In these confusing economic times, small business owners are struggling to make strategic decisions. However, there is one strategy in business that never fails: cutting the costs of running your small business in a smart way.

1. Cut down your energy use

Businesses tend to waste huge amounts of electricity. The easiest way of cutting costs on energy is putting in motion-activated lights and a smart thermostat, but if you can’t afford that, do it manually.

• Turn the lights off when no one is there.

• Set the air conditioning at 78 degrees Fahrenheit

• Set the heating at 68 degrees Fahrenheit

• Install thermal window treatments and open and close them strategically

• Turn electronics off and unplug them when not in use

2. Stop using paper and printer ink

While most people have given up on the idea of the “paper-free office”, most uses of paper in the modern era are pointless. There is no reason to make paper backups of anything these days; back it up in the cloud or on an external drive. This will save a lot of storage space as well. Send emails instead of paper letters, which will save on postage. Anything you are currently printing on paper can be replaced with something electronic. Sharply cutting expenses wasted on paper and ink can substantially reduce your business costs.

3. Stop traveling

Traveling to attend meetings is very expensive. While some meetings may have to be held in person, most can be replaced with virtual meetings. This will save both money and time wasted during needless travel.

4. Do you really need a large office?

Renting a large office space is one of a business’s major expenses. While some businesses do need office space, many do not. Perhaps you could rent a much smaller space to be the business’s headquarters, and everyone could work from home some or most of the time.

5. Optimize time management

If you observe a typical office worker, they spend at least 50% of their work day doing totally unnecessary tasks. Go through each person’s daily tasks and simply eliminate the ones that are unnecessary, redundant, or non-productive.

While each of these strategies by itself won’t save your business a fortune, if you implement them all, your business expenses will substantially decrease. These smart strategies all have the same theme: eliminate waste.