Today marks a milestone, the current administration of the Unite States has now been 100 days of non-war war with Iran. I’m not going to go political here since this is a personal finance blog but I am going to discuss the impacts of this non-war on our household budget.
Fuel
The first and obvious change is the cost of fuel. I am fortunate in that I work from home and have little use of a car. Like most people, I have subscriptions to Amazon Prime, Instacart, and other services that deliver everything I need to my house on a regular basis. On January 1, 2026 WTI crude was trading at $57.42 and today as I type this on Friday 6/5/2026 it is $92.50, that’s a 61% increase in the cost of oil. Gasoline and diesel have more than doubled in cost during that time as well.
Food
Probably the thing that shocks me the most is the cost of groceries. Beef seems to start at $7/lb and go up from there. For most of my life, beef was about $1 to $3/lb and now the new normal is double the cost. We now buy more seafood as a substitute for meat products. Chicken has also gone up in cost significantly but not as much as beef. I’ve read that a lot of fertilizer transits through the Strait of Hormuz so it’s entirely possible food costs will soar the second half of 2026 and beyond.
Utilities
Electricity has gone up and I’m not sure if it’s Data Centers causing the issue or if the destruction of natural gas production in the Middle East or the hostility this administration has toward alternative energy such as solar and wind electric production.
I’ve written about water and natural gas bill rising here. Data Centers are poised to start sucking up a lot of water so I can only imagine this cost problem will only get worse. Data Centers also will require a lot of electricity and natural gas is generally used to create electricity.
Insurance
The Iran non-war war has caused insurance rates to sky rocket for shipping. You may think that doesn’t impact you until you think through the fact that all those insurance costs shippers pay all get passed along the supply chain so that ultimately the consumer pays in the form of higher prices. The higher cost of materials rises the cost of housing insurance. The higher cost of auto parts rises the cost of auto insurance. The higher cost of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and other medical related products raises the cost of health insurance.
Investments
The stock market continues to roar but the cracks are starting to appear. I suspect that if this oil situation isn’t sorted out over the next few weeks we may have total stock market mayhem. I hope it doesn’t come to that but hope is not an investment strategy so I’ve made changes to my portfolio.
Share The Wealth
Those are the top 5 things this non-war war has impact me, what impacts have you had?