A lot of people may be finding themselves working from home at some point in their lives.
Whether you are working on part-time gigs as your own boss, or working as a distance employee for a company, there are lots of ways that working from home can help you save money.
Read on for 5 ways to help you save more money while you are working from home.
- Make your meals at home
This sounds like a no-brainer, but it may take some extra time prepping in the morning or on the weekends to make sure you have food ready for mid-day meals when you start feeling hungry.
Having healthy meals prepped and ready to go will help you avoid the urge to order in with food delivery services which can add up quickly if done often.
If you like treating yourself, go ahead and pick out a day of the week where you can order in for lunch (Taco Tuesday, anyone?), but try to stick to your guns and meal prep for the rest of the week to see really see the savings.
- Don’t take online shopping breaks
Working at home may mean that you have more freedom to take multiple breaks just browsing your favorite sites, but if these are mainly websites where you like to buy things (amazon, clothing retailers, etc.) you may end up accidentally splurging on items when you are supposed to be making money.
Breaks are necessary, but try to keep the browsing to news or content sites, to avoid the temptation to buy those sneakers you have been eyeing.
Disabling the ads on your work computer is also a good way to ensure that the dress you looked at last week doesn’t keep popping up as an ad and tempting you to start shopping while you are hard at work.
- Set up a fan in your home office area
You may prefer cold or downright chilly environments for your workspaces, it helps keep you alert and awake. But, when your workspace is now your home, keeping the a.c. cranked can turn into sky-high electricity costs.
Keep your thermostat set on a comfortable temperature, maybe a few degrees lower than your ideal, but then set up a floor or ceiling fan in the areas where you are planning on working to make the room feel instantly cooler.
You will be comfortable, and save money from not having to super-chill your whole home.
- Have online doctor’s appointments if possible
If you are working parttime from home, or you are self-employed, you may not have health insurance at the moment, making taking care of little health issues a big expense.
Before you make that appointment for a high out-of-pocket fee, look into if there are telemedicine options available for your specific situation.
Often times, online telemedicine clinics have fair, upfront pricing, and may have the visit itself and shipping costs absolutely free.
This helps you budget out what you will be spending for a visit and specific medication.
Strut Health covers lots of common health issues like sexual health, skin conditions, nail fungus, and hair loss with fair pricing.
- Sell your extra cars
If 2-3 or more cars used to be a must for your family because everyone had to head off to different places every morning, you may now be in a different situation working from home.
With the huge amount of expenses for an extra car including car payments, insurance, gas, repairs, etc., you may find that selling an extra car or two can help your family save a lot of money, without even noticing the difference.
Conclusion
Working from home can be great to help get more out of your day, or help you become your own boss, but if you aren’t careful you may be spending more money than you planned on.
Limit delivered meals, avoid shopping online, keep an eye on your thermostat, look into telehealth services, and evaluate how many cars your family really needs in order to really max out how much money you can save while working from home.
You might find that there can be a significant amount of money saved with just a few simple daily changes.
