How To Save Money on Business Cleaning Supplies

Savvy businesspeople know the importance of managing every line item on the budget with close attention to detail. Without this financial consideration, a business can quickly fall apart. If you own or operate a physical business space, you must incorporate consistent and thorough cleaning practices for your employees, clients, and customers. Discover how to save money on business cleaning supplies.

Assess the Total Cost

You should understand the total cost of your cleaning supplies before sending your order through. The unfortunate reality is that there may be hidden fees or unaddressed factors that increase supply prices beyond what you expect. Maintain a finances-friendly approach to cleaning supplies by gathering as much information as you can on the front end.

Don’t Let Cheaper Prices Fool You

As a financially savvy business owner, you likely look for the cheapest product with the most acceptable quality when purchasing cleaning supplies. After all, you just need a product that will sanitize and refresh surfaces for continued use. However, don’t let lower prices fool you. The size of the number next to the dollar sign doesn’t always correlate to the total cost.

Extra Factors To Consider

There are ways that “cheaper” products actually cost more. Here are a few of the most common extra factors that impact the total cost:

• Delivery costs: Sometimes, a sneaky business will advertise their products for cheap, then tack on hefty delivery prices. There may also be instances where the cost of the actual product is heftier, but the delivery price is much lower or nonexistent.
• Minimum orders: Various distributors require minimum orders before they’ll confirm a shipment. You may see an unbelievably low price per item but then notice the minimum order quantity requires anywhere from 50 to 100 units.
• Product shelf life: Cleaning supplies will last for quite some time. But if you purchase enough for several years in advance, you may inadvertently stock up past the product’s shelf life. Be sure to check this crucial detail, so you aren’t left with more cleaning supplies than you know what to do with.

Differentiate Between Customers and Employees

Keeping up cleanliness is a commendable habit for both customers and employees. However, there are differences in their cleaning supply usage. While you can’t control the hygiene habits of your customers, you can implement specific policies and training to discourage your employees from wasting cleaning supplies.

Visitors Maintaining Hygiene

People who visit your physical business space need a way to wash or sanitize their hands, especially if you have public restrooms. The cleaning supplies in your client-facing bathrooms are subject to frequent use. You can’t regulate how many pumps of soap a person uses or how many paper towels they pull—any attempt to do this would look like a nonsensical anti-health measure.

Hand soap, hand sanitizer, paper towels, toilet paper, shopping cart wipes—you intentionally place these items at visitors’ disposal. However, whether they use them and how much they use them is entirely out of your control. The only way to discourage unnecessary dispensation is to offer set amounts of the supplies. One way to do this is by using electric soap dispensers that only release a small amount of pre-foamed soap. Though customers can technically trigger the sensor as many times as they’d like, the dispenser gives the correct amount of soap.

The Power of Averages

Get a clear understanding of how people use your public cleaning supplies with the power of averages. First, you can estimate the relative cost of your cleaning products by averaging monthly totals. Then, by assessing data trends over time, you can analyze the overall cost of cleaning supply items each year. You can even measure more minor data points such as seasonal hygiene trends for more accurate budgeting and cost reduction strategies. For example, people may use more hand sanitizer during flu season than in the middle of summer. With this information, you can plan a higher spend for cleaning supplies as autumn approaches and anticipate lower costs for subsequent seasons.

Staff Cleaning the Facility

While you can’t control customer hygiene, you do have some power over employee cleaning practices. It all starts with training. The way you teach your staff to wash windows, wipe surfaces, sanitize equipment, and clean floors will impact their cleaning supply usage over time. You should express the importance of thorough cleaning but be sure to mention the wise use of materials. Ensure you teach them how to reduce waste. If you help staff toe the line between these two, you could save considerable money over the years.

Rethink Buying Strategies

As a business trying to manage financial resources wisely, your buying strategies matter. By taking a formalized approach to how you buy supplies of all kinds, you can create a dependable system. And what accountant doesn’t like a consistent and recurring cost that won’t wildly fluctuate month to month? Researching cost accumulations and managing supply usage are great, but how you buy the cleaning supplies also plays a part.

Explore Wholesale Options

While you could run down to the local corner store and grab a handful of cleaning supplies each week, there are better, more economical ways to buy. You should explore wholesale and bulk buying options from cleaning suppliers who prioritize great deals for large quantities of products. Here at Dutch Harbor Brands, we have an array of wholesale product purchase options that will keep your office clean for months to come. Don’t buy items over and over again at a higher price point; find bulk cleaning product bundles that will fill your supply closet.

Keep these tips on how to save money on business cleaning supplies in mind as you assess your budget and sanitary practices. After you develop a thorough strategy for cleaning supply acquisition, be sure to stock up on the items themselves. Our team at Dutch Harbor Brands is more than happy to help you find the best cleaning items, like our bulk wet wipes. We’re proud to offer honest, wholesale prices on high-quality cleaning supplies to businesses just like yours.