Avoiding big and unnecessary expenses is a very basic step in order to make a small business more profitable, the more expenses you have them as revenue you will be able to produce so eliminating some overhead is a very important process. Purchasing office supplies and equipment is an ongoing expense which must be carefully regulated because it can drain your budget without you ever notice of it.

Buying in bulk

The cycle of purchase of these seemingly insignificant items can create a negative impact in your financial reports if you don't make the right purchases when it is necessary for instance, many small businesses are giving a discount when they purchased their goods in bulk in other words, if you make several purchases throughout the year (one every month) you are losing a lot of money that you could've saved if only you would have planned ahead and purchased these items in bulk.

Quality versus quantity

If you have a small business and need to purchase pencils then obviously the quality factor may not come into play simply because no one is willing to pay a lot for pencils (unless your business is art related) -- quality becomes relevant when you are making major purchases such as computers, lamps, data shredders, printers, fax machines and other similar items.

Printers are items which tend to malfunction every now and then, if for some reason your purchase an all in one machine you might run into troubles because if the printer gets jammed you might not be able to use the other functions such as faxing or scanning, this is the reason why buying this items separately is always a smart decision, if something goes wrong with the printer you'll always know that the rest of the machines are available and in full working condition.

Keeping track of the purchases

Remember that every time you go out to buy office supplies or equipment which will be used in your business it is necessary to keep the receipts in a safe place because of this expenses can be deducted when the tax season comes around.