How I Plan and Budget for Unforeseen Business Expenses

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

Being self-employed has its rewards. I can sleep as late as I want. I can go to the gym when and how often I want, and I can take care of family obligations on the fly. Doing those things means a lot to me, but since I am self-employed, I have to be careful with my budget. This means that I have to plan ahead for equipment failures, and the most important piece of equipment in my office is my computer. Unfortunately, I only have one desktop computer. If it breaks, I can’t earn any money.


Plan ahead for equipment failures

Once I ordered a refurbished computer from Staples. It was exactly what I needed for a backup computer; full sized case, expansion slots, 1gigabyte of ram, 250 gigs of hard drive space, and a Pentium 4 processor. I ordered it Monday night. It arrived Friday which was perfect. I had scheduled my main computer to go to my brother for the weekend for a total refurb.

I pull the refurbished computer out of the box. I plugged it in, connected the keyboard, mouse, and my extra monitor. I turned it on. The fan started spinning immediately. I noticed right away that it sounded like a 737. If I had a TV, I would not have been able to hear it over the sound of the fan. Strike one against the refurbished computer.

I waited for the computer to boot and tell me something, but the monitor reflected nothing and went to sleep. I turned off the monitor and turned it back on. No signal. I put the XP disk in the computer drive and rebooted. I waited. The refurbished computer never booted, and due to the noise of the fan, I couldn’t tell if the hard drive was working at all. I doubted it was since it had been clanking around in the case during shipment.

I had to take the computer back to Staples. It didn’t work. Had I needed that computer right then, I would have been running to Walmart to buy their cheapest desktop which runs around $298.00. The price difference between the refurb and the cheapest computer at Walmart is over $100 dollars. That’s $100 wasted.


Find someone who can fix it

If my computer were to break, I could take it to my brother and he can fix it. However, it might take him a week to diagnose the problem, fix the computer, and get it back to me. I can’t wait a week for a new computer, but it’s nice to know that my brother can fix it, and he’d do it for the cost of parts and lunch.


Find someone who can build it

Since I didn’t need the backup computer right then, I called my dad who can build computers. We’re estimating the costs at $250 - $300 dollars. It’s still a significant savings considering my dad can build me a computer with more power than the cheapest computer at Walmart for about the same price. Since my main computer is still functioning, I’m not in a rush to get the second computer. I can wait for my dad to build me a custom computer.

By planning ahead and buying an extra computer now, I am saving myself time and money. I won’t lose money due to loss of income, and I won’t be forced to buy the first computer I come across if my main computer breaks.

In short, I’m saving money by thinking ahead. I know my main computer is three years old. I have noticed that it takes longer and longer to reboot it. Eventually, it’s going to break. Sudden breakages are time consuming and result in the loss of productivity. Plus, if you’re in a bind, you’ll be tempted to pay more for the item you need. I’m taking the initiative and planning for future breakages buy buying an extra computer now.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories

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