A Shopping Update

We did our usual shopping rounds today and noticed all kinds of signs that our economy is teetering on the brink...

• The Goodwill was packed with people today. It was dollar day so Mondays are usually busy but there were way more people than we usually see there.
• We had lunch at our favorite dim sum place which is usually busy every time we go there but there were a lot fewer people today than normal.
• We went to two Dollar Tree stores and the shelves were noticeably sparse. I think it is only a matter of time before the whole notion of dollar (now dollar fifty) stores goes the way of five and dime stores as the cost of producing and shipping these small items is increasing by the day.
• We got gas which was $4.79 a gallon(!?!). Yikes.
• At the big Mexican grocery store we shop at, produce is usually very cheap and very fresh. Prices seemed much higher than usual today and none of the produce seemed as fresh as usual.
• We skipped Costco and Sam's Club today as we have a good-sized stockpile of food. I am, however, making a point to pick up a few extra food items at every store we shop at (like two pounds of brown rice and two pounds of pinto beans at the Dollar Tree today, extra mayo that was on sale at Albertsons this week, etc). 
• Tech shopping has pretty much come to a halt. Samsung released their new phones recently and I wasn't even tempted to upgrade, and I have several laptops that work just fine, ditto for tablets. Besides the higher price for tech items these days, "improvements" are generally unnoticeable compared to previous iterations.
• Overall we are pretty well set to weather economic turmoil, however I would love to have a garden. Unfortunately our yard is tiny and the ground is like concrete (although this lady in Las Vegas seems to have an AMAZING garden!).