It's Always Something

Massachusetts’ Secretary of State got his $109 “annual report” fee a few days before the deadline. Hours later an email from my CPA corrected my assumption that I had another month to scrape up the $456 state minimum tax; it’s all due on March 17. Suddenly, my taxes are paid and my bank account is $565 lighter. Fortunately, March business has been so strong that I’ll still be able to pay my credit card bills.

Paying my CPA will be my first April priority; that will finally slay the tax beast for another year. The second priority is going to be a lot more challenging: Microsoft is cutting Windows XP loose. My five-year-old computer will have a big "hack me" sign taped to its back after that deadline passes. I’d like to spend $800-ish on a new Win 7 laptop that will serve me for four or five years, but I might have to settle for a barebones machine for half that price and plan on replacing it sooner. We’ll see if sales hold up and just how dire the security threat looks. I will most likely need some new software, too; Quickbooks 2009 is getting a little long in the tooth.

If Microsoft didn't have a gun to my head I’d upgrade my website first. The "responsive theme" will make it more mobile-friendly and that could improve sales. It only costs $75 up front, but customization and support could add hundreds to the price tag, and sales often tank for a few days after a software upgrade. That pushes it into May unless I decide to postpone the computer and take my chances with the bad guys for a month or two. 

In June I can knock off the last capital expense on my list: A new office chair. Staples has a good selection in the $100-200 range. I don’t want to skimp on this since my butt spends 75% of its waking hours parked in this chair. A $200 expense in June, when sales typically peter out, is substantial. 

If all of that spending is in the rearview mirror by July I can finally start bringing in a few of the Spring products that started crossing my desk in February. Even though I won’t have any money for merchandise until July, I will still attend the annual Cavalcade of Crap (or the Boston Gift Show, as it prefers to be called) in a couple of weeks. 

The computer and the chair, plus the smartphone that I already bought, will doom 2014 to being another year with no profit…but at least I’ll have a phone, a computer, and a chair that won’t need replacing next year!