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There’s no excuse for making bad coffee at home (unless you’re using instant grounds). With the right gear and a bit of experimentation, you can reliably brew a better cup than most cafés. It just takes a bit of research upfront to work out what you like, some practice to dial in the technique, and you’re good to go.
It’s all about the beans“The quality of coffee you start with sets the limit for how good your coffee can be,” says James Hoffman, author of The World Atlas of Coffee and my favorite YouTuber on the subject. “You can improve cheap coffee, but there are no tricks or hacks to make it taste of anything but cheap coffee.”
Coffee is kind of weird. For a long time it was treated as just a commodity: A cup of coffee was a cup of coffee, and it didn’t matter where the beans came from, as long as they were small, green, and ready to roast. Now, though, it’s both a commodity (think gas stations and diners) and a specialty drink (small coffee shops and independent roasters) sold on its flavor, origin, and story. If you want to get a truly great beverage, it’s those specialty coffees you need to explore.
You can also buy fantastic coffee online—most small roasters will ship their stuff directly to customers—but if you don’t already know what you like, the process can be a bit more hit-or-miss.
Get grinding“If you want to start brewing great coffee, then the brewer isn’t the essential,” Hoffman says. What you really need is a stand-out grinder.
Coffee is made from roasted beans, which have to be ground down to a powder before you can brew a cup. Grinding the beans lets more moisture in and releases CO2, which is important during the brewing process. It also increases their surface area, however, accelerating the speed at which they oxidize and go stale. This is why it’s best to grind your beans immediately before brewing—and why using pre-ground coffee will almost always lead to a worse cup.
The quality of your grinder matters, too. Hoffman recommends a burr grinder over a blade grinder. The latter tends to smash your coffee into slightly different-size pieces that brew at different speeds, giving you an unevenly extracted, not-very-tasty drink. Burr grinders, meanwhile, use two rotating disks to yield a more even grind—and a smoother cup. Just make sure you get a model that lets you control how coarse or fine you grind. “I’m happy with a cheap French press or an old pour-over set, as long as I have a good grinder,” Hoffman explains.
With grinders, you also have a choice between hand-powered and electric. Hand-powered grinders are cheaper but mean you have to manually grind your coffee, which, depending on how much you’re using and how fine you go, can take between one and five minutes. Electric grinders are significantly pricier, but do all the hard work for you. Personally, I like the ritual of grinding by hand, but I’m usually only making coffee for myself; if you have a large family (or drink a ludicrous amount of coffee), an electric one will work out better.
For more information than you might possibly ever need, Hoffman’s done two manual-grinder showdowns on his YouTube channel: one on cheap manual grinders and one on the best manual grinders overall. He also has video reviews of some of the most popular electric grinders, like this head-to-head of the Wilfa Svart and Baratza Encore.
Find a brewing method and recipe you likeFrench presses are easy to use, but their science is less exact. Izzy Rivi via Unsplash
The brewing method you use matters less than being able to do it consistently; you want to reliably produce a great cup of coffee, not occasionally get lucky. Three of the most popular at-home methods are the French press or cafetière, the AeroPress, and pour-over brewers like the Chemex and Hario V60.
The French press may be the method you’re most familiar with—almost every home has one tucked away in a cupboard somewhere. They have a bad reputation among coffee snobs because a lot of people tend to use them imprecisely, but they can reliably produce excellent drinks.
The AeroPress is an extremely popular choice—there’s even an annual competition dedicated to finding the World AeroPress Champion—and while it has more moving parts than a French press, it’s still easy to use.
There are also a wide range of pour-over brewers, but the method is much the same. You douse the grounds in water as they sit in a cone of filter paper, and coffee flows out into a carafe for you to drink. It’s the hardest of the methods to perfect, but to many people, it’s the best.
