20 money saving tips

money saving tips Welcome to money savers anonymous. Hi! I am Heather Smith and I love to save money. I like to find a bargain, but what excites me even more than money saving is when I get something for free.

What’s more, being thrifty is in many cases environmentally friendly. I have applied this philosophy to my business and am happy to share these money saving tips with you.

1. Go halves on the cost of business cards and double your exposure with a complimentary business - your details on one side and theirs on the other. Or get a large business who is trying to break into the small business market to sponsor your business cards.

2. Stop subscribing to magazines and sign up for their newsletters instead.

3. Rather than send out printed newsletters, send out an email newsletter.

4. Get all of your old, good quality magazines and attach a business flyer to the inside cover. Contact a complimentary business or the local doctors’ office and ask if you can leave them in their waiting area.

5. Scan newsletters for money saving offers. I recently got a 3 license Microsoft Office package as a thank-you for attending a 90 minute Microsoft customer survey meeting.

6. Use forums and websites to research your market. For example, if you designed ladies clothing, you could post pictures of swabs of material you are thinking of using on women friendly forums, like Notebook. Invite feedback and build a community at the same time.

7. Utilise online communities like LinkedIn, Facebook and myspace to connect with people and further build your community.

8. There are many free training resources including online tutorials, webinars and podcasts available on the internet.

9. The library has a wealth of free information available. Take the time to learn how to put books on hold or request a special order (i.e. a transfer from an out of state library).

10. State Government organisations offer very reasonably priced seminars for business.

11. The Australian Taxation Office offers free seminars for business.

12. SMILE! That was unexpected wasn’t it? Simply being nice to people can assist in keeping the costs down.

13. Investigate whether your trade associations offer specialised services that suits your needs. For example, many offer discounted insurance and promotion within their member’s directory.

14. If you run a home office, find out how much of your buildings and contents insurance coverage will cover your home office.

15. Save money on passport photos here.

16. Plan your week so that errands and client meetings can be undertaken in one visit. This will save you time and petrol.

17. Investigate a telephone service such as Skype or Engin, and restrict overseas calls on your landline.

18. Turn off power switches for equipment that you are not using.

19. Use recycled ink cartridge.

20. Sign up with Freecycle. Freecycle promotes waste reduction, by matchings people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. This means you can furnish your home office for free or save on dumping costs.

Finally some things that you should definitely not skimp on: a good quality office chair, the coffee or your bookkeeper!

We would love to hear your money saving tips.

Heather Smith, an MYOB Certified Consultant and Specialist Trainer, provides business management software solutions which generate accurate and timely financial information that the business owner can use and understand.

16 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 | Next» View all»

Freecycle is an amazing concept. I did not know about it. I put stuff on Craigslist, and typically they go out in a moment. However, Freecycle seems to be more organized. Not sure what their reach is though. Any idea? Sanjay Kumar from Seattle, WA
Sanjay, Thank-you for reading my article & for your comment.
I am not sure what you mean by their reach? I think they are worldwide, and have co-ordinators in different areas. I have signed up with my local one, which is south Brisbane area and I have been able to pass on some interesting items - old match boxes, window frames, and an old bath tub. Personally I have never 'collected' from Freecycle only 'given' to it. Another tip – I use my yahoo email address to sign up for freecycle – as you may be inundated with mail otherwise! Heather Smith from SUNNY BRISBANE! | Read my articles
Hi Heather. I did enjoy your article. I'm wondering about No. 12 though. How does smiling save you money? I'm guessing you look considerably more attractive than me. Ben from sydney
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your comments.
I think I could write a whole book on the benefits of smiling though I am sure someone has already done it <and made sqillions>. Smiling is the first step in communication, your first opportunity to show genuine interest in the person whom is supplying the goods. I am truly interested in the small business owner, are they busy? How long have they been doing this for? Is this a good location? Are they using MYOB? Voila a smile has led to a conversation. From our conversations may come free advice, free extras, hey we have this left over from a promotion would you like one, invites to special events they may be sponsoring or holding. I have had people locate discount coupons from behind the counter and use them for my purchase.
To contrast this, I once taught a lady, a sole trader who owned her own ‘creative industries’ business in a training course. She was simply not a joy to be around, she complained about everything, she was loud and disruptive and very demanding of my time, ignoring the needs of the other students in the class. At the end of the session, she complained bitterly about her accountant and told me that he charged her $10 000 annually. It has been my experience, without doing a full blown survey on average a sole trader may be charged around $2000 per year by there accountant, give or take. Typically it is a lot less. Now Ben, why do you think she was getting charged so much?
Ben please come back & tell us if you discover smiling has any benefits for you. Heather Smith from SUNNY BRISBANE! | Read my articles
Thanks for clarifying, Heather. I am very much a believer in smiling whenever possible. Also I've noticed that any animal with teeth of its own appreciates baring the teeth as a gesture of friendliness. For the record, my accountant charges me less than $1000. Ben from sydney
Thanks for the tips - you are right about the various 'free' resources we can get online these days - from magazines to motivational podcasts. I was not aware of the passport photo site - sounds like it might come in handy. Sandy Naidu from Sydney

16 comments | Add your own 1 2 3 | Next» View all»

Add Your comments

Preview comment

Name

Website *

Town / city and country

Email (never sold, displayed or given away)

* This will link your name to your site. So please avoid self promotion elsewhere! We delete spam, disrespectful or off-topic comments.