- Feb 10, 2000
- 30,029
- 67
- 91
Okay, here's the deal:
I recently took over a small, two-person military law office (it is just my paralegal and me). Our predecessors left about $2,500 in our annual budget, which we have to spend within the next month or so. For those who do not know (probably most of you), any federal office has an annual budget, and if it is not spent by the end of the fiscal year, the money reverts to the government, and ordinarily your budget shrinks the following year, by the amount you failed to spend.
We have already spent about $900, on a killer new fax machine and various supplies. We both already have really nice new computers (we have these Gateway All-In-Ones), and I have already been issued a nice laptop (a Dell Latitude 1.7GHz). Since the PCs are all-in-ones, we can't get replacement monitors. We have requested, and will probably receive, a high-end networked color laser printer, and we already each have a Laserjet 4050 with duplex unit. I already have a TV/VCR in my office that I never use, and we have a small one for our waiting area (we have cable).
We can't really buy furniture, because we are moving to a new, furnished office next spring. We can't buy any food or drink, and can't buy vast amounts of consumables (e.g., 5 toner carts per printer, or 50 cases of paper or something) in advance - we are only allowed to have a reasonable stock. We have enough pens, pencils, pads, etc.
The nature of my work involves a lot of travel, and we are in a business where we regularly have clients visiting.
I am thinking about possibly getting a nice new TV/DVD/VCR combo for our waiting area, and possibly a high-end laptop backpack to carry my laptop. I will also buy some very nice remote-control pedastal fans, since we lack A/C and the climate here gets warm in the summer. I am toying with getting a PDA, though I have never really used one and don't know that it would be useful.
Does anyone have any other ideas, within the rules I have provided? I am amenable to buying expensive stuff. Help me spend this money, and put your tax dollars to work!!!
I recently took over a small, two-person military law office (it is just my paralegal and me). Our predecessors left about $2,500 in our annual budget, which we have to spend within the next month or so. For those who do not know (probably most of you), any federal office has an annual budget, and if it is not spent by the end of the fiscal year, the money reverts to the government, and ordinarily your budget shrinks the following year, by the amount you failed to spend.
We have already spent about $900, on a killer new fax machine and various supplies. We both already have really nice new computers (we have these Gateway All-In-Ones), and I have already been issued a nice laptop (a Dell Latitude 1.7GHz). Since the PCs are all-in-ones, we can't get replacement monitors. We have requested, and will probably receive, a high-end networked color laser printer, and we already each have a Laserjet 4050 with duplex unit. I already have a TV/VCR in my office that I never use, and we have a small one for our waiting area (we have cable).
We can't really buy furniture, because we are moving to a new, furnished office next spring. We can't buy any food or drink, and can't buy vast amounts of consumables (e.g., 5 toner carts per printer, or 50 cases of paper or something) in advance - we are only allowed to have a reasonable stock. We have enough pens, pencils, pads, etc.
The nature of my work involves a lot of travel, and we are in a business where we regularly have clients visiting.
I am thinking about possibly getting a nice new TV/DVD/VCR combo for our waiting area, and possibly a high-end laptop backpack to carry my laptop. I will also buy some very nice remote-control pedastal fans, since we lack A/C and the climate here gets warm in the summer. I am toying with getting a PDA, though I have never really used one and don't know that it would be useful.
Does anyone have any other ideas, within the rules I have provided? I am amenable to buying expensive stuff. Help me spend this money, and put your tax dollars to work!!!
) be used simultaneously.
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