That is the task Government set for itself and Bermudians with the austerity budget recently tabled in the House of Assembly.

Several departments had their budgets cut by three percent or more, despite the fact salaries rose as a result of wage settlements.

Staff cuts through attrition accounted for most of the $17.85 million in savings Government found.

And major service cuts like the recent move to once-a-week garbage collection and termination of the early-morning and late-evening Somerset ferry service have received plenty of attention.

But the 1993-94 budget, which Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul said amounted to a 2.5 percent spending cut when the effects of inflation were eliminated, also reflected the cumulative effect of scores of smaller savings -- from letterhead to insect spraying.

"There's an old Scottish saying,'' one Government official said. "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.'' Even the budget documents were scrimped on. In a change from previous years, there was no glossy cover on the booklet containing Dr. Saul's Budget speech.

Nor was there one on the economic review.

"A cheaper cover serves the same purpose,'' said an official in the Ministry of Finance. "This other stuff, which always looks very nice, I'm told is one of the most expensive types of paper you can find.

"We are nickel and diming these sorts of savings,'' the official said. "I would hope that other departments are looking at their stationery bills and everything else.

"It all adds up.'' In Information Services, officials have turned out their own memo forms instead of using printed ones. And photocopies of letterhead, rather than originals, are now used for facsimile cover sheets.

"Everyone draws their horns in a little bit and tries to make do with a little bit less,'' the Information Services official said.

Dr. James Burnett-Herkes, Permanent Secretary at the Environment Ministry, said the smaller economies were not new, but have been put in place increasingly over the past three years.

Reliance on existing inventories of flotation devices and other lifeguard supplies, rather than purchase of new ones, were among the smaller cuts in his area.

Again with lifeguards, "in terms of staff we'll either have to go on a shorter season, or have shorter day coverage of the beaches during certain times,'' he said.

On parks maintenance, the grass might be cut less frequently, and the maintenance system has changed to reduce the number of maintenance sections to three from five and eliminate one supervisory post.

In the control of plant pests and diseases, there has been a delay in replacing a staff member, the number of spray units was reduced, and the number of employees assigned to a spray unit was reduced to four from five, Dr. Burnett-Herkes said.

Shadow Finance Minister Mr. Eugene Cox said the Progressive Labour Party welcomed cuts in spending, provided they were equitable. But he questioned the Government's sincerity.

"We've only seen this sudden surge or emphasis because there is an election pending,'' Mr. Cox said. "What the Government is doing this year, had they tried to implement a few years ago, the country would be benefiting now.'' Mr. Cox suggested periodic use of zero-based budgeting, in which the previous year's budget is tossed aside and each expenditure must be justified anew.