Saving Money on Expenses

There’s an interesting article on yesterday’s INSIDECRM web site called 78 Ways for Your Small Business to Save Money in this Economy.  People love lists, and this one is pretty good.  While we don’t necessarily agree with all 78, some of them are very creative and could save you some money.  Some highlights:

Technology
1.  Go green, an overworked term if there ever was one, but as we’ve discussed here before, there are definitely a lot of ways for you to save energy which means saving money.

There are a number of computer-related ways listed for you to save money but MYOB advises caution on number 9.  Buy recycled printer cartridges.  We’ve personally never had any luck with recycled cartridges.  They often don’t work and could void the warranty on your printer.  Use caution on this one.

Number 12, points out that you can save 50% by turning off your computer at night.  Of course number 7 suggests that you set up your computer to answer faxes, so I guess you have to choose one or the other.  One thing that we weren’t aware of, according to number 15, laptop computers consume 90% less energy than desktops.  Not bad.

We’ve posted on number 25 in the past.  Hire college students or interns for credit.  You can land some pretty good people for not much money this way.  For example, I know of a young man, thirty years old with a Master’s Degree in counselling who’s working in retail during the day to pay the bills while he teaches at a university in the evenings.  Not only does he work cheap, but his background in psychology is very helpful in a retail environment.

Another tip that we take exception to is number 28, "Don’t pay retail."  If you want your neighbors to buy from you, you’d better buy from them.  Nothing says you can’t cut them a deal to get a deal in return or that you might even be able to barter for some of the things you need.  But buying on Craigslist as the writer suggests could end up costing you in the long run.  On the other hand, number 32, "buy used equipment" isn’t a bad idea, especially in a down economy.  You can always come back later and buy new.

This won’t save you a ton of money, but it’s still a good idea.  Make your bank deposit early in the day (Number 55).  Your money doesn’t earn interest sitting in your safe.  By the same token you may be able to get a cash discount from some of your suppliers (Number 64).  It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Check out the article to see the complete list.

If you have any suggestions on how to save money, why not share them by commenting below? 

Oh, and don’t forget to turn off the computer and the lights when you’re done.