Great ways to Save your Company Money - By: Liz Andrews

I am guessing by now you have probably heard the economy is not doing so hot. Except for the large bailout companies almost everyone is trying to keep their companies afloat. I admit I run a small printing business and I am doing everything to stay alive. This includes eliminating any unnecessary expenses. Recently I was fortunate enough to attend a seminar for small businesses in my situation. The colloquium revolved around simple cost cutting practices that will not have a negative affect on quality, morale, and the daily work routine. I found it very interesting that speaker suggested many green practices. Going green to me meant spending lots of green and that is just not in the budget. As I learned throughout the meeting and with follow up research. Green products and practices save money. In the following paragraphs I will point out just a few cost effective green strategies that I have applied to my own business.

The first and easiest way to save electricity is to shut down the computers at night. I always thought that computers should remain on at all times and screen savers use less energy when the computer is idle. I was terribly wrong. Screen savers use the same amount of electricity as the computer when it is being used. Therefore leaving your computer run throughout the night is an unnecessary practice. Just make sure all your work is saved and the computer and monitor are properly shut down. A desktop computer uses between 75-200 watts of electricity per hour and a monitor uses about 70 watts. It definitely adds up over time. This will also prolong the life of the computer.

My biggest inefficient blunder was leaving the lights on before I left for the night. The office cleaning staff typically comes around 10pm and shuts off all the lights before leaving. This left a good three hour period with the lights running and no one there. This habit was broken immediately. I also replaced the regular light bulbs with energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. These energy saving light bulbs are more expensive but they use about 1/4 of the amount of energy a regular light bulb uses and last 10 times longer. The speaker also added that having someone run out for new light bulbs cost time and money.

If this was not pointed out to me I never would have thought that the bathroom is so costly. The average person makes 6 trips to the bathroom per day. Which means every time someone flushes a toilet or washes their hands they are spending company money. I know that sounds incredibly cheap but there are green water saving products that reduce the amount of water used. Products like low flow faucets or dual flush toilets save a great deal of water. These products once again have a larger price tag than the regular products but they do pay for themselves quickly. A dual flush toilet saves the average person 1000 gallons of water per year. Keep in mind the costs of water and sewage are constantly increasing.

Depending on the employer this last tip may not save the company money but can have a positive impact in the work place. This seems very cliche but carpooling really helps the environment and reduces the transportation costs for the employee. Well how does that affect companies bottom line? People have a tendency to converse while carpooling. For the most part they find common ground through work so they tend to discuss work related issues. This helps build company morale and may lead to, "off the clock," collaboration. People are also less likely to be late to work when carpooling.

About the Author

Toilets can be a huge drain on a company's expenses. Try a water saving toilet like a dual flush toilet.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Liz-Andrews/53103

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