Whichever method you pick, the key is to find a suitable recipe that explains the coffee-to-water ratio, which grind to use, whether to bloom the grounds, how long to brew for, and so on. Grab a coffee you know you enjoy and then play around with different approaches. Hoffman’s video on the ultimate French press technique is a great place to start; he also has a similar video on the ultimate V60 pour-over technique. The AeroPress is a little different as there are more variables to play with, but European Coffee Trip, another YouTube channel, has a series of videos demonstrating a few winning recipes. I use a variation on the recipe that won in 2023.
You’ll notice that all the recipes call for a certain ratio of coffee to water. To hit those levels, you’ll need a set of weighing scales. Your kitchen scales will work fine—although you can get dedicated coffee scales.
Troubleshooting your coffeeOnce you have a recipe that works for you, you should be reliably making good cups of coffee. If you aren’t, it’s time to reassess your life.
First, make sure you’re actually sticking to your recipe and weighing everything correctly. “The most common error is using too much coffee,” Hoffman says, especially when you’re trying to make a strong cup.
If you use the right amount of ground beans but end up with a weak cup of coffee, you’ve under-extracted it. “Under-extracted coffee isn’t usually just weak,” Hoffman explains. “It is often a bit sour and hollow tasting, too.” The solution is simple: Grind a little finer. “This gives the grounds more surface area,” Hoffman adds, “and makes it easier for water to extract the soluble, delicious flavors that are locked in there.” Simply adding more coarsely ground coffee will make a stronger, more acidic cup—not a better one.
On the other hand, if your grind is too fine, you’ll over-extract your coffee and make it taste dry and astringent. In that case, use a slightly coarser grind.
Another factor you might not have considered is the water you’re using. After all, it’s 90 to 95 percent of your drink. “Soft water, free of tastes like chlorine, is the best place to start,” Hoffman says; if your pipes spout hard water, you might need to consider filtering it. A simple way to see the nuance is to brew two identical cups of coffee side-by-side, one with your tap water and another with bottled water; the cup made with hard water will taste less smooth and more bitter. For more on how water affects your coffee, check out Hoffman’s extensive introduction on the subject.
Drink, enjoy, repeatAnd there you have it: how to make great-tasting coffee at home. Once you start, you’ll find it hard to go back to mundane brews and overpriced lattes. Your self-brewed coffee should offer the same depth and variety as whiskey or wine—and it won’t give you a hangover, unless you count the post-caffeine jitters.
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11 Strategies To Find Great Deals And Save Money
1. Integrate Cashback into Your BrowserThe concept of cashback isn’t anything new, but the ways to get it have become simpler than ever. There are sites that make money by having you shop through their site, and by doing so, are able to offer you “cash back” on every purchase. Two top examples of these kinds of sites are Topcashback and Rakuten.
But instead of manually going through those sites, seeing if they have cashback, perhaps comparing the best rates between two different cashback sites, you can do something much faster. Get the respective Chrome extensions for Topcashback and Rakuten (which also work on Edge, Brave and other Chromium-based browsers), sign in, and just browse as normal. You’ll get notifications on whether cashback is available on a given site, and even be able to compare their rates in your Google search results!
Both TCB and Rakuten link out to a huge number of sites – everything from electronics to clothes at retailers like Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s are all available. If you pair this cashback with the below tips and find a great deal, it’s a win-win for you.
2. Never Pay Full PriceDo you know that you don’t have to pay full price of the item most of the time? With rare exceptions, regardless of the product, it’s going to go on sale at some point. Between coupon codes, lightning deals, holiday specials and regular sales, there are very few products that go an entire year without some type of discount. The bigger question isn’t when something will be discounted, but how much.
If what you need isn’t time sensitive, then add it to your cart or shopping/saved list and wait for a deal. Chances are there will be one coming up. Tools like CamelCamelCamel (and other price comparison tools) will show you prices from the past year so you can gauge when a sale is imminent.
3. Use a Price Comparison ToolOne of the best tools to quickly compare prices online is Google Shopping. It’s not an all-encompassing shopping experience but should give you a very strong sense of which retailer is selling a product and for how much.
It’s super easy to determine which store is offering the best deal and whether you can pick it up today or need to ship it, and if it’s the latter, for how much. If you don’t want to use Google, Yahoo Shopping offers a similar tool that helps you find the best pricing between various retailers.
