While shopping, as you place items in your cart you round to the nearest dollar to keep a running total. You purchase five items in the following order:

2 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 6 = $_________

21

To find the estimated running total to the nearest dollar while shopping, you need to round each item's price to the nearest dollar and then add them up.

Let's round each item's price to the nearest dollar:

$1.89 rounds to $2
$4.85 rounds to $5
$2.59 rounds to $3
$1.45 rounds to $1
$5.61 rounds to $6

Now, let's add up the rounded prices:

$2 + $5 + $3 + $1 + $6 = $17

Therefore, the estimated running total to the nearest dollar is $17.