I used to shop retail at a discount store, Marshall’s (click here). When that got too expensive, I started shopping for clothing at Goodwill. Lately I have found that the prices at any given Goodwill store have been raised so high that some items I purchased there exceeded what I could have gotten new and on sale somewhere else. So, I am back again at Marshalls, only this time I will only shop their clearance items. I’m paying the same prices now at Marshall’s that I used to pay at Goodwill before. Naturally, of course, it’s better to buy brand new clothes at discounted prices. Go figure.

I bought a pair of shorts valued at $48 for only $10. I also got a cool, white summer pullover shirt for only $8. Those are Goodwill prices! Only this time around, I’m getting brand new clothing from a discount retail store. WIN! WIN! Rumor has it that many retailers are overstocked and will be placing their merchandise on a strict discount. If you have available cash, this may be the right time to buy and stock up. For me, every time I’m near the Marshall’s store, I stop in and browse the clearance rack. I always find a good bargain!

I’m also back at The Dollar Store. OK, I’ll admit it. I was a bit of a snob and stopped shopping there. But now? With the rising costs on almost everything, I’m back. I only buy what I need. This time it was birthday cards @.50 cents each. Large tubes of my fave Colgate toothpaste for $1.25 each, three chap stick-type lip moisturizers for only $1.25, three bars of Jergens hand soap for $1.25 and two smallish containers of cough medicine at $1.25 each (still way cheaper than buying a larger size for much more money).

My garden is starting to produce, with fresh basil at the top of my list. It isn’t summer here till I make my first batch of pesto over linguine. I got the recipe back in the mid 1990s from an article I read in The NY Times. For the recipe, click here. Pesto has its roots in ancient Rome, when our ancestors used to prepare a paste made with cheese, pine nuts, oil, salt and aromatic herbs, called “moretum”. During the Middle Age, in plebeian cooking spread the agliata sauce, basically a walnut and garlic paste.

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