Frugal Office around the Blogosphere

"The Frugal Office" was featured over the weekend on fellow frugal blog, "Frugal in Virgina." Of course, we talked about our favorite subject, using the principles of frugal living in your home office. Take a look at our guest post.

Good Buys at Staples - 10/12 - 10/18

After a couple of lack-luster weeks, Staples is offering several good deals this coming week (October 12 - 18, 2008). Among them are a couple of Free after rebates items. You can view the entire upcoming ad here, but these are a few of the highlights:

• Brother 575 Plain Paper Fax Machine -- $9.99 after rebate
• HP All-in-One J4580 Printer -- $49.98 after rebate
• Zentith Phillips universal remote -- Free after rebate
• Peachtree Sage Pro Accounting 2009 software -- free after rebate
• Briteliner Highlighters 5 pack -- $99

In addition, this is the last week to earn 50% Staples Rewards on reams of copier and printer paper as well as in-store copy orders. Staples is also offering a $30 tech trade-in bonus (to your Staples rewards account) when you bring in your old tech item and purchase a new one. This offer is good through November 15 (2008).

Health Insurance for the Self-Employed

One of the most difficult--and expensive--aspects of starting a small home business is finding affordable and adequate health insurance. Since a national health plan is at best years away and since you risk your assets and health if you go without, it's important not to put off getting health insurance. Here are a few places to look:

• Cobra - If you are quitting a corporate job to go into business for yourself, make sure that you take advantage of the government plan--Cobra--that lets you keep your company health insurance if you pay the premium yourself. In most cases, this will be lower than the coverage you can get on your own. Cobra benefits last for 18 months after you leave your job.
• Local Small Business Associations - Small business associations in major cities often offer health insurance plans that allow multiple companies to take advantage of their group buying power under one group health plan. In Cleveland (where I live), COSE offers health plans for small businesses starting with one-person enterprises. In addition, the membership fee gives you access to a number of marketing and networking resources. Check to see if your city has a similar organization.
• AARP - If you're at least 50 years old or going to be turning 50 soon, don't throw the mountain of literature that AARP sends out away. It can save you money. For $12.50 annual dues to join AARP, you are eligible for their health program via United Health Care. I joined last year and saved more than $200/month on my health insurance bill.
• Assurant Health - This company (in business since 1892) offers a number of health insurance products aimed at the self-employed, at attractive prices. It's my experience that they favor young applicants with no medical history. They also offer temporary health insurance for up to six months if you need a policy to cover you during a waiting period.
• Trade associations - Many trade associations offer group health insurance to their members. Ask people in your industry or visit forums for your type of business. Often these policies are limited to certain states.

Do you know of a good and affordable place to get health insurance for the self-employed? Share your story by leaving a comment.

Free Desk Lamp

Take advantage of this latest business freebie and request a free USB desk lamp. Simply complete this online form. They say your lamb will arrive in 4-6 weeks. There's a limit of one per household.

Read the privacy policy, but it doesn't look like they'll bombard you with sales offers.

Free "Successful Living" Subscription

"Successful Living," a new, bi-monthly magazine that deals with tips and stories about living frugally, about other things, is offering a free year's subscription. I just received my first issue and thoroughly enjoyed it. To sign up, visit this Web page.

^{(photo courtesy of Successful Living)}

Free AARP Membership from Walgreen's

As I mentioned in my post about health insurance, I'm a big fan of AARP. This is, in no small part, because they've saved me about 50% on my health and life insurance since I joined when I turned 50 last year (perhaps the only good thing about turning 50). Now, you can explore the many benefits of this organization for Americans 50 years and older for free with an October offer from Walgreen's Drug Store.

Walgreen's is giving you a coupon printable at the cash register for a one year membership or extension (a $12.50 value) when you buy $10 worth of Walgreen's brand products . To sweeten the deal, you can also submit your cash register receipt for a $5 refund if you buy three participating products (such as their aspirin, ibuprofen, Wal-itin allergy medicine, etc.) as part of Walgreen's Easy Saver Rebate Program. If you submit your request online, they'll credit you with $5.50. It's a great deal.

Go Green with your Business and Save

Green living is the new buzz-word and most of us are eager to protect the environment as best we can...as long as it doesn't cost us a fortune. YUDU Media has just released a new e-book, "You Can't Afford Not to Be Green," which lists 51 ways that your business can save money AND save the planet at the same time. The majority of these apply to home-based businesses. A few of the book's suggestions include:

• Putting PCs and monitors automatically on sleep, by using the PC's power-management settings can bring an annual energy savings of around $100-$200 per unit.
  
  
• Cutting your electricity bill by up to 15% by switching off unneeded lights, with automatic timers, detectors and switches
  
  
• Using solar-charging cell-hones, satnav units, PDAs and other hand-held devices.
  
  
• Harnessing the many tax breaks available to businesses that use greener and more energy-efficient products. (more on this in a future blog post)
  
  
• Avoiding the print, paper and postage costs of traditional publishing by switching to the new generation of digital brochures, catalogues and leaflets.

You can read more about "You Can't Afford not to Be Green" at the Yudu Media Web site.

