Working from home comes with a lot of perks, not the least of which is you can get rid of a lot of the expenses that you’d have working away from home. You may be surprised at just how much money working from home will save you. These are some of the top expenses you’ll eliminate by working from home.
Working from home can have a drastic effect on your budget. Some jobs may mean taking a pay cut in order to work from home, but it’s important to consider the ways that working from home will save you money in order to figure out what your true take-home pay will be.
Your individual situation will vary, but these are some of the most common ways that working from home will save you money, not to mention the time you’ll save by working remotely.
Save on your work wardrobe
It’s amazing how quickly the cost of a work wardrobe can add up. It’s not only the cost of the clothes but the cost of dry cleaning them, if you have clothes that need to be professionally cleaned. When you work at home you can often get away with only having a few business-professional outfits. People don’t see you every day so you are able to wear them more often and you won’t have to dry clean them as often as you would when they are worn on a daily basis.
Nine times out of ten, I’m wearing casual clothes at home. When I do dress up for a Zoom meeting or the rare in-person meeting I have, I’m typically only wearing my dressier clothes for a few hours at a time.
Save on Car Expenses by Working from Home
The cost of commuting can be massive. We were once in a position where my husband was commuting up to 2 hours a day. The wear and tear on our car and the cost of gas were astronomical. He was able to work from home several days a week which saved us a good chunk of his commuting budget every month.
Consider your car expenses. Some jobs put you in the position of needing a car that portrays a certain image, which increases your expenses. Working from home can save you the cost of gas, car repairs, and wear and tear on your car. We’ve been able to share a car at times, while working from home. Working from home has also allowed me to keep cars that are totally paid-off because I’m not putting very many miles on them. I’m currently only filling up my gas tank once a month as a remote worker too, which is a drastic change from my expenses working outside of the home.
Save on Childcare Expenses by Working from Home
For many families, childcare expenses can outweigh the benefits of having two incomes, especially if you have more than one child. Working from home does not mean you will not need childcare, especially if you have young kids, but you can often lower your childcare expenses or eliminate them if your children are older.
Working from home definitely offers you more flexibility, which makes it way easier to work around your children’s school schedule. Evaluate your individual situation and determine how much lower your childcare expenses would be if you were working from home.
Save on Food Expenses by Working from Home
Food expenses can be a major part of your monthly budget. With 6 kids, we’ve had times where our food bill was more than our house expenses. Working from home can dramatically cut your food expenses.
When you work outside of the home you may have aspirations of packing a lunch every day, but chances are you are going to eat out at least part of the time, especially when it becomes a social thing with your coworkers. Those expenses add up. If you are too tired to cook dinner when you come home, you may resort to take-out there too.
Working from home can allow you to eat at home and give you more time to plan meals for your family, which will cut your overall food budget. I don’t have a lot of time to cook, but I’ll often pull something out to thaw in the morning or throw something in the crockpot/Instant Pot when I get a break during the day. Each meal I make at home saves me money.