On the flip side, understanding when something is at its lowest price is equally, if not more, important.
In the case of Amazon, you can use CamelCamelCamel to look at historical pricing. Using the line charts, you can quickly determine whether something is at its lowest or highest price. There are not many comparable sites for non-Amazon retailers, but using this site is a fantastic guide – even if you don’t shop or buy on Amazon – as it gives you an idea of what to aim for with brick-and-mortar retailers.
4. Look for Coupons FirstPart of the fun of shopping can be locating appropriate coupons or discounts. In this case, there are plenty of options. One of the most popular is Honey, which will help you find and apply coupon codes across more than 30,000 sites that can be used online.
RetailMeNot is another fantastic option that offers similar coupon finds as Honey but adds in-store coupons and discounts to the mix. Input the name of the site, and you’ll get instant results for any valid coupons. Sometimes all it takes is a minute or two and to find tens, hundreds – or in rare cases – thousands of dollars in savings.
Additionally, many websites offer discount codes in the form of a percentage or dollar off if you sign up for text or email notifications. DSW, a popular shoe retailer that offers both a retail footprint and website, will offer you $10 off your first purchase after you sign up with your email. Kohls offers 15% off your first purchase, Old Navy offers 20% and so on.
5. Save Money with Discounted Gift CardsFor example, Target runs a once-yearly promotion around the holiday season offering up to $500 in Target gift cards that you can purchase for up to 10% off. That’s $50 off with no extra action on your part. On top of that, Discover offers 5% back on Target purchases, so that’s an extra $22.50 in your pocket. That’s essentially $72.50 in savings.
On the other hand, stores like Dollar General frequently offer discounts on gift cards upward of 10% to 15% off. Likewise, sites like chúng tôi allow you to purchase gift cards they have acquired from other individuals at a discount. For example, a $350 Target gift card may only cost you $337. Over time, these savings can add up in a big way.
6. Add Items to Your Shopping Cart and WaitAnother strategy is to benefit from an online retailer’s “abandoned cart” workflow. For this strategy to work, you will have to create an account with the retailer or even marketplace (e.g. eBay). Simply add items you want to purchase to your shopping cart while logged in but do not check out.
Some retailers will send you a reminder that you still have items in your shopping cart and in most cases offer a discount to complete your purchase. It won’t be a huge discount, likely 10% to 15%, but you will still end up saving money.
7. Follow Discount Sites/Deal-Hunters 8. Wait for Specific Times to BuyKnowing when the best time to buy is can be part guesswork and part science. Everyone knows about Black Friday and Cyber Monday Week and Green Monday. Of course, in the U.S., other holidays also play a role, such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. However, and this is where the sciences come in, data actually points to January and February being the best time of year to buy a new television.
Right before the Super Bowl is when retailers are offering the biggest discounts and strongest offers. When it comes to Amazon, Prime Day is when there are some of the best deals of the year, even more so than the end of the year.
When it comes to buying technology, understanding the upgrade/product cycle is also very important to sourcing a good deal. For example, Apple is known to follow a very specific product life cycle and most Apple products will go on sale just before a new version is released. MacRumors has an excellent buying guide to help with this.
9. Check for Veteran, Education, and Other DiscountsYet another overlooked way to find a great deal is to look and see whether you qualify for a discount. For military veterans in the U.S., many retailers like Target offer discounts. The same goes for AAA members. Many full-time employees of big and small corporations are also potentially qualified for discounts from big-name retailers.
Apple, one of the more notorious brands for not discounting, has an Employee Purchase Program that your employer might take part in. It’s best to ask your HR department to see if you qualify.
10. Search a Deal Website First 11. Using the Right Credit CardsThis is yet another often overlooked aspect of shopping that too many people do not consider. Discover and Chase for example offer 5% cash back in rotating categories every three months of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions Is Amazon deals any good?Too many people only focus on these deals around the holidays or Prime Day, but lightning deals or Epic Daily Deals happen every day. They are available in a variety of categories, like top brands, Amazon devices/brands, fashion, computers and video games, toys and games, kitchen and so many more.
