I've saved more than $15,700 just by making my lunches at home for nine years
Back in the day, I wold often eat a quick microwave meal at my desk when there was just too much work to get done. Other days, I would go out with friends for a meal that could easily add up to $20.
These days, I make my lunches at home — usually a sandwich, a salad, or the occasional plate of pasta and meatballs, because hey, who's going to stop me? I'm in my own kitchen.
I calculate that my lunches made at home cost an average of $3 daily, or $15 weekly. Assuming two workplace desk lunches at $3.99 each and three out-of-office meals at $14 each, I was spending about $2,499 per year on lunch, assuming a 50-week work year.
At $3 daily, I am spending about $750 per year on workweek lunch. So that's $1,749 staying in the bank.
I don't commute to work anymore, which saves me about $860 on gas every year, or close to $8,000 total
It's plain to see that commuting fuel was a huge expense from my budget that I have totally cut.
When I commuted to the office, my round-trip drive was about 32 miles. That adds up to 8,000 miles a year (I'm using a 50-week estimate, because vacations exist).
Using current gas prices and an estimate of 25 miles per gallon, I came up with a total of $860.80 for those 8,000 miles each year. That comes out to $7,747 saved annually.
I no longer have to buy dress shirts and slacks for work, so I've saved almost $600 on clothing every year
The last office in which I worked had a semi-formal dress policy, so I wore button-down shirts daily and ties many days a week (though, truth be told, I slid toward the casual side after a few years there).
If your office has a dress code that necessitates you buying any type of clothing you wouldn't normally use, working from home can save you a decent chunk of change on apparel.
Assuming I would buy four new dress shirts, three pairs of slacks, and three ties each year, I estimate a savings of $580 per year on dress clothes, using J. Crew as my reference, because that has long been my go-to for such clothing.
Now that I make my coffee at home, I've saved about $120 every year
I never spent that much on coffee, as my office always had plenty of pots going. But I did grab a latte with lunch, or once in a while on the way to work, so let's be conservative and call it $3.99 per week, or $199.50 per year.
Now, I spend about 30 cents a day on my two home-brewed cups of coffee, or $1.50 weekly. That's $75 per year, or a $124.50 savings. If you get a cup of coffee at $3.99 daily, you could save hundreds by making your own coffee at home.
And I've saved $75 a year on data overage charges because I'm always connected to my home's internet
As my phone is always connected to my home's Wi-Fi, I'm almost never using data, and never doing so for work unless I'm on a trip.
In fact, in all my years of working from home, I have only gone over my Verizon data plan three times, and all of them occurred while I was overseas.
Assuming a modest five times of going over, I would pay $75 in annual fees, as Verizon charges $15 per overage. Instead, most years, I pay nothing, as I never come close to using all of it.
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