1. Zero commuting costs
This is one of the most obvious ways you will save money when working from home.
If you are reliant on trains and/or buses for your journey, the financial freedom of not having to pay for monthly or annual passes makes an incredible difference.
Even if you usually drive to work, with fuel prices at the pumps this highest they have ever been, your bank balance will have never looked so good! Add the cost of basic car maintenance and depreciation. You will quickly find those regular outgoings become far less frequent.
For some families, the running of two cars may have been a necessity, but with one partner working from a garden office, the option for selling the second car and just maintaining one can be a huge money saver.
2. Utilities
With gas and electricity prices soaring, working from a smaller and more energy efficient garden office such as the e-Den at e-spaces makes perfect sense.
With highly efficient U-values, domestic quality insulation and double glazing as well as low energy and low cost lighting and heating, there is no reason to have to heat your entire house while working at home!
3. Your wardrobe
As many of us experienced during the pandemic, an office wardrobe is no longer a necessity when working from home! Travelling to and from the office each day allows an opportunity to make impulse purchases or walk past fellow commuters and consider emulating their style or fashion.
In the simplest sense, not having to attend face-to-face meetings or mingle in staffrooms and offices with colleagues means that what we are wearing can be based on comfort and budget.
4. Food and drink
How often do you buy an overpriced coffee, sandwich or salad on the way to and from work? A coffee that costs £3 to £4 each day can easily be replicated in your garden office for far less. Imagine buying just two coffees a day at £3 each can add up to £120 every month!
Most food that office workers pick up will contain excess calories and are often highly processed. It’s not that we don’t try to eat well – the daily commute often reduces the opportunity to eat healthily and at the most appropriate times. Working from home therefore gives us far more time to be able to carefully consider our food and drink options and prep healthy meals accordingly as well as save money.
5. Childcare
While there does exist an interesting debate about keeping work and family separate to remain productive in your garden office, being at home is a sure-fire way of reducing childcare costs.
Even if you do not take on child care duties yourself during the working day, you can certainly reduce the amount of time your children need care by cutting down on the long commute. Additionally, if you have the opportunity to end your day earlier, being able to pick up your child from day care or school and have some quality time with them is an ideal time to make meaningful memories.
6. Dog walking and dog care
This article, published this month on the cost of dog-sitters on The Times website. After a boom of almost 3 million pets in homes during the pandemic, owners are now finding it increasingly difficult to find dog-walkers or dog-sitters. One company were charging £1,500 for a fortnight!
Being able to keep your pets with you during the day not only saves an incredible amount of money on doggy day care or dog-sitters; it also helps regulate your mental health and well-being. Moreover, being able to partition your working day and give your beloved pooch a quick walk between online meetings or tasks is a great way to keep them and you healthy. Who knows, you may even have the additional time to sign up to an app like Rover and walk other people’s dogs for additional income.
7. Time
Having the ability to work from a garden office creates so much more flexible time in comparison to what you may have been used to. In a January 2022 study the Safeworkers website Long commute to work, identified that the average commute is now 59 minutes per day with Londoners averaging 1 hour and 19 minutes per day. On a typical five day week, simply eliminating the commute can save you 24 hours every month. Just imagine what you could achieve in that additional time…
Summary
In short, working from a garden office is a simple way to cut down on costs, save money and generate additional time that could be used toward additional income, e-spaces blog generating additional income. Given how expensive diesel and commuting costs have become, and that this is not going to get any better for the foreseeable future, there is no better time to work from home.
