TO SPEND MONEY OR NOT TO SPEND MONEY.........
Renovation. Remodel. Make it look better. Face Lift! That is what Doris and I are doing for the Inn. Spending money. I wish we would have maybe put the Inn on the market two years ago and sold it to get our retirement money out, but we felt that Doris could handle the Inn for a least a couple of more years. Because of the Wizards of Wall Street, she will probably be an innkeeper at the Oakwood Inn for at least another 5 years; unless someone comes along and offers us an amount that we can not refuse. But that’s another story.
We had a B & B consultant come in the middle of May 2009 to help us assess what we need to do, if anything. He was Peter Scherman of the B & B Team of Virginia, www.bbteam.com. We called him because we have heard him talk at various B & B Conferences and seminars. He’s always made sense to us, and we have had a couple of individual one-on-one talks with him. We sort of knew him and he knew us. We trusted him. And that was important to us. We could afford his fee, and that was important to him! So I called him in mid-April and asked him to help us with a basic overview.
Peter came out in mid-May and stayed almost two days with us. He gave us quite a bit of information and suggestions; some of which we all ready knew. I guess we just needed to be assured that we were on the right track, especially when it comes to spending money in these very hard economical times where money is tight… tighter than a Victorian corset!
Peter said that he thought we were the most Victorian looking Inn on the coastal states area. I took that as a compliment, but he felt that some of the décor needed an upgrade.
Peter Scherman felt that some of the furniture was uncomfortable for reading a book for 2-3 hours. I could agree about the furniture, but who reads a book for 3 hours? Computer games and surfing the net for about six, yeah!
Than came the comments about some of the bathrooms. Plumbing needs a upgrade, maybe fancy showers and tubs. Showers that feel like a soft rain fall, massaging the scalp and relaxing the muscles… the kind that has a shower head the size of a car tire and uses about 50 gallons of water per second. Maybe something guests like, but in Raleigh and the surrounding area, may not go over very well with the Raleigh Water Guard. Raleigh is in water restrictions now and probably for the rest of its life, due to some very severe droughts in the last eight years. Go to Raleigh.com and just look up water conservation. Hotels, motels, and Bed & Breakfasts have to install water saving shower heads… those that allow 1 gallon per 24 hours or less. Actually, if you can just shower with no water and just use a dry towel and “sand paper” the dirt off your body, that would be acceptable. In reality, you can shower using water, just use it with conservation in mind.
In the next article, I will explain how we proceeded.
But by the way, check out our website, oakwoodinnbb.com for a summer special due to the remodeling…. Stay two consecutive nights at regular price and get the third night free! A great deal in today’s economy for saving money!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
NC Legislature and Taxes on Services
State Lawmakers feel the need to tax services because they can not figure out where to make budget cuts. They have no idea where the inefficiently ran programs are, nor have any idea how to stop wasteful spending. They could start by firing themselves.
So in their great wisdom, they take the easy way out by generating revenue with a law that would create a new tax on certain services. Now mind you, they said that they would not raise taxes. In fact, they plan on lowering the personal income tax 0.25%! I believe the real thrust behind lowering the income tax, is because issuing a new tax in new chartered waters may give them more money than what they could use. A State government raising more money than what it needs? Ridiculous! Give the meddling morons 24 hours with the lobbyists and special interest groups, and they will have the excess spent faster than my wife and five daughters in a one hour shopping spree at Macy’s! Actually, my wife and daughters would do better because they constantly seek out sales. The only thing politicians sell are their souls to the devil.
Since these highly educated individuals can not figure out Zero-Base Budgeting, they should consider apply this new tax on ALL services. Why not just tax all services at a much lower and reasonable rate like 1%, and then the burden is applied to everyone on all services. If you get $100 in car repairs, it will be an extra $1 for the service tax. If you pay a white-collar professional a $1,000, it comes out to $10. Blue collar services are taxed just as white collar so everyone pays. If government would tax the red collar services like prostitution, heck… we could probably knock off the Federal deficient in a few months…. and that would be just from many of the Federal politicians having to pay this tax for this service.
Taxing all services at a lower rate seems to be more equitable than just applying a 4% sales tax on certain select services of the Lawmakers’ choice. Gosh… with their choice… prostitutes… oops… I mean escort services... not to be confused with the Secret Service; would never be taxed. Although, both of these services are usually provided for in secret… more on a Federal level. Man, I am getting off the real subject here.
Taxing all services in the Grand Olde State of North Carolina, would be more equitable and fair to all tax payers. Of course, those white-collar professionals will complain that the extra costs will drive clients away, and their businesses will suffer and they could be out of work. But don’t worry! They can always get a job as a Legislator, because the current ones will be out come election time!
Related Links......
News & Observer News article, June 23, 2009: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1579697.html
Tax Spa Services: http://www.skininc.com/spabusiness/regulations/49206152.html
So in their great wisdom, they take the easy way out by generating revenue with a law that would create a new tax on certain services. Now mind you, they said that they would not raise taxes. In fact, they plan on lowering the personal income tax 0.25%! I believe the real thrust behind lowering the income tax, is because issuing a new tax in new chartered waters may give them more money than what they could use. A State government raising more money than what it needs? Ridiculous! Give the meddling morons 24 hours with the lobbyists and special interest groups, and they will have the excess spent faster than my wife and five daughters in a one hour shopping spree at Macy’s! Actually, my wife and daughters would do better because they constantly seek out sales. The only thing politicians sell are their souls to the devil.
Since these highly educated individuals can not figure out Zero-Base Budgeting, they should consider apply this new tax on ALL services. Why not just tax all services at a much lower and reasonable rate like 1%, and then the burden is applied to everyone on all services. If you get $100 in car repairs, it will be an extra $1 for the service tax. If you pay a white-collar professional a $1,000, it comes out to $10. Blue collar services are taxed just as white collar so everyone pays. If government would tax the red collar services like prostitution, heck… we could probably knock off the Federal deficient in a few months…. and that would be just from many of the Federal politicians having to pay this tax for this service.
Taxing all services at a lower rate seems to be more equitable than just applying a 4% sales tax on certain select services of the Lawmakers’ choice. Gosh… with their choice… prostitutes… oops… I mean escort services... not to be confused with the Secret Service; would never be taxed. Although, both of these services are usually provided for in secret… more on a Federal level. Man, I am getting off the real subject here.
Taxing all services in the Grand Olde State of North Carolina, would be more equitable and fair to all tax payers. Of course, those white-collar professionals will complain that the extra costs will drive clients away, and their businesses will suffer and they could be out of work. But don’t worry! They can always get a job as a Legislator, because the current ones will be out come election time!
Related Links......
News & Observer News article, June 23, 2009: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1579697.html
Tax Spa Services: http://www.skininc.com/spabusiness/regulations/49206152.html
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