Far too many entrepreneurs waste money at the same time as running around trying to raise it – often from me.  A little frugality goes a long way to helping a firm hit breakeven, and also helps reassure investors that their money will be used responsibly.

Here’s my top miser tips, with approx savings per year.  They add up to around 17 grand per year per founder, and 8 grand per year for the firm – and that’s without making any real changes to business operations.  You can of course unlock even larger savings by improving your commercial practices, but that’s another topic!

What are your tips? Use the contact page to let me know.

Save a third off rail travel with a network rail card – 1000
Get a menial job 1 shift a week with your incumbent competitor – 2500
Rearrange office desks, rent out 1 desk – 5000
Swap sky for Netflix and freeview – 200
Buy household products in bulk on Amazon – 500
Swap the gym and tube travel for a bike – 1000
Shop in the evenings, buy last-day products and freeze them – 250
Switch to SIM-only or renew with a pre-pay contract phone – 200
Take in a lodger – 4000 plus network benefits
Ditch the car – 3000
Cut charity donation in favour of volunteering (you learn WAY more) – 200
Cancel a subscription you no longer use – 100
Turn heating down to 17C – 100
Switch utilities – 250
Buy a refillable water bottle – 200
Pick cheapest sandwich options for lunch – 400
Swap entertainment spend for memberships, eg cineworld card – 100
Request books from libraries instead of buying them – 100
Get snacks, fruit, etc in multipacks and keep them in the office – 200 plus time saved
Switch supermarket or drop branded goods – 1500
Move to a cheaper area – 2000++ (applies to home and/or office)
Use offshore admin assistants – 3000++