"Cutting Costs"... Literally!

[OverSoyed]

In this business, cutting your costs should always be on the front burner. The idea is, to cut your costs, without sacrificing the quality of your products. With candles in particular, I have found many cost cutting ways, that can lower the overall cost of your products substantially.

One trick that I have found to be useful is with wicking. Votives for example, depending on the wicks you choose, you can save up to 50% of the cost. I've been purchasing my votive wicking, pre-tabbed and waxed, 6" long. Standard votives use only 3" of wicking. So after I push my wicks through, I use a nail clipper (a great handy tool) to cut them to length, and save the spare 3". I then use 20mm wick tabs (purchased by the lb) and rewick them. This can cut your wick costs in half, as low as $.02 each.

I also use cello bags for my votives. To tie them, I picked up iridescent twist ties on clearance at Pat Catan's (50 for $.52). Rather than having a huge tie on each votive, I cut them down (with my handy nail clipper) to 2" rather than 6", making 150 ties in total, for only 1/3 of a cent each.

It isn't very time consuming, as I'm sure a lot will say. If it takes an hour to do simple things, and you save $10.00 or so, I think it is well worth it. If your time is too valuable, these are some easy things that a child or teen could do for you. Toss them a buck or two, so they feel involved in the business process. It's a good learning lesson, and a great savings at the same time.