Save Money on Entertaining with Restaurants.com

If you're not familiar with Restaurants.com, you should check out their Web site or click on the icon above and on my left side bar. This company offers gift certificates to thousands of popular restaurants in dozens of cities for just $10 for a $25 certificate. Each restaurant has its own requirements. Some require a minimum purchase, some restrict the days of the week you can use the certificate, and most certificates require that at least two persons be in your party. Still, this is a good way to save on business entertaining.

If you're not comfortable using a gift certificate when dining with clients, save them for taking out independent contractors or employees, or use them as incentives for your staff. You can also discretly give the certificate to your server away from the table and your client will be none the wiser.

New October Coupons from Coupons.com

It's the first of the month and that means new offerings from Coupons.com. You can visit their site by clicking on the widget on the left side bar. Included this month is a $2/2 coupon for Oust air sanitizers (to keep your office smelling nice), $1 off Alouette cheese (for that holiday office party), $1.50 off TAVA (my new favorite zero calorie beverage). There are several dozen coupons so make sure to take a look.

10 Tips for Surviving a Cash Flow Crunch

Cash flow challenges are practically inevitable if you own a small business. If you're a freelancer like me, they become almost a way of life. Rusty Luhring, owner of Survivalware.com, has been advising small businesses for more than 30 years. He shares his tips on surviving a cash flow crunch: (While all of these might not apply to every business, there are things most of us can start doing better in the list. For me, it's invoicing promptly.)

1. Triage payments
Make a list of all payments due for the next three months. Give payroll priority and see what else you can negotiate to pay later. You may be able to slide with utilities; subcontractors can often be persuaded to wait a bit.

2. Accelerate collections
Call customers to check on payments that are overdue, or due soon. If you have a good relationship, you may be able to ask for early payment as a favor. For older accounts receivable, offer to forgive 15% of their overdue balance if they pay within the week. This may encourage them to respond and it's less costly than hiring a collection agency to go after receivables you may never see.

3. Invoice early
If you consistently send out invoices a week late, you are delaying receipts by a week. If you average $7,000 a week in receipts, the net effect is that you have $7,000 less to work with. If you take 10 days to send out the invoices, it's the same as if you need another $10,000 in working capital to run your business.

4. Offer discounts
This invoicing carrot can speed collections, but make sure that you understand how much it is costing you. Some large companies have policies in place that require speeding payments to earn discounts, e.g., 2% for paying within 10 days. But beware: Suddenly offering a 5% discount for payment in 10 days could give out the wrong signal.

5. Invoice more frequently
If you are billing customers for time, consider billing twice a month instead of once. Billing promptly on the 1st and 15th of the month speeds up immediate cash flow.

6. Ask for some payment upfront
Instead of just billing for time as it is incurred, ask for a third upfront, a third while the job is in-progress, and a third upon completion.

7. Fine-tune the timing of your payables
Take advantage of the maximum allowable time (60 to 90 days) to pay suppliers. Picture it as an interest-free line of credit that gives you more time to collect accounts receivable without spending money on short-term credit lines. If your payroll withholding taxes total less than $50,000 per year, remit the withholding on the 15th of the following month, instead of three days after payday.

8. Ask the right people for a loan or investment
Remember what they say about banks: They will lend you money only if you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't need it. Outside investors will sense your plight and demand onerous terms. This is a time to turn to friends and family and/or to get creative. Key customers might be able to help you out by advancing money to undertake a new product or pre-paying for products in anticipation of future demand.

9. Manage your credit cards
Many credit cards offer a cash advance credit limit that is separate (and lower) than the overall credit limit. Take the time to track the balances and credit limits for cash advances vs. overall purchases separately. Create a simple spreadsheet, and update it as the bills come in. When things get tight, make sure you charge whatever expenses you can to those cards that still have available merchandise credit, but no available cash advance credit. During a cash flow crisis, you want to maximize your available cash advances as they are almost the same as cash.

10. Consider layoffs
While large companies can take advantage of "redundancies" and "synergies" in downsizing their staff, it's more difficult for small business owners. Each employee has his/her own specialized revenue-generating abilities. Instead of letting go entirely, discuss rehiring them as freelancers. It reduces the costs of health insurance, payroll and stock options for you, and increases their freedom and provides time for them to seek out additional work from other companies to boost their income.

This Week at Staples 9/28 - 10/4

Staples offers a two-day sneak peek at their weekly specials every Friday. Highlights of this coming week's ad include:

• 50% Staples Rewards points on all case and ream paper purchases
• Staples gel pens for 1.99/12 pack

Not a whole lot happening at Staples this week.

Free Night of Theater

Even the most dedicated home business owner needs a break sometime and what better way to enjoy an evening out than one the national Free Night of Theater. Save this date. This national arts initiative offers first-time theater-goers a pair of free tickets on October 16 to one of a number of theaters in more than 100 cities and featuring more than 600 theater companies. Visit the Free Night of Theater Web site to see if your city is participating and what day tickets will be available to order (it varies by city).

Tickets are on a "first-come, first-serve" basis and you request them via your local Web site (links from the national page). The idea of the program is to give audiences a chance to sample a theater they have never attended (so don't "cheat).