It's been a crazy week. Senojal Designs has been fairly busy, which is good, but it also means that Micah and I went to the post office three times this week, and I went again this morning while Dennis kept the little lady. The post office is a 6-mile roundtrip outing from our house. Did you know that if you're self-employed, you can write off little business trips to the post office and bank? Six miles doesn't sound like much, but going 3 to 4 times a week adds up to 18 to 24 miles, which (using the mileage rate for 2010 taxes) adds up to $9 to $12 a week I can write off on next year's taxes. To continue the math, $9 a week for 52 weeks adds up to $468 a year. That's a tax deduction I'll take, thank you very much. If you're self-employed and keeping your own books, you should look into an online service like outright.com. It has lots of good features for keeping up with expenses and income, and it even has a mileage calculator to help you keep up with all of those little trips. It has been a great help to me.

Another site that I've found helpful and interesting is smaller box. Every week, smaller box posts a list of the most valuable small business articles of the week. I've found helpful input and good ideas from all of these links.

And finally, if you're a fellow etsy seller, you really should subscribe to the Storque and keep up with all the latest etsy happenings there. The Storque frequently posts tips and tutorials to help our little businesses succeed. You should check it out.

That's all I've got for now. It's time to hop in the shower while Micah naps. If I'm fast, I'll be able to get completely ready before she stirs. We'll see how it goes.

Until next time, grace and peace.