How to save important cash running a home office
Anyone who’s worked in a major office knows waste is pretty much religion.
Left your 47th pen of the week on the bus this morning? Ah, grab another box from the stock room. Lost your notepad somewhere between the conference room and cafeteria? Go on, swipe a few more. Heading to the washroom? Sure, print out that 15,000-word Malcolm Gladwell feature from the New Yorker website.
You’re not footing the bill anyway, right?
Well, technically, no. In most cases, you are not. But for people that run a home office – or the increasing number of small businesses forced to move home because of the downturn – there are no fat cats upstairs to cover the throwaway costs of day-to-day work.
So it stands to reason a blog post like this might be helpful to many. The people at Poorer Than You have come up with eight helpful ways to save big if you operate a home office.
Some of the entries are a bit petty (invest in paper clips so you don’t waste $$$ on staples) and obvious (reuse paper), but there are some legitimate gems in amongst them.
Here’s the list, with my favourite two highlighted:
1. Refill printer cartridges: Simple advice, but really – who actually does this? According to Poorer Than You, a new cartridge often sells for “several times” the price of a refill. And with ubiquitous chains like Staples offering refill services at every corner, you might be crazy not to take advantage.
2. Print in black and white
3. Consider best before dates (on printer cartridges)
4. Reuse paper
5. Make smaller copies
6. Recycle notepads and scrap paper
7. Use paper clips
8. Pens and notepads: Expanding on entry no. 6, this one promotes borderline larceny, which is always fun. Poorer Than You suggests you swipe as many Post-it Notes and writing utensils as possible from hotels to pad your collection at home. And why not? With this method, you’re not footing the bill anyway.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Russ Scarvino | Dec 5, 2021 4:30:12 PM
It's not "borderline larceny" it's outright theft !! If hotels have to spend more money than budgeted on these "customer service" items they will either stop supplying them or pass on the added cost to all customers. Either way honest people lose.
Posted by: John | Dec 5, 2021 5:54:15 PM
Whomever wrote this article has obviously never operated a home office. Printing is a minimal cost in a home office. The biggests costs are telephone, mobile, vehicle & fuel(if you're paying your own), website, eating out (again, often home based business must entertain), advertising, etcc....
To economize a home based business, you have to be frugal: downsize the vehicle, minimize entertainment expense, shop telephone & mobile packages, weather the storm, put off buying that new laptop, turtle & pick the spots where to spend dollars wisely.
Just because its a business expense and can be "written off" doesn't mean its a free cost, its still money coming out of the business cash flow and out of what you can pay yourself.
Posted by: Steve | Dec 5, 2021 8:56:37 PM
I am sorry, but IMHO this is the lamest list of frugality targets I could possibly imagine. Instead of nickel and diming on the printer ouput why not consider creating more digital copies using PDF or other format instead of printing at all?
How about online meetings using a webcam instead of drviing all over pushing your transportation expenses higher than they really need to be.
What about the cost of computer software? We know its expensive to be current (and legal). Google Apps and the soon to be available Microsoft Web Apps are free and just as good for everyday use as the costly products many are using now.
My two cents worth anyway...
Posted by: Anne | Dec 7, 2021 10:36:30 AM
Well..... 1. Refill printer cartridges.
Guess what, most printers don't recognize refilled cartridges and act like the cartridge still is empty. So thanks for the good for nothing advice.