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With the reports of doom and gloom on the tv news everyday, seems everyone (both companies and residences in general) are tightening their belts and cutting costs. If possible, most smart ones are trying to become more efficient. To me, outside of advertising, it seems like most of our costs are pretty much fixed in one way or another. Just curious if anyone has come across some good money saving tips in their attempts to “trim the fat”? (outside of eliminating advertising that isn’t working for you) Have you found a new way to cut employee time on jobs? New way of washing pads that reduces number of loads? Etc. I’m still examining my books and looking where I need to try and become more efficient (everywhere!) and figured I’d see what others have found.
On a side note, the economy may be in a downturn, but on the positive side, gotta love the price of gas right now!
This doesn’t happen very often but I recently had to replace the boot on my Maytag Neptune washer. I found the repair manual on line at http://www.applianceaid.com. The repair turned out to be fairly simple and I saved a few bucks on the installation. Not a big savings but every little bit helps.
Good topic!
Once the weather gets below freezing, I put together my cold weather cleaning package. I try to put as much of the product as possible in smaller flip tops so I can put them in a cooler. When I make my appointments I ask about specific cleaning concerns (pet stains, upholstery cleaning) related to the upholstery unit. If I am confident that I won’t need the upholstery mate I leave it home and bring my Spot Plus portable (I love that little machine). I only mix as many 2.5 gallon jugs of 101 as I think I will need for that day. All this in an effort to bring the product/equipment that will freeze into the job so I don’t have to run my van to keep them from freezing. Saves on gas and also makes a good impression on those customers that are into the “green” movement. I have a lot of people looking for green services. 4,500 people paid to attend a “green fair” last year in Duluth. 70 companies presented green products or services. All of which had been screened to meet the green standards set by the group that organized the fair.
I used to use an electric heater to keep my equipment/etc. warm at night. The van is parked in my unheated garage (wifes car sits outside, but that’s another story). We had a power outage in the middle of the night and I didn’t wake up until it was 3 hours later. Froze up my sprayer and UP units and some product. I have been bringing it into my house since. It’s a pain dragging it in and out of the house but it sure beats replacing product or equipment. And I’m already paying for the heat in the house. I’m not sure how much electricity that little heater draws, but with the thermostat set hot enough to keep the temp above freezing, it would run non stop from night until the next morning. I still put it in the van in the morning for a couple of hours before I start the day, so the equipment I leave in the van (like the buffers) warms up before I use them. It’s a gradual heat so it doesn’t cause condensation on the equipment.
I used to go through a pump on my washer about once a year. Cost me about $200. It’s not much but I learned how to replace mine for $80.
Here are some things to think about. One employee per van instead of two unless they are big jobs. I haven’t ran any numbers but I think that one employee per van in general is better for the winter months. I recently put drywall up and insulation in my garage. My wife wont put her car outside so I bring in some of the equipment and have a giant cooler for most of the product and is okay down to about 15 degrees. Do some what finish the garage it cost me about $400 in materials and so far I have had to heat it at all with a portable heater. I think the heat from the house keeps it warm enough. I have a little cheap thermometer it the to make sure it doesn’t get to cold. I have to keep it warm in there because I have my washer in my garage as well. Some up front money, but our heating bill was $36 last month that has much as our town home was. We just moved into this house so the I believe and think that I will save over $400 just in heat a year
A new thing that I have start was network advertising with a dog grooming company and a maid service. We made up a flier with all three of us on there and split the cost three ways and we had them out to customers and say these are some companies that we work with and recommend in the area. I don’t have any numbers yet. We just started last week. It cost me less that $50. I am very anxious to see if this will work or not. If it does I just need one job. I really think it will work out better than that. And it is also a now pressure sale. Next time will be even cheaper because there wont be as much design as the first.
Some good ideas…Ron…how can you freeze in AZ???? Rare and with some difficulty, I guess.
For 5 1/2 years I had been bringing anything that could freeze inside when it got into the low teens and when a space heater could not keep the van inside temp above 32… It can be a real pain bringing stuff inside every night.
2 weeks ago we completed the construction of a simple structure inside the garage and covered it with plastic and have a flap for a door. The garage is unheated, but able to accept a 6x8x6,5 ft tall structure and is totally enclosed to trap heat.
To date, it got down to 19 the other day and inside tent temp with no heat on at all was 42. the back of my fireplace is exposed in the garage and the heat from that is enough to keep the garage moderately warm….at least not freezing.
I have the heater available, if required, but I know it is saving money by not being used at 1700 w for all night long x 2 vans.
I gotta take a picture of this thing…looks dumb, until one starts paying the PPL bill. Also, it is very easy to unload into from the vans which are right in front of the door, much easier than managing to go in and out the front door, again saving money. (Cost of structure was zip. We used all scrap, or excess materials.
One thing we did several years ago was to consolidate all water based solutions into one small plastic bin. In single digit times it goes in and out fast.
Hope this may spark a thought in someone…Dave
P.S.- A slightly perverted viewpoint….I really wish the price of gas was higher…it kills our competition, just a minor irritation to us.
We went to all cell phones, and dropped the land line. I can get back to customers sooner,and we also dropped the toll-free #.We found it wasn’t being used that much and the ones that were using it were local anyway! Just hope they don’t give your old toll-free # to an “Adult” site when your done with it, like they did mine!!! We continue to get “informing” calls on that one!? And that”s been over 4 years ago!!
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