Amazon also runs multi-day deals on multiple different kinds of products year round and will offer coupons that you can “clip” to save even more. If you’re shopping on Amazon, always check out the multiple deals offered first.
Should you ask for price adjustments?Absolutely! Most stores, especially around the holidays, have price matching policies that include not only their own website and retail locations, but lists of competitors. Target, for example, will match prices at Amazon, Apple, Costco, Sears, Walmart, Wayfair, Chewy, CVS, HomeDepot and many more. As long as the item is in stock, and in the case of Amazon, shipped and sold through Amazon, price adjustments should be relatively painless. Just make sure you keep your original receipt.
When should I hold out for a better discount?This really is the crux of the question around all of the strategies to find a great deal – how do I know if a better deal is coming? Realistically, you can’t. That said, if you are looking to purchase a new TV or video game console in October, waiting until the holidays is likely going to help you find better pricing. The same goes for kitchen appliances, clothes, etc. If you are looking to buy a big ticket item on Amazon, holding out for Prime Day is also something to consider.
Ultimately, using a site like CamelCamelCamel in the case of Amazon will help you recognize if a bigger discount is possible. Does the item go on sale frequently? If so, wait until it does.
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Dehydrating Food Can Save You Money And Reduce Waste
In the United States, almost 32 percent of the average household’s purchased food goes to waste, a total annual loss of around $240 billion. All that squandered sustenance is hard on a household budget, as the moment spoiled food hits the trash can or compost heap, your money goes with it. But if you want to, you know, get what you paid for and eat your groceries instead, consider dehydrating them before they go bad.
Dehydrating food is not some new trend; Indigenous people in pre-colonial North America created a dried food called pemmican, and cultures around the world have used similar techniques for generations. It’s easy to see why: removing moisture from something edible prolongs its shelf life and makes it easier to transport.
Today, there are environmental benefits as well. Food decaying in landfills generates a significant amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and climate change is one of the biggest risks to American agriculture. Of course, composting can help, but you (and everyone else) may benefit more from dehydrating or otherwise preserving food to eat later.
How to make dehydrated foodSafely dehydrating food is fairly straightforward, according to Bryan Mayer, a butchery educator based in Kailua, Hawaii. He points out that safe dehydration techniques predate the Industrial Revolution by centuries.
“This has been a part of how we’ve made food safe to eat pre-refrigeration and certainly pre-canning, so it’s something that’s totally within reach for most people,” he explains. “It’s certainly something fun to do and something that I think we can use on an individual basis to reduce waste, keep things out of compost.”
Dehydrating meat, poultry, and fishMayer says the main thing to know about drying raw meat, poultry, and fish is that you’ll need to first cook it to a food-safe temperature specific to that protein before reducing the heat to a level more appropriate for dehydrating. If you need a reference, the US Department of Agriculture has a list of safe minimum internal temperatures for various foods.
Beyond that, start with the best-quality cut you can get, Mayer says. He recommends leaner cuts because you’ll have less overall work to do, since you’ll want to remove the fat if there is any.
“You’ll want to slice it however thick or thin you want, and then you’ll want to marinate it, usually up to 24 hours,” he says. The longer you marinate, the more any salt within your spice mix will seep into the meat, which means more time for the salt to penetrate cells and break things down.
[Related: Your food could be better if you salt it at the right time]
Any other spices will just sit on the surface of the meat, not making molecular changes like salt will, Mayer adds. There are no rules for what spices or other flavorings you can add to your meat jerky; you can go for tried-and-true options like barbecue sauce or mustard, or add something less likely to be in store-bought varieties, like Dr. Pepper or red wine and fish sauce. The People’s Choice Beef Jerky, a jerky purveyor, has a long list of possible meat jerky flavor combos.
