As the employment market evolves and technology improves it has become easier for business people to work from home. Most people are attracted to working from home simply because they will not have to deal with peak hour traffic or the colleagues that they do not get along well with, there are other benefits to working from home.
The latest trend is to telecommute, meaning that you use the advantages of technology and perform your usual tasks from the comfort of your own home. The article on Mint Life lists ways you can save and here are some of the ways that you can save monthly, allowing you to stretch your pay check further!
Transport – By telecommuting you save yourself time, money and frustration! If you think about it for a moment, the money you spend on petrol, toll fees and car repairs on a monthly basis quickly adds up. By working from your home office you are saving this money every month.
Lunch – All the best intentions to take a packed lunch with you to the office almost never happen, and the money you land up spending each day at the office on food also adds up and eats away at your monthly income. Working from home you will eat what I in the fridge.
Clothing – Having to ensure that you keep up to date with fashion and have at least one new outfit each month is also an expensive exercise. By telecommuting you can work in your comfortable clothing and spend the money on other things.
Child Care – For mothers who work in the office they often have to look for day care facilities for their children and if they work longer hours than normal they would need to find aftercare facilities too. Although it is not recommended to try and do your job and look after your children, you will still save on aftercare costs and you can find other telecommuters in your area and arrange to share the costs of daycare for all the children.
Snacks & Coffee – Although it is great to take a break from the office environment and have some personal time away from the prying ears of other colleagues, those daily or sometimes twice daily excursions to the corner Starbucks also becomes a budget killer. Stocking up on tasty snacks from the supermarket and telecommuting saves you more than half of the money spent at Starbucks.
Dry Cleaning – Having to look your best every day of the week often means that you have to dry clean your suites on a weekly basis too. Without having to look your best on a daily basis you can cut down your dry cleaning needs to once a month or once every second month depending on how many times you do have to make an appearance at the office.
Tax Benefits – There are a number of deductions which you can claim for as a telecommuter, from your office space, office equipment, stationery and utilities. Ensure that you keep all receipts as proof of your expenses to claim your tax benefits.
These are just some of the expenses that cut deep holes into your monthly income which are easily alleviated with telecommuting. Although telecommuting is a great way to save money and still do your job it does take determination and dedication to ensure that you sit down and do the job instead of visiting friends or watching movies all day long!
I have worked from home before and I currently have the option to work from home a couple of times per month. I loved it in the beginning, but then it started to wear on me. I wanted to enjoy talking with co-workers. You do save a lot of money when working from home though.
Totally know what you mean – I currently work from home and while I love the freedom, some days I go a bit nutty, desperate for human contact! The fact that I save so much on petrol is worth it though, as I was previously driving 40 miles a day to and from work.