Say what you will about shopping in America right now — it’s certainly not boring.
Still, many of us might enjoy a more predictable retail experience around the country, where prices are a little more stable and supply chains normalize.
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The most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) found that in the month of February, prices overall rose by 0.2%. That’s compared to January, when prices rose by 0.5% overall.
That puts our annual inflation rate at 2.8%.
Here’s how some core goods and services changed over the last month:
- Food: increased 0.2%
- Energy: increased 0.2%
- Electricity: increased 1.0%
- New vehicles: decreased 0.1%
- Used vehicles: increased 0.9%
- Apparel: increased 0.6%
- Shelter: increased 0.3%
- Transportation: decreased 0.8%
- Medical care services: increased 0.3%
All these price fluctuations seem hard to predict and even harder to budget for.
And that’s before you throw in all the drama about tariffs going on right now.
Home Depot is still trying to save shoppers money despite rising costs.
Shutterstock-Manuela Durson
Rising costs put pressure on consumers
The latest tariff proposals by the Trump administration are only making many us more fearful of rising costs.
Tariffs, or the duties companies pay on non-domestic goods, are often used to protect stateside economies and businesses, since they force the price of imported goods up.
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President Donald Trump has proposed tariffs on a number of countries, including:
- China: 34%
- Vietnam: 46%
- Taiwan: 32%
- India: 26%
- South Korea: 25%
- Japan: 24%
- EU: 20%
Some of America’s top business minds think tariffs might cause costs to get passed off onto consumers, whether or not they realize it.
“I don’t think the average American consumer who wakes up in the morning and goes to work…changes what they’re going to do because they read about tariffs,” JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in March. “But I do think companies might.”
Home Depot cutting costs
So much rapid change all at once has made deal-seeking seem next to impossible. But if you know where to look, you can still get one.
One such place is at Home Depot (HD) .
Home Depot runs an annual spring savings event that it dubs “Spring Black Friday.”
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Most homeowners get busier with home and yardwork during the spring, when the weather is warmer and people are hosting more outside. This is why Home Depot reserves its big savings event for this time of year.
The event, which runs until April 16, features some big savings opportunities on both large- and small-budget items. Some of those include:
- Vissani 18.7 Cubic Feet Bottom Freezer Refrigerator: $598 (down from $1,099)
- Samsung 7.4 Cubic Feet Vented Front Load Smart Electric Dryer: $598 (down from $999)
- Ryobi 80-Volt Electric Zero Turn Riding Mower: $3,999 (down from $4,999)
- Gorilla 3-Step Ladder: $19.88 (down from $44.97)
- Pennington Smart Seed Bermuda Grass: $28.97 (down from $42.55)