tracey
04-21-2007, 03:10 PM
to be fair...i've had a big month (photography) and may is shaping up to be even bigger. i've also got a full schedule of births right now...so i absolutely do not feel guilty. nothing i bought was fluff or spur of the moment.
but...today i bought some things for my business. i got a new lens, a new (much more sturdy) tripod, 2 memory cards and a database/contact program.
now...i feel i did well with the purchases. i went to 5 places for the lens. i actually ended up paying a little more bc there was only one place in driving distance that had it, and what i paid is equivalent to what i'd pay ordering it online plus s/h. i potentially can have it price-matched within the next 30 days if one of the other 4 places gets one in stock, but if not, i'm not worried. i *needed* this lens and have been planning it's purchase since fall.
tripod...my old one that i used for my film cameras was falling apart. was not evidenced until i needed it, but it was bad. this one is huge, sturdy, came with TWO heads *and* a free carrying bag (usually costs $15-30 extra.) it was also $15 cheaper than the one i liked at another store...and of course the one at the other store didn't have the bag or second head.
memory cards...my main one is a year old and is failing. i have a smaller one that i got to use in a pinch not long ago but it's not got enough capacity for me to do much. i can only shoot jpg on it and i prefer RAW (if you're not a photo geek skip that part) for lots of reasons. a big box store near me had 2 gig high-speed SD cards on sale this week for $35/each. a high-speed card is necessary for my camera and is usually 25-50% more than the regular SD cards of the same capacity. i bought two...i two for slightly less than i'd normally pay for one. *very* good buy.
database program...i bought ACT! for my business. dh and i have been managing it nicely by hand and with excel...but i've got info in 4 different places and we can't figure out how to merge it nicely. ACT! does that for me. he used it in the past with another position so we're familiar with it. i got $130 off the retail price bc it was on ad. this will enable me to *nicely* manage all my contacts, calendar, schedules, shoots, orders and follow-ups. it will enable me to do things such as (easily) remember to send birthday cards (doula clients...but i bought it for photog needs), thank you and holiday cards. with it i can also do mailings if i choose to do that, to former clients. these are all marketing things i've been working on manually and it's taking SO MUCH TIME for me. i'm doing an avg of 2 shoots a week (and 3-4 births a month) right now. this is crazy.
so...i was bad. pretty $$$ bad. we are ok financially (i fixed the panic problem from last month) and have everything written out so i didn't hurt us by doing it...but it did feel weird to spend money. technically it should have gone to the emergency fund. however, we chose to take some funds that were well above the projected amount for some orders and put the money back into my business. we'll do that periodically and feel that's a good idea.
but...i thought i'd confess. :D
but...today i bought some things for my business. i got a new lens, a new (much more sturdy) tripod, 2 memory cards and a database/contact program.
now...i feel i did well with the purchases. i went to 5 places for the lens. i actually ended up paying a little more bc there was only one place in driving distance that had it, and what i paid is equivalent to what i'd pay ordering it online plus s/h. i potentially can have it price-matched within the next 30 days if one of the other 4 places gets one in stock, but if not, i'm not worried. i *needed* this lens and have been planning it's purchase since fall.
tripod...my old one that i used for my film cameras was falling apart. was not evidenced until i needed it, but it was bad. this one is huge, sturdy, came with TWO heads *and* a free carrying bag (usually costs $15-30 extra.) it was also $15 cheaper than the one i liked at another store...and of course the one at the other store didn't have the bag or second head.
memory cards...my main one is a year old and is failing. i have a smaller one that i got to use in a pinch not long ago but it's not got enough capacity for me to do much. i can only shoot jpg on it and i prefer RAW (if you're not a photo geek skip that part) for lots of reasons. a big box store near me had 2 gig high-speed SD cards on sale this week for $35/each. a high-speed card is necessary for my camera and is usually 25-50% more than the regular SD cards of the same capacity. i bought two...i two for slightly less than i'd normally pay for one. *very* good buy.
database program...i bought ACT! for my business. dh and i have been managing it nicely by hand and with excel...but i've got info in 4 different places and we can't figure out how to merge it nicely. ACT! does that for me. he used it in the past with another position so we're familiar with it. i got $130 off the retail price bc it was on ad. this will enable me to *nicely* manage all my contacts, calendar, schedules, shoots, orders and follow-ups. it will enable me to do things such as (easily) remember to send birthday cards (doula clients...but i bought it for photog needs), thank you and holiday cards. with it i can also do mailings if i choose to do that, to former clients. these are all marketing things i've been working on manually and it's taking SO MUCH TIME for me. i'm doing an avg of 2 shoots a week (and 3-4 births a month) right now. this is crazy.
so...i was bad. pretty $$$ bad. we are ok financially (i fixed the panic problem from last month) and have everything written out so i didn't hurt us by doing it...but it did feel weird to spend money. technically it should have gone to the emergency fund. however, we chose to take some funds that were well above the projected amount for some orders and put the money back into my business. we'll do that periodically and feel that's a good idea.
but...i thought i'd confess. :D