I'm working out a reorder schedule for next year. I've never done that before, Budgets, yes, but I usually just ordered what I thought we needed most each week until the budget was spent. But sometimes, that would leave out wholesalers who had product that just missed the cut, again and again.

It has occurred to me, that I have enough of a reorder budget to order from three out of four of the major suppliers I use each week. So if I alternate them, I can order from each wholesaler 3 times a month; and skip the occasional 5th Monday.

If I work out the payment processes of each wholesaler, (two automatically charge my credit card, and two are paid by check), I can work out the most beneficial time to order and pay. Two weeks out of the month, I have way more bills -- the week of my store rent, and the week of my home mortgage. So I need for the product to come in on an even basis, while the payments fall mostly onto the two lighter weeks.

Pretty inside baseball; but that's where my heads been today, trying to figure out which wholesalers to order from each week. I'm going to post a schedule by the phone.

I'm convinced that my store is going to really need to stick to a strict budget next year. Generous, but strict.

On the other hand, I think my wife's store is still in a growth stage. And I really am tired of figuring out the overall economic conditions for all the other stores in town. That is just unknowable.

I just know my bottomline instinct is that it is time to be conservative.