As we’re all a little concerned about making the money we have go a little bit further in today’s economy, I wanted to start the 10 Quick Tips series with a few posts on cost reduction. Today’s will focus on how to cut costs in the office.

  1. Watch what you’re printing. If you’re printing a long document, print only the pages you need. When possible, print on both sides of the paper. If you’re printing minutes for meetings, don’t print more copies than is absolutely necessary. How does this help? You won’t have to buy paper as frequently. (Bonus points: this also makes your office greener!)
  2. Buy in bulk. When buying office supplies, see if you can get a bulk discount. Or, shop at stores like Costco that specialize in selling items in bulk for a more inexpensive price.
  3. Set your thermostat on a timer. Turn the heat down and the air conditioner up over night. (Bonus points: this also makes your office greener!)
  4. Pay off company credit cards immediately. By paying off company credit cards immediately, you save on interest – the interest on a credit card quickly adds up to quite a lot of money that could have easily been saved. In that respect, don’t buy something for the office unless you know that you have the money for it.
  5. Turn off all electronics and lights over night. You wouldn’t necessarily think it, but turning off electronics, such as computers, overnight can help cut back on your electricity bill. (Bonus points: this also makes your office greener!)
  6. Buy slightly used furniture and electronics. This can actually save you a lot of money. Look into refurbished computers, used printers and used fax machines. Keep in mind that you probably won’t have a warranty with the products, though. For furniture, shop used furniture stores. Alternatively, if you definitely want to buy from a store that only sells new items, inquire about purchasing the floor models – usually these will have a slight discount on them.
  7. Auction off old, unused items such as computers, printers, etc. You never know who may need what you have sitting in storage, and it would help you to bring in a little bit more cash as well as free up space in your office that can be used more effectively.
  8. Negotiate pricing. This can usually work for both products and services that you may be in need of.
  9. If you send out monthly newsletters, send them out through the e-mail, instead of printed copies through the postal system. Not only will this save you money on printing costs, but it will also save you cash that you would have used to actually pay to have the newsletters mailed. If this isn’t an option, try reducing the colours you use to print the newsletter (try black and one spot colour), or reduce the quality of paper that you print the newsletters on.
  10. Make long distance phone calls over the Internet. Doing this is usually less expensive than doing it over your regular phone line.

Do you have any quick tips on reducing costs and saving money in the office? Share them with us!