Tariffs, Toddlers, & Being Together with Our Community.

One of the great things about shopping local in your community is that it truly gives so much back to the space you are in at that moment. Statistics might say 68% or 86% of your dollar stays local depending on who you ask. But at the end of the day it’s 100% more than if you never shopped local in the first place.

As tariffs, government chaos and the likes continue to threaten our way of life as consumers the one thing that generally stays the same are the people you know and the place you call home. So when writing this, my goal is to simply show you what your dollar spent does.

First, it pays for my employees. Right now as we head into the busiest week of the year, I have six women on my payroll. They each depend on this paycheck to support themselves to be as financially independent as possible. It also pays for much of my own life and for my kids. Many assume to open a cute boutique and sell clothes that I must be a trust fund kid or have a rich husband who supports me, because we of course all know those business women too. No shame, however we’ve got big bills to pay and a glass ceiling to break.

So no, I don’t get any sort of monthly stipend, and my wonderful husband, he is a JCPS public school teacher. A middle school band director to be more specific. Like so many of you, we went into 2019 on the up and up. We bought a bigger house and got pregnant. And then the world around us stopped, just as ours truly started. Most of you have seen the journey since 2020 to include Paxton and now little sister Marren. For those who haven’t, please feel free to scroll down to see my almost 5 year old boy and wild 3 year old daughter.

And then think to your own family. Be it your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or friendly neighbors. These kiddos don’t have any idea about tariffs. Mine couldn’t understand the concept of why an airplane ticket for each of us was too much and we had to drive to Florida for the first time in his life. Privileged, yes. But also starting to grasp the idea of the dollar and that it doesn’t get us as far as it once did, also yes.

All this to say, everyone is hurting in their own ways. For me, it’s struggling to pay for daycare some weeks. For my five year old, it’s not understanding why his family of four can’t afford to fly when we can just drive. But all in all, that daycare bill, that summer soccer camp, that bulk box of mac n cheese at Costco to eat on for the next month… none of it is possible without customers supporting us day in and day out.

And then there is everything else we do… It’s the golf scramble we donated to, in hopes that those extra dollars will help find a cure for cancer. It’s your schools fall festival or spring fling to help get them that class trip or new playground. Whatever it is, it’s giving back to our community. It’s the hours I spend volunteering as President of the NuLu Business Association. The events we organize for our community. The neighbors we keep informed of construction so that they can make the best decisions for their businesses. It’s the promotions and map distributions. All of it is for family, neighbors and this city we call home. And none of it could be done without our customers. For that, we say thank you, thank you, thank you.