8 money-saving tips for small businesses you may not have tried

2026 has created the perfect storm for business owners. As margins continue to be squeezed by National Living Wage costs, soaring energy prices, and rising business rates, staying on top of expenses is no longer just housekeeping for business owners; it’s a matter of sink or swim. 

The UK could see up to 25,000 insolvencies this year, with small businesses in retail, hospitality, and construction facing the harshest pressure. But it’s not all doom and gloom; small businesses are nothing but resourceful, and there are plenty of ways to cut costs without cutting corners. 

To help you find yours, we’ve spoken to business owners, accountants, and CFOs facing these pressures directly to learn which money-saving strategies actually work, and how they’ve put them into practice day-to-day.

1. Calculate your annual spend before negotiating with suppliers

Oftentimes, cutting costs starts with rethinking your supplier relationships. But before you pick up the phone and turn on the charm, you need to do your homework first.

Jon Maloney, co-founder of Century Business Finance, recommends crunching the numbers beforehand and using them as leverage. “Before approaching a supplier, a business should calculate exactly how much they’ve spent with the supplier over the past 12-months,” Maloney tells us. 

“This total cost will give the business a tangible figure to negotiate with, such as better payment terms, free or reduced delivery, fixed prices for an agreed period, and volume rebates.”

Regularly review the suppliers and services the business already pays for, rather than automatically renewing with the same providers each year. New solutions are entering the market all the time, and a provider that suited the business a few years ago may no longer offer the best value. We recently reviewed our email service and switched providers.

Simon George Founder of Business Buzz

2. Negotiate with your biggest supplier in person

According to others, nailing your supplier deal doesn’t just depend on what you say, but how you choose to say it. 

James Demetriades, founder of the jewellery retailer Undeniable, swears by “flying to meet your key supplier in person, rather than negotiating over email”, especially if you’re discussing bulk orders and long-term contracts.

It’s the biggest single cost saving he’s ever pulled off. Demetriades flew to China to negotiate a bulk stock order for a hair care brand he mentors. The result was a cost of goods stock from $63 to $38.50 a unit, resulting in a $24,500 saving on the first order alone – a return that dwarfed the cost of his £720 flight.

3. Check if you’re in the right VAT Flat Rate Scheme category

On the Flat Rate Scheme, you pay a fixed percentage of turnover to HMRC instead of net VAT. As a result, you keep the difference between what you charge customers and what you hand over – savings that can add up every quarter.

Graeme Donnelly, founder and CEO of 1st Formations, points out that it’s easy to end up in the wrong category and never notice: “The biggest savings rarely come from dramatic cuts. They come from decisions made once and never looked at again”, such as the VAT scheme chosen at registration.

To avoid being lumped into the wrong category and paying more unnecessarily, Donnelly advises checking your category against HMRC’s Flat Rate list annually, not just at registration. He also recommends getting an accountant to confirm if it beats standard VAT accounting for your business.

4. Voluntarily register for VAT even below the £90,000 threshold

While adding more admin to your pile may seem counterintuitive, for businesses below the VAT threshold, registering could unlock more savings than you’d expect, especially if you have lots of taxable supplies.

Neil Ormesher, CEO of Accounts and Legal, explains that small businesses turning over less than the £90,000 VAT threshold can “voluntarily register for VAT to reclaim money on expenses like office supplies, equipment and travel.”

The backdate period opens up even more savings, too: “the backdate window is also quite generous, meaning you can reclaim VAT on goods purchased up to four years and services up to six months prior to registration.” 

According to Ormesher, “start ups and small businesses can realistically save anywhere from £1,000 to £5,000 per year through this strategy alone” – a meaningful cushion for businesses looking to protect their margins.

5. Move idle cash into a dedicated savings account

We’ve all heard the advice ‘make your cash work for you’, but are you applying it where it matters most?

Rebecca Alford, CFO of business credit card and financial platform Capital on Tap, puts it plainly: “Many owners may leave all their operational money sitting in a basic current account earning zero interest. That is free money left on the table.”

Her fix is simple. Move excess cash into a dedicated business savings account so it can build up passively, rather than sitting idle. 

“Moving excess cash into a dedicated business savings account lets your reserves build up passively,” Rebecca tells us. “Even small, regular deposits add up over time, giving you a safety cushion for emergency bills or sudden price spikes from suppliers.”

6. Swap paid market-research tools for free library access

The truth is, you’re probably spending more than you need to on market research.

Chris Sees, CEO of Hoxton Mix, points to a resource most founders overlook entirely: “British Library Business & IP Centre – free Mintel, Statista, IBISWorld, Euromonitor. Tens of thousands of pounds of market research, free, at 70+ UK libraries.”

And he’s speaking from personal experience. “I used these all the time when I was starting out, and the library doubles as a co-working space.” Chris tells us. “The British Library is an amazing place to work. You don’t need to pay for an office.”

7. Audit your software subscriptions each quarter

Software creep is one of the sneaky ways small businesses bleed money. Seats go unused, renewals get paid, and costs stack up without anyone noticing. 

Connor Gillivan, SEO and growth expert at Trio SEO, recommends a “zero-based subscription audit,” where every recurring tool has to earn its place from scratch each quarter rather than simply renewing by default. “The easiest money to save is the money leaving your account every month without a named owner,” he tells us.

He recommends exporting 90 days of card transactions into a spreadsheet, tagging every recurring charge by owner, use case, and monthly cost, before asking a blunt question for each tool: “Did this help us win revenue, save time, or serve a client in the past 30 days?”. If the answer is no, it’s time to cancel.

8. Streamline your marketing channels

Marketing your business is non-negotiable, but Nishi Patel, founder of the accounting platform N-accounting, argues there are major savings opportunities in stripping back your overall marketing spend and focusing only on channels where you can clearly measure the results.

We’re now saving approximately £40,000 a year by stepping away from generic brand-building and PR activity and focusing our budget on client referrals, PPC and SEO. We’ve cut back significantly on press releases, social media posting, events and networking.

Nishi Patel Founder of N-accounting

Patel says this approach was partly inspired by the bestseller Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which encourages business owners to deliberately reduce the money available in order to force leaner, more selective decision-making. 

Before cutting your marketing budget this way, though, it’s worth first identifying where your clients are actually coming from, so you know which channels are safe to pull back on.