Dear Folks, As I mentioned yesterday one of the items I wanted to pick up was a box of standard size staples. I took my old empty box into Rite Aid to make certain that I bought the same size. And when I checked the price of the box they had on the shelf, I almost had a coronary. It sold for $2.19. The old box had a price sticker on it and it said "Catalog List price $1.90, OfficeMax price $.62!" Now mind you, I bought that old box maybe ten years ago prior to OfficeMax having bar coding. In addition the sales tax at that time was probably 7% versus the present sales tax of 8-3/4%. Granted, every year I get a Cost of Living Allowance added to my Social Security and my Navy pension but in these recent years I've often wondered whether what with the $25(?) increase per month I'd even break even. Somehow I seriously doubt it. Nonetheless, I still manage to pay all of my bills promptly, including the outrageous high cost of gasoline, fuel oil and propane gas. And my bank account balance is still healthy. Thank goodness for being thrifty! vee