Sticking to a strict budget this time around has been relatively painless. Hard to start, but once I started seeing the results, not so hard to continue. It shows how much I've stocked up over the last 3 or 4 years that we have plenty of merchandise to sell.

There might be a week lag in getting evergreen product back in stock, but hell, at one point I thought of doing it this way anyway, just to save on postage. Nothing is so important, it can't wait a week.

The spot shortages, such as they are, are in the margins. Things like Star Wars Standups, or Death Mints, or sports supplies.

But the thing about margins-- they are as endless as the universe. There is never going to be a time when I can fill in the margins, because the stuff outside the core is unlimited.

But even if I count everything I have ever had in stock as core, and everything I haven't carried as margin, I should be able to add; I just have to do it seasonally; at the beginning of summer and just before Christmas.

Just thinking outloud.