For the last three years I have been fully committed to buying American. That means barring certain circumstances when buying American is simply not possible, I have purchased nothing but goods made in the USA.
I started buying American as New Year’s resolution in 2010 and have been doing it ever since. After doing a bit of research, here is the buy American program I chose to follow.
I must say, this experience has been extremely rewarding because I know every time I make a purchase I am doing my part to create jobs in America at a time so many are in need of work.
Here are three surprising things I learned in my experience buying American:
- Buying American Saves Money – I never would have believed it before I started buying American, but faithfully buying made in USA absolutely saves money. Mind you, not every item is less expensive, because sometimes you do have to pay a bit of a premium, but on the whole I have saved money by buying American. There are two main reasons for this. First, buying American cuts down considerably on the purchases you make of things you don’t need. You save money because you make fewer impulse purchases. Second, buying American forces you to do more research on the things you do buy. Once you’ve taken the time to research where to find a certain good that is American made, it’s a natural next step to find that same good for the best price possible. I find better deals now than I ever did before I started buying American.
- Buying American Does Not Require Deprivation – I never would have believed this before either, but buying American does not leave you feeling deprived all the time. Practically everything I buy is American made, and my experience has been so good that I have no plans to change that. But the key to avoiding the feeling of deprivation is to allow for the purchase of a few imported goods when the right circumstances call for it. The whole point of buying American is to use your buying power to support jobs here in America, but there is no need to refuse necessities – like cell phones for example – that simply cannot be found made in the USA. The buy American program I follow allows for several key exceptions to the buy American rule. Those exceptions make staying on a buy American program possible. Going cold turkey won’t work.
- Buying American Becomes Easy to Do – In the first couple days of a strict buy American program, it can be difficult. It’s similar to cutting out carbs or gluten from your diet for the first time (if you’ve ever tried that). At first, it is a real shock. But after a while, you get the hang of it. At first, you go to stores and it seems like everything you plan on putting into your cart is imported and off-limits. But after a little while, you cycle through all the regular items you have to buy frequently, and you just know which brands are made in USA and which aren’t. I didn’t know at first, but I now know I buy certain batteries, sponges, socks, etc., all that are American made. Once you’ve done the research the first time, which often requires nothing more than looking at the fine print on packages, buying American becomes simple. Buying American doesn’t start out easy, but it definitely becomes easy before long.
Please consider joining our growing Buy American Movement.
Until next time, here’s to doing what we can to support our country by buying American.
Randy
Buy American Challenge 