Cutting Costs While Running a Home-Based Business

Running a business from home can be a great solution to the time and money issues that families with preschool or school-aged children face. Being available to your children provides comfort and well-being for them along with a strong bond between the parent and child. During time at home children can be taught educational concepts that will prepare them for life long learning and give them a head start. Another major bonus is that daycare costs are eliminated, as are commuting costs and expenses associated with going to work.

The savings and benefits don't have to end there. Finding more ways to cut costs can help boost your business and keep you working for yourself, even when the economy looks grim.

Follow these tips to save even more money while managing a successful home-based business:

1.Conserve energy- unplug appliances while not in use or use a power strip with a reset button. Keep the power strip turned off until needed. Switch to energy saving bulbs and turn off lights in unoccupied spaces if you'll be gone for longer than 1 minute.

2.Buy in bulk - if you have the storage for extra food or office supplies, then great! The unit cost of the bulk products will be much lower. So take advantage of warehouses and superstores. Just be sure you'll actually use whatever you buy.

3.Plan meals- use the circulars that stores send out to comparison shop and remember to clip coupons. Meals that can be prepared in your kitchen are normally a fraction of the cost of eating out.

4. Borrow - when your business requires research or self help books turn to the public library for resources that can be checked out for free. If you must buy, then remember Amazon, and other online bookstores offer used products at discounted prices.

5. Get a Membership -join a club for the things you purchase frequently and watch the rewards add up. Office Depot has one such program called WorkLife. Who doesn't need office supplies from time to time?

6. Just say no - delay any large purchases that aren't completely necessary and try to stretch the time before giving in to spend huge sums of money. When you are finally ready to buy, always ask yourself if it's a need or a want. Let the needs prevail.

May your home and family prosper and your business expand!

Polly