Once you’ve decided the meat has marinated for long enough, line up the strips on a dehydrator rack or on a pan rack in your oven. Experiment with different lengths of time and temperatures, adding more time for lower temperatures (but always make sure as much moisture has been sucked from the meat as possible before you stop).
Dehydrating fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushroomsIf you’re dehydrating fruits, vegetables, herbs, or mushrooms, it’s important to wash or brush them to remove any dirt, dust, or other contaminants, and prevent new ones, like insects, from getting into your newly dehydrated goods. That will help prevent the food from spoiling.
You’ll then want to cut everything into same-size pieces to ensure dehydration occurs evenly across your rack; a mandoline will help keep your cuts consistent.
Colorado State University recommends choosing one of several fruit pretreatment methods, using pure ascorbic acid crystals, citric acid, or other similar substances to help break down tough skins, prevent discoloration and kill off unhealthy bacteria.
Because home-dried produce may not dehydrate evenly, you should mitigate mold growth by “conditioning”—loosely packing it in a shakeable container every day for a week—to help distribute any remaining moisture, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia.
For vegetables, cut off any inedible parts, like stems or rot, before washing and thoroughly drying. Different vegetables dehydrate more easily after blanching, or briefly boiling then dunking in an ice bath, according to the Food Network.
Herbs get a similar treatment: trim off any bruised, discolored, or inedible bits, as well as thicker stems, before you arrange them on the dehydrating rack. But you’ll have less room for temperature and time experimentation with the herbs, so set your dehydrator or countertop oven to the lowest possible setting and let them bake until they’re crumbly. You can also microwave smaller amounts sandwiched between paper towels for two or three minutes, then 30-second intervals until they’re dry.
[Related: Grow long and healthy hair with this DIY rosemary water]
If you don’t want to mechanically dry your herbs, sage, thyme, rosemary and other sturdy herbs can be bundled and air-dried indoors, according to the Oregon State University Master Food Preserver Program. Tender herbs, like basil and mint, can also be bundled and air dried, but OSU recommends hanging them inside a paper bag with vent holes cut in the top and side, closing the top, and placing it somewhere warm with good air circulation.
Dehydrating mushrooms is similar to other types of food dehydration, except you won’t need to think about pretreatment. You’ll want to clean them thoroughly, ensure no bugs are present, and trim off any inedible or tough bits before cutting them into even-size pieces. Different mushrooms will have different dehydrating times based on how moist they are, so a dryer mushroom won’t need as much time in the heat. Like fruits and vegetables, you’ll want to condition your mushrooms by storing them loosely in a sealed container and shaking them daily for a week.
How much food can I dehydrate at once?At the height of mushroom season, Rob Rubba, a plant-based chef and co-owner of Oyster Oyster in Washington, D.C., says his restaurant “easily” receives deliveries of 100 pounds of local mushrooms each week. Not all of that will look pretty enough to be plated, so the less-attractive items end up dehydrated for use in future recipes.
That’s to say, there’s no maximum amount to how much food you can dehydrate—as long as you have enough space, heat, and time. But best practice is to lay everything out in an even layer with nothing overlapping on a rack on a sheet pan to maximize heat and air flow. Reasonably speaking, you can dehydrate as much as you can fit in your oven or on your dehydrator racks. You can also dehydrate different types of foods at once, but Rubba recommends considering flavor pairings in case of contamination. Apples and garlic, for example, wouldn’t taste great together.
Do I need a food dehydrator?If you have an oven (countertop or otherwise) that can reach a low enough temperature (around 200 degrees Fahrenheit), you shouldn’t need to buy a food dehydrator. It’s also possible to sun-dry some produce, like tomatoes, apricots, peppers, grapes, or any fruits with high sugar and acid content. This requires an elevated rack or screen that allows air to pass on all sides, and avoiding materials that could stain or contaminate the food. Produce only, though: the Department of Agriculture doesn’t recommend sun-drying meat because it’s harder to keep everything healthy and hygienic.
