There are plenty of big steps you can take to save your business a lot of money, from going paperless to outsourcing labor. But there are also some quick, easy ways to add a little extra to your bottom line right now.

Turn off computers:

It may seem like leaving computers on overnight and on weekends is a good move, minimizing the time your employees have to wait around while booting up. But computers use a lot of electricity, even when they're "asleep." Turning off a single computer and monitor for the sixteen hours it's not in use saves $200 a year on your electric bill. With ten computers shut down at the end of the day, you've saved a cool two thousand with just a click.

Buy used:

Companies pop up and then go out of business all the time. That's an unsettling fact, but those failed companies leave behind plenty of pre-owned computers, copiers, furniture, or anything else you might need to outfit your office. Used equipment costs up to 60 percent less, a lot of it is fairly new and in great condition, and you don't have to dumpster dive or spend your weekends at tag sales to outfit your office.

Do a lot of printing? You can also easily find remanufactured printer cartridge suppliers near you (or online ) and save about $10 on each one - and that can really add up.

Go paperless:

Lots of companies have been going completely paperless, saving big on printing, storage, and postage. That's a big change, however, and can be daunting. But going even partially paperless can add up. For example, you can offer electronic invoices to customers (which many will go for, considering the convenience), and scan and email documents to share information without all of those hard copies. Over 65% of all bills are now paid electronically, and those customers who epay do so about four times faster than those who receive paper bills.

Storing information on the Cloud can also save paper, ink, space, and the money you'd pay an employee to do all of your filing. File cabinets and Clouds serve the same purpose-a central storage space where employees can share access to the specific information that they need. (It's also easier to search for a lost or mislabeled document on a computer than it is to find a misfiled folder in your file cabinet.) For a mid-size business, going paperless in just a couple areas could save a couple grand. If it seems daunting, just start with one aspect of your business.

Empower employees to share cost-cutting ideas:

There are plenty of other little steps you can take to save your company money, but the best one might be encouraging employees to come up with ways to save. You can even set up a formal rewards system: Achievers, formerly I Love Rewards, is one of a few companies that provide web-based systems to keep track of money employees save - and when its own employees find ways to reduce expenses, they're rewarded with 10 percent of those savings. When everyone's eye is on the bottom line, they're bound to find the kind of improvements you're looking for.

Which little arthropod is more likely to kill you at work, a brown recluse spider or a bee? If you've ever had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, you probably know the answer already. Oddly enough, an August report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that, of the 83 insect, arachnid, and mite-related occupational fatalities which occurred between 2003 and 2010, well over 60 percent could be blamed on bees. And of those 52 cases of death by bee, 39 were a result of anaphylactic shock.

The other 31 decedents encountered unfriendly wasps (8 deaths), venomous spiders (7 deaths), hostile ants (4 deaths), and angry yellow jackets (3 deaths). 9 died in attacks by unidentified insects; the Bureau of Labor's forensics team is currently looking through AFIS (the Ant and Flea Identification System, of course) in an attempt to identify the killers.

Not all fatalities were a direct result of stings or bites. An unlucky few were distracted by or attempting to avoid insects to such an extent that they tumbled from a roof, crashed a car, or fell off a tractor. Lesson learned: check the field for wasps' nests before you plow, pull the car over and roll down all the windows as soon as you see a bee in the rearview, and slather on the insect repellant. Though workplace death-by-insect is as rare as it is peculiar, it is a risk, and all risks need to be considered.