1.) Buy in bulk ? You do it for your groceries in order to save a few pennies, so why not on your craft supplies? If you are buying pipe cleaners (for example) and you only need 10, it might cost you $2 ? because you are paying for nice packaging and the convenience of only purchasing 10. But, if you bought 100, in a dull cardboard box ? you might pay $4. The individual cost for the first 10 is $.20 each; the individual cost for the 100 is a measly $.04. All of a sudden you have dropped your cost by $.16 cents on each craft. That's smart business.



2.) Less frequent trips ? We live in an instant gratification world. If we need something right now, we go and get it. It's no different when you need a couple of things for a few crafts that are unfinished. We often take for granted that there is fuel in the vehicle and that we can travel across the city to the specialty craft store that carries our supplies. What we don't realize is that each time we pull the vehicle out of the garage, it costs us money. If you are going to go out for just a couple of supplies, why not take stock of all of your craft supplies and see if you are near empty on a few other ones? By doing it all at once, you are going to save a great deal of time and money ? reflected in your craft show business bottom line.

3.) Reduce and reuse ? Reduce the amount of waste you create with your craft show items and you are most certainly going to cut down on the costs of producing them. Similarly, try to reuse some of the tools or supplies that have previously gone unused. Be creative ? find ways to make a little go a lot further ? without sacrificing quality for your crafts.

4.) Plan ? If you take the first three steps and put them together, what do you have? That's right ? it is a craft show plan! By planning how, when and how much, you are going to give yourself a chance to make good decisions and reduce the cost of producing your crafts. Those without a plan are going buy less, spend more, travel more, and likely in the end waste more. That is not a way to run a successful business.

Each penny you can save when you are making your crafts is a penny that is back in your pocket. If you can reduce your costs by $1 for each craft, and you sell 100 crafts, that is $100 extra dollars in your jeans. All of a sudden, reducing costs seems well worth the work.