“Maybe I Was Just Early”

A Personal Reflection on Tariffs, Tight Wallets, and the End of Mindless Consumption

I used to buy things I didn’t need
to feel like the person I thought I was supposed to be.
The Amazon cart was always full.
Not with purpose—just with packages that arrived fast enough
to distract me from the rest.

I used to rack up credit card bills — bills I could pay with my salary.
Not out of recklessness—out of routine.
Because buying felt like moving. Like winning.
Like belonging.

But that life is gone.
Not by choice.
By necessity.

Now I live modestly—two kids, a small apartment in Yonkers,
a car that runs, a fridge that’s never extravagant but never empty.
Love is abundant. Cash, not so much.
I still wish I could give them more—but “more” means something else now.
Not toys.
Not clothes.
Just presence.
Just peace.

My cost of living is low,
but my overhead just to exist hovers around $10K a month.
And I’m not special.
I’m just early.

We are entering a new era of consumption.
One where people won’t stop buying because of mindfulness—
they’ll stop because they literally can’t afford it.

And marketers?
You’ve been assuming everyone is just a click away from a purchase.
You’ve built strategies on the illusion of disposable income.
That era is collapsing.

People aren’t just waking up to their spending.
They’re being forced out of it.
We’re not in a scarcity mindset.
We’re living in scarcity.

So maybe my stripped-down lifestyle isn’t rock bottom.
Maybe it’s a rehearsal.
A preview of the reality that more people are sliding into.

This isn’t about doom.
It’s about perspective.
If you’re in marketing,
maybe it’s time to stop selling illusions—
and start speaking to real life.

Because that’s where your customers already are.