Work your relationships, and be sure to play up your successes. Clients love referring a hot new designer who just finished a great project. Use the Web to order books, supplies, computers and more. Here are the sites to watch for everything from antiques to office snacks. You generally can't order furniture or materials directly, but you can see entire lines and find local dealers.
Many sites are also incredibly rich sources of industry and design information.
We asked a few ASID designers to tell us how they like to bring down overhead costs. Take care of them, and they'll take care of you. I order as much as possible from my favorite reps, and they find ways to save me money and cut me deals. When Lake renovated her office, she cut her remodeling costs by working with reps who had supplied materials for her clients. We really spent less than half of what I had expected, because we got discounts on carpet, paint, laminate, lighting and more.