Are janitorial consumables eating your budget? Find out how to keep your bank account intact while keeping consumables stocked.
Janitorial consumables can wreak havoc on your budget pretty easily. Many of your expenses are fixed, or at least stay mostly the same month to month. Your insurance, equipment rentals, office lease, subscriptions, and so on remain steady. Even your supply costs, vehicle expenses, and administrative costs can be relatively stable.
Janitorial consumables, on the other hand, can go up and down substantially, making it a challenge to know what to budget for them.
It’s not hard to imagine how this can happen. Your clients in an office building, for example, likely have minimal attendance around holidays. A large percentage of the staff may take summer vacations all around the same time. As a result, you use substantially less paper, soap, wastebasket liners, and so on.
Alternatively, if a company is working toward a product release or a big end-of-quarter goal, attendance may be higher. Along with the greater attendance, people may work longer hours. Higher occupancy leads to higher use of janitorial consumables.
So, with variations in occupancy, not to mention seasonal changes and potential price changes with consumables, how can you keep things steady? Is it possible to budget so that your consumables don’t shock your system?
Keep up with your inventory, cleaning schedule, checklists, and more. Learn more today with a discovery call and find out how to make your cleaning operation more efficient, cost-effective, and better for everyone.
Find out how to avoid consuming your budget with janitorial consumables
Good organization is critical to keeping your janitorial consumables budget on track. That’s easy enough to say, but how does that work when you’re busy and doing your best just to keep supplies in stock?
That’s a fair question. The truth is that implementing a new system will take time. The other side of that coin, however, is that a small investment of time now will save you both time and money on the other end of things.
Remember, too, that you don’t have to do everything all at once. Even small, progressive steps will help you improve your budget and your business. So, in no particular order, here are seven steps you can take to get a grip on your janitorial consumables budget.
1. Have a single point of delivery. You may work in multiple locations. You may also have storage for consumables in many of these locations. However, if you can get your supplies delivered to one central location, you could save on shipping and delivery costs. This may not be ideal for everyone, but if you or a team supervisor regularly visits your on-site teams and can deliver supplies at that time, it’s worth considering.
2. Use concentrates. Concentrated cleaners are far more economical than ready-to-use products. You save on the product (less per unit), shipping (more product in the same delivery), and you can order less frequently. The trick here is that you need to ensure concentrates get appropriately diluted. Too much water and your cleaning product loses effectiveness. Not enough water and you end up using more product than necessary.
3. Order in bulk – sometimes. You’ll need to consider this on a case-by-case basis. However, many items are less expensive when you order them in bulk. As an example, it’s often less expensive to order a case of gloves than a few single boxes. That said, if you order something in bulk that you don’t need or use regularly, you could end up wasting money of the product doesn’t get used.
4. Shop around. Your company has used Paper Product X since the day you opened. That product might be perfectly fine. It’s also possible that Paper Product Z works just as well and is less expensive. Don’t spend time shopping around every time you order, but do check your options at least a few times per year. You can also ask your supplies distributor about options.
5. Track your inventory. You go through janitorial consumables quickly, but it’s still important to track them. In fact, if you only use one of the tips here, make it this one. What happens when you track your consumables?
- The supplies your team needs are always in stock.
- You don’t need to stress over rush orders.
- Regular inventory tracking helps you notice patterns in usage.
- Regular inventory tracking helps you notice unusual usage.
- It makes it easier to notice a change or mistake in billing.
6. Plan ahead. Once you’ve established patterns with clients, you can plan more easily. For example, if you’ve worked at a school for a year, you can effectively predict how much product you’ll need before the school year begins, how much you can cut back over winter break, if you’ll need to bulk up on supplies during basketball season, and so on. The same is true for offices, restaurants, retail locations, and more.
7. Use software. Gathering and using this information is challenging without the help of software. Tools like Janitorial Manager have supply-tracking capabilities built right into the software. So whether you service one location or a dozen, you can ensure your numbers are right where they should be.
It’s impossible to eliminate all the ups and downs of consumables usage. It is, however, possible to even out the impact on your budget. With careful planning, a close eye on inventory, and checking your options now and then, you can make your budget work for you and the best interest of your janitorial business.
Bid tracking, to-do lists, cleaning checklists, supply inventory, timekeeping… it’s all here. Janitorial Manager can help you organize all your commercial cleaning operations. Schedule a free call with Janitorial Manager to learn more.