Money saving hacks for working from home
- Go back
- 11th Nov 20
For many of us, going to the office every day is a thing of the past. Since March, the majority of office workers have worked full or some of the time from home. Adapting to this new routine has many benefits but as the winter months creep in, you may want to relook at your finances to ensure you are making the most of the money-savvy home working tips that are available.
Reduce heating costs
If you are usually out of the home for most of the day during the winter months, you may be surprised by just how chilled you can get sitting in one position without the heating on full blast. While we are not suggesting you get freezing cold, you could wear a thermal layer and thick socks to keep your body temperature warm instead of just reaching for the thermostat.
Save on energy
It’s not something we tend to think about but it is easy to reduce your energy consumption, which is kinder to both the environment and your wallet. How many times do you boil a kettle in the day as a distraction and break from the monotony of zoom calls and emails. Only boil the amount of water that you actually need, rather than mindlessly filling it full. At the end of the day, as well as shutting your computer down, switch it off from the wall together with any other appliances that you are finished with. Also, look at changing the light bulbs to LEDs. They use 90% less energy than traditional bulbs and will often pay for themselves over the course of a couple of months.
Batch cooking
You may think you are saving a fortune by not buying lunch every day but working from home, temptation is everywhere. Get in the habit of batch cooking so you have enough for dinner and a few lunches. Now it’s getting colder, keeping a soup on the hob is a perfect hearty and healthy lunch and you can keep adding in extra vegetables to make it last longer. Create meals that you can freeze so whenever you are tempted to splash out on a takeaway, you can simply get something out of the freezer and let it defrost. Instead of buying biscuits or cakes that are loaded with sugar, there’s plenty of healthy and cheap energy bars that you can create using oats and dried fruit. Check out the Body Coach or the Food Medic for some inspiration.
Build your savings
Now you are no longer working at an office every day, you may find you don’t need so many smart clothes and your spending decreases. You will also probably be saving on commuting, don’t forget to check if you can get a refund on a season ticket and your petrol bills will be less. Then there is the morning coffee saving as well as impromptu after-work drinks. Consider how much you are saving a month and put this money away in a high-interest account so you start to build an emergency savings buffer.
Tax relief
You can claim up to £6 a week tax relief either through your employer or through your tax by paying less of it. You can sign up directly on to the Government website and although not as generous as claiming through your employer, you can save £62.40 a year for basic rate taxpayers and £124.80 for higher rate taxpayers.
Unsubscribe
Are you busy working away and then an offer pops through to your email and you are then tempted to start shopping for a party that you haven’t even been invited to? Take some time to unsubscribe to ward off temptation because marketing emails are leading to boredom spending for many of us.
Auto switch your utilities
Money saving expert Martin Lewis has a website to help you take control of your gas and electricity bills via an auto-compare and switch service. The idea of Moneysavingexpert.com is that your utilities will automatically switch to a new supplier when a better deal pops up without you having to do anything. If you are at home all the time, it won’t be long before those bills start to add up so it is a good idea to get the best offers on the market.
Money saving tips
- Stop smoking.
- Manage your subscriptions.
- Sell your unwanted goods.
- Make a weekly meal plan.
- Sign up to loyalty schemes from your favourite shops.
- Have a goal of what you are saving for.
- Go meat free for part of the week.
- Monitor kids’ spending on the Xbox or online games.
- Check out rental platforms for fashion when you have an event.