – in advance – for my declining trips and spending.

It’s not you; and it’s not us. It’s the economy and the uncertainty.

None of us knows how long this will last, or what the landscape in small craft-centric business will look like once it is over. I wish very much that this was not the case, but that’s not how it works.

Right now all any of us can do is be smart with our resources, and be kind to each other – no matter the outcomes. This goes double for shoppers who sometimes complain about the difficult decisions that small businesses often need to make. Now is NOT the time for any of that.

Hang in there, everyone and let’s hope (pray!) that better times are just around the next bend.

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