Sewing Business Blog

Archives for May 2010

How To Save Money On Office Supplies

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Even though most of us have a sewing / craft / alteration business of some kind, we still use computers, printers and a variety of office supplies.  Think about the stapler, paper clips, scotch tape, envelopes in addition to the paper for the printer and ink cartridges or toner cartridges for the printers.  How can you save money on these basic supplies in order to help increase your overall profit?

For years we’ve been a member of Office Depot’s “Rewards Program”.  You can sign up for this program at any Office Depot store or go online to sign up.  Every time you make a purchase there and have them scan your card you will get a percentage back of the sale.  The rewards program sends out the “reward” money each quarter.  Here’s the one I just received this past week for the first quarter of this year:

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I’d been needing a few things, but knew I’d get my rewards money any day, so waited.  Then on Friday I not only got my rewards money, I also got a coupon flyer in the mail with a $10 off a $50 purchase or $15 off a $75 purchase.  I grabbed both and headed to Office Depot yesterday and got the basics I’d been waiting on.

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The total for the 6 pack mailing tape, 10 pack scotch tape (office depot brand), box of 100 6×9″ mailing envelopes and 1 ream of white cardstock came to $59.08, including tax.  After handing them my $10 off a $50 purchase, then the $39.14 rewards card, my total bill was $9.19.  I figure ANY savings, whether on fabric and notions or on office supply essentials, it’s still extra money in my pocket and not out the door!

Also, if you aren’t aware of this, Office Depot will PAY you $3.00 for every ink jet cartridge or toner cartridge from your printer that you bring back to them to recycle.  The money goes into your rewards program, so will come back to you on your quarterly rewards card.  I turned in 4 toner cartridges yesterday, got receipts for each of them, and now will have and extra $12 on my next quarters’ rewards card.

If you haven’t signed up for the Office Depot’s rewards program yet, you can see how you can benefit from signing up and be able to save money on your office supplies.

Project Tutorial: Portable Chalk Mat with Storage Pocket

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My five year old son just graduated from kindergarten last week and now I’m faced with the prospect of entertaining him and his four year old quadruplet siblings all summer long so I really think this portable chalk mat is a great idea, of course I’ll probably have to make five of them!  Maggie Reno from Maggie Muggins Designs created the project tutorial for this adorable chalk mat that has storage pockets for a sponge eraser and chalk and can be rolled up and tied to take with you on the go.  If you have travel plans this summer that include little ones, this is a neat idea to help keep them occupied in the car.  I plan to keep one in the car as well as in the house for those rainy days, and I’m going to sneak in lots of handwriting practice over the summer 😉

Project Tutorial: Custom Fitted Elastic Dress in One Hour

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I absolutely love this project tutorial by Nicole Vasbinder posted at the Craftzine Blog!  Check out her step-by-step photographic instructions for creating this beautiful, custom-fitted dress in just one hour using elastic thread.  Nicole shares some terrific tips that show how quick and easy it can be to sew with elastic thread.  It’s already in the 90’s here this week so I think this project is just in time and I’m sure my daughters would each love to have one in their favorite color 😉

How To Keep Your Website Alive And Growing

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Everyone knows that simply having a website doesn’t necessarily generate sales.  The key to keeping that website alive and growing is all about traffic!  When individuals visit your website / blog and like what they see, they’ll most likely come back again and again.

A good way to get that traffic coming back is by having a “customer sale” periodically.  A good sale date coming up is next Monday, Memorial Day.  After that you’ll see on your calendar Father’s Day, Fourth of July, etc.  Customers love discounts and not only will your current customers come back (and most likely buy something!) – they’ll also recommend your website / blog to others as well.

Another surefire way to pick up traffic to your site / blog is by having a “Giveaway” of some kind.  If you do crafts for craft fairs or bazaars, you could do a giveaway of a couple of your best sellers.  OR, there are people from other businesses, or websites or blogs that would love to have you do a giveaway with one or more of their items.  This helps generate more traffic to your site / blog as well as to the website / blog that is offering the items for your giveaway.  A great example of a super giveaway is one that is currently running on ShopperStrategy.com — the current giveway is entitled “shrek-tacular-savings-and-movie-ticket-giveaway” and runs through this Friday, May 28.  This particular giveaway includes a ton of food / snack items as well as a $25 gift certificate that can be used for the latest Shrek movie.  Check out the giveaway and see how you can incorporate the “giveaway” into your blog to help increase your traffic and sales. (If you have children or grandchildren, you might even want to enter to win the goodies / ticket money for yourself).

Additionally, to help keep your website alive and growing, I’d suggeset that you add new “content” to the site / blog that pertains to your business and that would be of interest to your customers.  A “helpful hints” type content could certainly be what some of your customers are looking for — and they’ll be sure to come back to see what else you have to say.

If you’re doing something special to keep your blog / website alive and growing, let us know – we’d love to pass it along to our readers.