How Trumps tariffs could finally help Americans win their war on clutter

Put down the credit card.President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports officially went into effect this weekend, with even steeper levies coming later this week.Prices on cheap products manufactured in China and Vietnam are sure to go up as a result, experts say.But the silver lining is that Americans could finally start to win their war on clutter — and reign in impulsive their spending habits.Thanks to cheap imports, online shopping and speedy deliveries, nowadays it’s easier than ever to buy things just for the sake of it.A Clever Real Estate survey revealed that almost 74% of Americans say they overspend — and 55% admitted to being reckless spenders.The result is that Americans have a lot of crap lying around.

Last year, the average family bought 5.7 times more flatware and dishes, 2.5 times more clothing and footwear and 3.5 times more furniture than it did 10 years ago, according to Commerce Department data.This huge surge in the amount of stuff that people have is already coming back to haunt many families — especially when they try to downsize their homes — or when elderly loved ones die.The Wall Street Journal reports that downsizing a home takes almost double the time it took 10 years ago, according to the National Association of Senior and Specialty Move Managers — because of all the unnecessary things Americans keep buying and tossing to the side.In one estate sale detailed by the Journal, the homeowners had 11 hammers — because it was easier to just buy a cheap new one than find the ones lost under clutter.“We’re battling a tsunami of stuff, and the stuff is winning,” Julie Hall, the head of estate liquidation company The Estate Lady, told the newspaper.However, all of this might soon come to an end with panicked Americans fearful of what the tariffs will do to sticker prices — forcing them to cut back on unnecessary buying and consuming, the Journal suggested.Recently, some Manhattan stores encouraged consumers to b...