Do you want to know the financial benefits of working from home?
Since Mirai and I started working online for more than 8 years now, we’ve always known how more productive working from home is.
It’s also more comfortable to work at the comforts of your own home because it’s usually just you and the people you love in the same vicinity. 🙂
But are these the only perks of being a remote worker?
Top Financial Benefits of Working From Home
The truth is, working from home can give you more financial flexibility and even financial freedom.
How, you ask?
Let’s talk about how working from home can help you save more money below.
1. Less Commute Expenses
When you work from home, your daily commute will just be the distance from your bedroom to the distance to your home office.
Sometimes, if you’re in the mood, you can even work while you’re sitting down at your own bed! 🙂
Because you don’t need to commute to go to your company’s office anymore, you get to save tons of money related to transportation such as bus tickets, taxi fare and even jeepney or tricycle fare, depending on where your place of work is.
Personally speaking, since Mirai doesn’t need to drive me to my past office anymore, we get to save around:
- ₱10,000 ($200) on gas expenses
- ₱4,000 ($90) on parking fees
Plus, there’s absolutely no stress related to driving, traffic and pollution anymore, so it’s a win-win!
2. Less Office Clothing Expenses
Another way you can save money while you’re working from home is by not spending money on shopping for clothes.
Sure, there are some credit cards for freelancers that give out rewards or cash-back promos for shopping expenses. But when it comes to choosing shopping and not shopping, you’d definitely save more money by not shopping, right?
Since you’re already working from home, there’s no need for you to buy expensive office-wear or purchase different sets of clothing because of peer pressure.
You can simply wear your favorite “let’s-do-this” outfit and repeat it over and over again while you’re working from home. Trust us, no one cares. 🙂
Assuming an outfit costs ₱5,000 ($100), Mirai and I get to save that amount every month just by not shopping for any office-related clothing.
3. More Affordable Food Choices
Do you remember how much you used to spend for lunch every time you’re at the office?
Personally, I used to spend ₱300 ($6) for lunch, and I’d sometimes buy a drink (coffee, iced tea, milk tea) to serve as my “inspiration” while I worked in the office back then.
Adding this up, I would spend a total of ₱10,000 ($200) monthly just for lunch and snack alone! This is just for me only, so add Mirai into the mix and working at the office would set us back ₱20,000 ($400) monthly just for lunch only. Yikes.
Now, since Mirai and I both work from home, our lunch is a mix of home-cooked meals, yummy mom-cooked deliveries from our mothers 🙂 and of course, the occasional order of our favorite food.
Honestly speaking, we still indulge in ordering food just because we have intense cravings (usually during PMS!).
But if we worked at the office, our food budget would be more expensive compared to our meal expenses because we’re both working from home.
Using a more realistic estimate, working at home lets us cut our food budget in half since we get to save money whenever we cook our own meals.
4. More Time for Side Hustles
You know what I used to hate while I was working at the office?
You’re required to come minutes before your starting time.
But when it comes to going home, you’re supposed to stay way beyond your paid time just because some of your co-workers (or even your bosses!) aren’t going home yet.
It sucks, because this type of “extended work hours” aren’t paid.
Plus, it tends to punish those of us who work efficiently — why can’t we go home early if we’re already finished with the work for the day, right?
This is one of the reasons why I LOVE working from home. It’s very flexible, so you can start and end whenever you’d like.
Some days, I’d wake up early, do my morning routine and start working at 6 am. I’d finish at 10 am and I’d be done for the day!
Other times when I’m travelling with the people I love, I’d go and explore the place first. Then I’d work from 4-8 pm for that day.
Since working from home means there’s no one looking over my shoulders and monitoring my every move, I’d have more time to dedicate to working on my passion projects.
For example, I’m working full-time as a manager for a technology company. I do all my work in 4 hours per day since I’m efficient. 🙂 The rest of the day, I’d be working on our website, At Our Desk, or I’d be reading a book, editing a reel or writing for another one of our websites.
In addition to saving money, having more time for my side hustles means we have the opportunity to earn more over the long run. Yay!
5. More Time for Relaxation
Burnout is real, you guys. When you have job burnout, this means you experience:
- exhaustion
- isolation
- fantasies of escaping your job
- trouble sleeping
- depression
- irritability
- frequent illness
- fatigue
Simply put, burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped or overloaded at work.
84% of millennials say they have experienced burnout at their current job! Personally, I experienced this for a LONG time in my past work, so I left it.
To prevent this from happening, you need to take a well-deserved rest from your work every once in a while.
Now, some companies allow you to take Paid Time Off (PTO) — but it’s limited. On average, employees can receive 10-15 days of PTO for the year.
Thankfully, the company I’m working with remotely lets us have unlimited paid time off. Seriously.
Just last year, I took 44 days of paid time off because of vacation, mental health day, PMS recovery and even celebration of various occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.
Because I was working remotely as a top-performer, I didn’t have to deal with company politics or any other BS related to work — just fill out the request and wait for it to get approved!
Because of this, I didn’t experience any severe symptoms of burnout. Actually, I was even more productive whenever I return to work because I was refreshed and ready again. 🙂 Meaning, fewer hospital-related expenses and more enjoyable trips instead!
Final Thoughts on Financial Benefits of Working From Home
Being an online remote worker has tons of financial benefits because you can save money on clothing, transportation and food expenses. Plus, you have more time to work on other passion projects and indulge in self-care.
Enjoyed this post? You can also check out this next post on awesome remote jobs you can do from anywhere.