Okay, okay. I do a lot of print reproduction. So paper is a dominant force in my life of course. But really, my biggest expenses bar none are in paper these days.
Yes, the cost of paper for printing is up there. The stuff isn’t cheap. Rags, photo papers, canvases, synthetics…….whenever I order paper in it costs. And that means another kind of paper going out.
But what I’m talking about today isn’t my print reproduction paper. It’s a different kind of paper altogether. I’m talking about all those other paper fees that really add up……..
This month is “insurance” month here at the Airstream. Paper. Not an asset. Just paper “coverage” for unknowns. By the 24th of this month I’ve got to:
- Pay this year’s Airstream Insurance: It’s just paper, covering the possibility of a bad event occurring at some point in time.
- Pay medical insurance: After the multi-year health fiasco where the end result was discovering I was correct and every medical professional I met was wrong (would somebody like to refund me for that), I still find that I need to carry health insurance. And let me tell you, thanks to years of mis-diagnosis I’m stuck with the label of pre-existing condition (which no longer exists), thus raising the cost of this paper even higher. It’s cheaper to pay for rent and electric for the Airstream than it is to pay my health insurance bill.
- Nissan Insurance: Yup, it’s time to renew my 6 month insurance policy on the truck.
- Business Insurance: Yes, I do actually insure my equipment.
For what I’ll be shelling out for “paper” this month I could have ordered 10+ rolls of print media from my friends over at Breathing Color. The big difference here is that the paper I get from them has a use, I can produce with it, and in the end work toward paying bills and such. All the other “paper” expenses I have this month just seem to go off into the void……bummer. I like productive dollars, not lost dollars.
Small business owners out there know what I’m talking about for sure. Got a feeling we all feel the paper squeeze sometimes, and often wonder why we’d expend sums that could cover a multi-week vacation on this “paper”!