That being said, while a dehydrator will cost money and take up space, having one means you can multitask in the kitchen by dehydrating while you use the oven for other tasks. A food dehydrator is also purpose-built, so you’ll be able to fine-tune your temperature settings, keep the heat and dryness consistent, and use levels of racks to dehydrate more than you could inside a single-rack countertop oven. In a pinch, you may also be able to build your own dehydrator.
But if you’re really low on space for a new kitchen appliance and feel like using a full oven would be a waste, Rubba suggests using the waning heat from cooking or baking in the oven to dehydrate food.
“As the oven cools, there’ll be a declining temperature that will be slowly drying it out,” he explains, adding that this is also a great way to make breadcrumbs. “The next day, you could pull [the food] out and have something dehydrated—and that’s a good way of just utilizing leftover energy.”
What to do with dehydrated foodsSome items, like dried meat sticks, are probably best as quick snacks and meal supplements. But you can do a lot with dried fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms to make meals prettier or tastier.
Dehydrated mushrooms can become vegan jerky, but they can also be remoistened and used in stocks, stews, or anywhere you would use a regular mushroom. Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health recommends rehydrating mushrooms for 15 to 20 minutes in boiling water.
[Related: 4 benefits of eating mushrooms]
Other dried produce can be rehydrated too. Generally, you’ll need to soak 1 cup of dried food in 1 to 3 cups of water for 30 to 90 minutes, and the University of Georgia has a handy chart you can refer to when rehydrating fruits and vegetables (page 7 of the linked PDF).
For bread service at Oyster Oyster, Rubba’s team makes a vegan marigold butter with “an abundance of marigold flowers that we dehydrate to garnish that and give it these pops of lemony, fragrant flavor on the butter,” he explains.
Another benefit of dehydrating foods is the flavor concentration that occurs when the water is stripped out, which Rubba, a 2023 James Beard award finalist, says can lead to “amazing” complexity.
“We’ve boiled and smoked whole pumpkins and then dehydrated those for a week to get this solid, giant piece that we can grate onto dishes, kind of reminiscent of a bonito [flake],” he explains. Rubba’s restaurant has also “reduced cucumber juice slowly in the dehydrator, and it takes on these wild, spicy flavors that you wouldn’t expect from a cucumber.”
How long you can keep dehydrated foodThat’s going to give anything dehydrated a longer life, especially if you live in a humid climate, he explains, adding that dried fruits, veg, and ‘shrooms are shelf-stable but shouldn’t be exposed to moisture, so they’re better stored in the pantry than in the fridge.
Dried herbs, fruits, and vegetables should last up to a year but will not keep as long under hotter conditions; the National Center for Home Food Preservation says most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, six months at 80 degrees, and that vegetables will last about half as long as fruits.
Properly dried meat won’t last nearly as long, according to the center—only about two weeks in a sealed container at room temperature, although you can refrigerate or freeze it to increase its shelf life. But odds are you’ll eat it long before two weeks pass.
Top 10 Ways Boost Your Small Business Can Save Money
All these wise hints can allow you to cut costs and improve your bank account balance.
Almost 20 percent of companies fail in their first year, and 30% fail within their next calendar year, based on Fundera. Do not let these figures dissuade you from pursuing your fantasy; rather, use these to assist you in making laser-focused decisions which will benefit your company — and your bottom line.
Since many small business owners prioritize increasing earnings, decreasing expenses is at least as important once you’re attempting to keep profitability. Have a peek at these 10 methods to reduce costs and boost your business’s bank account balance.
Related: – How Small Business can Attain The Title Of “TRUSTWORTHY”?
Don’t pay for office space
Many companies are conducted remotely. If you’re in retail, this suggestion may not be relevant for you.
If you don’t operate in retail, think about staying portable for as long as possible. When you register a lease for office space, you will probably devote a good deal of money. You may convert a room or place in your home to the office area. Not only can you save money on office lease, and it’s possible to write-off component of your lease or mortgage for a company expense.
Buy used office equipment
In case you’ve got a physical office area, consider buying used equipment. You may find everything from printers to office seats in a fraction of the original cost if you shop on the internet or see used gear shops. While fresh, shiny gear may be fairly, a bank account with a zero balance is not. Simply invest in the things you absolutely want.
