Saving money by doing it yourself
Using the Microsoft Office Suite instead of paying someone
How many times have you paid someone to create cool flyers or business cards for you? Did you know your Office suite already has these products preloaded as templates?
Who would have guessed that with $3.84 and some creativity, you can create your own powerful business cards or flyers? I'm always amazed that people will pay for services when they can make their own at home absolutely (well nearly) free. The best part about this is that these tools are already loaded on their computers. If not loaded, these tools can be easily downloaded from a reputable site on the internet so they can be customized to your own taste!
Cost of business cards
$3.84 is typically the price of business cards at Wal-Mart. You can get 100 for this price and that should be enough to start creating your own customized cards. If you are creating flyers, you can use the plain paper you print your regular documents on. These two options above show how you can create your own flyers or business cards for less than five dollars! Amazing!
Templates
When you open Microsoft Word, you typically see a blank document. If you select File and New, you will see a variety of templates waiting to be used. They range from business cards, flyers, resumes, memos, and fax coversheets. The templates are there to save you time from trying to create these documents from scratch.
The key to using these templates is finding one that meeting the majority of your needs. You may find that templates loaded on your computer are not an exact match to your needs. In this case, you can add or remove some of the content from the template. You may also want to add your own personal information to the template as well. These customizations help in making the template more yours than using the template “out of the box”.
Templates on Microsoft.com
Another useful tool regarding templates is to go Microsoft.com. There is a search window in the upper right hand corner of this site. Type the word template in the search window and press enter. This will take you to some matches regarding the word template. Select the one that says Download free templates for Microsoft Office products. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx ) I will stress using the search method because this site often changes locations when Microsoft redesigns their site.
On this site, you will see templates for all of Microsoft’s products. These templates are categorized by type, product, function, etc. The best part about the templates is that they are FREE. Take advantage of this useful tool when it comes to creating documents for your home and/or office. Why struggle when what you need already exists? Just make some minor adjustments and it looks like you spent hours when in actuality it took 5 minutes!
In summary, learn to use the tools in your Office suite to your advantage. Instead of paying someone to create business cards or flyers, try to do them yourself. You now know of the tools available on your computer and online. You may surprise yourself with your creativity and your wallet will love you for it!
