How much money do people who work at home save per month vs people who commute to work? By using average costs for each category that people who commute to work have to pay for that people who work from home do not we see an average cost savings of over $1,000 per month or over $12,000 per year.
One thing to keep in mind here is that, on average, people who work from home are generally paid less for the same work than people who commute to work. On a personal note, though, this author has made as much as $14,000 in one month blogging from home. He has never made anything close to that from the jobs he has commuted to work for. It really depends on the kind of work one does from home vs commuting.
Here's a list of annual savings that people who work from home get vs people who commute to work have to pay for in one way or another.
How Much Money Do People Who Work from Home Save Per Month?
- Time - $6,388
The biggest savings from working at home come from time saved. The average worker in the United States spends one hour a day commuting to work. How do you translate that into money? The average worker makes $24.57 per hour. So one hour is worth that much money.
So we multiply $24.57 x 5 days a week = $122.85 x 52 weeks = $6,388 per year.
- Lunch - $1,300
Even if you work at home you'll still eat lunch but you will, on average, spend about $5 less on lunch and coffee costs per day. Its much cheaper to eat at home and make your own coffee rather than going to Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts every day.
- Gas - $1,000
The average commuter drives 16 miles each way to and from work or 32 miles a day. Multiply that by 5 days week = 160 miles a week x 52 weeks = 8,320 miles. Divide that by 25 miles per gallon = 332 gallons of gas x $3.00 per gallon = $1,000.
- Car - $1,000
People who drive their cars 8,320 miles less per year will also save another $1,000 a year from lower maintenance costs, longer life expectancy for their cars and lower insurance costs.
- Work Clothes - $900
The average person spends $1,800 a year buying clothes. If half that amount goes to work clothes it's a savings of $900.
- Tax Breaks - $750
This could change with the new tax bill but people who work at home get tax breaks averaging about $750 per year. That covers deductions for work space including pro-rated property taxes, utility costs, maintenance costs and more.
- Dry Cleaning and Laundry - $600
The average worker spends $600 a year on dry cleaning and laundry for work clothes.
- Gifts and Charity - $500
If you work from home you will no longer have to keep chipping in for things like retirement gifts, birthday gifts, Christmas and holiday gifts and wedding gifts, and no longer have to buy girl scout cookies from co-worker Jane's kids.
Add all that up and people who work from home save some $12,438 per year or an average of over $1,000 per month. Working from home is not for everyone. It requires real self discipline but there is no denying that people who work from home have substantial cost savings annually over people who commute to work.
The biggest saving is time and the author has tried to value that time monetarily. But for each person the biggest question to always ask is - how much is your time really worth?
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