Shop around
You may use this to your benefit by searching around for solutions or perhaps simply telling suppliers which you intend to shop about.
Insurance companies frequently offer bonuses or substantial reductions to clients who make the jump out of their existing insurer. The same holds for banks and credit unions which may waive charges or provide other perks. Not having to pay $10 monthly in maintenance fees or obtaining $200 in free cash for just launching a new account is a fairly great thing.
Also assess the value you are now getting from specific services, like your VPN supplier. Sometimes, a lean startup may shield a lot of devices with one consideration.
Barter
Some debt is healthful, however you ought to make careful decisions regarding the debt you choose. Virtually every small company is at precisely the exact same place you’re — they’re short on cash — that is the reason why you need to consider bartering for goods and services.
Consider what your company does and how you can benefit another company by trading solutions. Every time you want a particular service or good, see whether the business is ready to barter. It will not work every time, but it is well worth a try.
Use contractors and freelancers for noncore work
Full-time employees cost companies a great deal of money nowadays. While ideally you’ll have a motivated and loyal employees, look at using independent contractors and contractors for noncore function because you work to stabilize your company. Noncore work is composed of items or areas that fall out of your business’s major actions or operations. HR solutions, accounting services, information processing are all examples of job you might outsource.
Outsourcing these tasks is simple and maybe more affordable than hiring conventional workers, as long as you possess an enforceable contract which clearly defines hopes to mitigate risks for both parties in the relationship. As an employer, you are not expected to supply salespeople with household leave or time off with pay, retirement savings programs or health insurance benefits — you just pay freelancers to their finished work.
Volunteer to speak at business events
Attempt to impart your knowledge to others. 1 good means to do so is to talk at conferences or business events. These chances behave as easy and absolutely free ways to get exposure to your brand and industry and prove to other people (i.e., prospective customers ) that you just know your stuff.
You can talk about mailing lists, distribution channels and providers with other tiny businesses. Is there possibly a painter or home cleaning company which could recommend your company to their clientele? Or if your company sells accessories for kids, could you produce a partnership with a photographer to publicize your company?
Reduce paper use
Slimming down paper waste isn’t just great for the environment, but it is very good for your business’s bottom line.
Reusing paper for notes
Shrinking the font size of your printed reports to publish fewer pages
Printing and copying files so they’re double-sided
Do what you can to use less paper most of the things which you print wind up in the garbage.
Use a Wise or programmable thermostat
In case you’ve got a brick-and-mortar office, then you realize how expensive heating and air conditioning could be. However, small changes on your workplace temperature may negatively impact workers’ productivity and clients’ comfort.
One method to lower your heating and A/C invoices without compromising comfort is purchasing a programmable or toaster. You may alter the settings so that the office is cooler or warmer throughout the weekends or specific times of day (evenings and evenings ) when workers aren’t at the workplace.
Related: – Running a Successful Ride-Hailing Business: Adopt the Winning Strategies of Juno
Encourage word-of-mouth Advertising
Purchase in bulk (if it makes sense)
The goods offered at warehouse superstores may be tempting, however there are instances when purchasing a product in bulk will not help save you money.
If your workplace goes through a great deal of coffee every month, go on and make the purchaseprice. But if you have narrowed your paper use recently, perhaps it doesn’t save in the long term to purchase 1,000 reams of paper, particularly in the event that you don’t have the room to keep it Moderation is essential.
Each company differs. Have a look at your present expenses — it will not cost you a cent — and it might create substantial savings on time.
Men’s Soccer Opens Tough Season At Home Tomorrow
Men’s Soccer Opens Tough Season at Home Tomorrow Terriers set sights on NCAA tournament at-large bid
Three-time All-Conference First Team honoree Michael Bustamante (MET’13) currently ranks 10th all-time at BU in assists, with 24. Photos by Steve McLaughlin
When the men’s soccer Terriers face off against the Brown University Bears tomorrow in the season’s home opener, it’s with the knowledge that making it to the NCAA tournament isn’t going to be easy. Then again, it’s never easy.
