Latex provides the wrapfig package which lets you wrap text around figures. In not only saves place, but also embeds the figure nicely into your text.

Add the wrapfig package in your preamble:

\usepackage{wrapfig}

And place the figure where you want to have it:
\begin{wrapfigure}[1]{2}[3]{4}
...
\end{wrapfigure}
and similarly for tables:
\begin{wraptable}[1]{2}[3]{4}
...
\end{wraptable}

1. Number of lines (optional)
2. “r” for right and “l” for left figure placement.
3. Overhang (optional)
4. Width to be reserved.

Example:
\begin{wrapfigure}[6]{r}[\columnwidth+\columnsep]{9cm}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{figure.jpg}
\caption{My figure.}
\label{fig:myfig}
\end{wrapfigure}

To reduce the vertical space on top of the figure, between the figure and the caption as well as below the caption, use:
\vspace{-10pt}
wherever necessary.

Finally, with the wrapfig package it is also possible to embed a figure/table into text that is structured into multiple columns, where the figure stretches over several columns.  This is a bit more tricky to achieve and a manual can be found in the wrapfig documentation.