But the Terriers need a different route than usual to this year’s tournament. After Boston University announced plans to leave current athletic conference America East next year and join the Patriot League, the AE invoked its bylaws and banned BU teams from competing in conference championships this season. So the team has set its sights on getting to the tournament by a different route—an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Conference champions automatically go to the tournament, but the NCAA invites teams with excellent regular-season records to compete as well. Head coach Neil Roberts is proud of how his team has handled America East’s decision and says his players are focused this year.
“It’s obviously disappointing when you’ve got leaders of institutions trying to punish our kids for something they had nothing to do with,” Roberts says. “But they’ve dealt with it well. They know we’ve got a schedule that can help us get into the tournament without the conference. Our guys are athletes. They just want to compete and compete well every time they go out, so that’s all we’re worried about right now.”
Despite the disappointment, midfielder Anthony Ciccone (CGS’12, SAR’14) points out that because of the America East decision, each member of the team is aware of the critical importance of every game for the team.
“We’ve got to get a certain amount of points,” he says. “We have to get an out-of-conference bid so every game is like an NCAA tournament game from now on.”
The team, 1-3-2 so far this season, is looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2011 campaign that saw it finish 9-9. The season ended in the conference championship semifinal with a 1-0 loss to the University of Hartford Hawks, a team the Terriers had beaten earlier in the season. It was their seventh one-goal loss of the year and an unexpected finish for the America East regular season champions.
“I think last year, given the situation we faced having such a young team, we played very well,” Roberts says. “We probably ran out of gas towards the end of the year and that maybe had a lot to do with it. I think we’ve matured from that. We’re still young, but we’re a more veteran group that’s been through it before.”
Ciccone sees it the same way. “In my two years here we’ve lost in the America East tournament, so we’re trying to learn from the mistakes we made. We’re all a year older and more mature, so that helps.”
The Terriers hope the return of Michael Bustamante (MET’13) will give them a competitive edge. Bustamante was sidelined all of last season with an injury. One of just two seniors on the squad, along with Max White (CGS’11, MET’13), the Chelsea, Mass., native says he’s been anxious to rejoin his teammates on the field.
“It’s been a long year of just coming back and working real hard. Being back on the field is definitely the happiest I’ve been for a while,” he says, “so hopefully I can help the guys out, pick up the level of play, and contribute to whatever we need to accomplish this year.”
Gaining Bustamante is unfortunately counterbalanced by the loss of 2011 America East Defender of the Year Kelvin Madzongwe (CGS’12, COM’14). A knee injury at the beginning of the season is taking him out for the rest of the regular season. Madzongwe will have surgery on his knee this week, according to Roberts, but will “hopefully be fine for next year.”
The Terriers lost two of last season’s key offensive players to graduation, Stephen Knox (COM’12) and Ben Berube (CAS’12). The team is looking to Bustamante and Dominique Badji (CGS’13) to lead the attack. Badji, last year’s America East Rookie of the Year, led BU with five goals and three assists last season and was the only Terrier to find the back of the net this year against number-one-ranked North Carolina on September 2.
Even without Madzongwe, Knox, and Berube, Roberts says, his team has put the nation on notice with an upset win August 27 against Boston College, then ranked 11th nationally.
“I think this is a team that’s still searching for its identity,” he says. “But I think as we go on through the campaign, you’re going to see that we have an exciting team to watch and a team that can compete with anybody in the country—we’ve already shown we can do that.”
The BU men’s soccer team takes on the Brown University Bears tomorrow, Thursday, September 13, at 7 p.m. at Nickerson Field, 285 Babcock St. Tickets are $5 for the general public, $2 for BU students, faculty, and staff, and free with a sports pass. In a “laundry night” promotion, the first 20 students to arrive will receive 5 pounds of free laundry service courtesy of Lazy Bones Laundry and Storage.
Paul Ryan can be reached at [email protected].
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