Maintaining your budget for your family and yourself is one of the most important things you’ll have to do to avoid financial turmoil. One of the advantages of tracking your budget is you get to keep an eye on your expenses. This plays well for you in two ways, one is you’ll get to know what are the things that are eating up your revenue and you’ll get to determine ways to minimize costs or expenses.
Here are some ways to reduce your work-related expenses:
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1. Consider Working from Home
Nowadays, working remotely doesn’t have to sacrifice the incentives of collaborative work practices. Businesses have embraced the need and the advantages of letting employees work from home. On your side, working from home does have a lot of perks, one of them is how economical to not leave the house to do your job. According to one study, this type of work scheme can help employees save up to $9,000 a year in costs. It doesn’t hurt to ask your employers if there’s a work from home option and make sure you have a good case for asking one.
2. Tax Write-offs
For a contract job, you can apply for a tax write-off when you take your car to work. There are basically two ways to do it; first is to record your car expenses and the second is to track miles for taxes. You should, however, compute the expenses and expected write-offs to choose which one best suits you. This because depending on your mileage one option can be better than the other.
If you’re using a part of your home exclusively as a place of business, you can deduct that from your taxes.
3. Save On Meals
One of the ways to save on costs daily starts at home. Yes, preparing your own provisions can help you cut costs that add up pretty quickly.
● Reduce Eating Out
Not entirely abstaining from having an occasional lunch out, bringing your own food to your workplace can significantly help you save money. In fact, men can spend up to $40 on a meal and women spend somewhat less.
● Drink Water
It’s not enough that you bring your own food to work if you’re constantly buying expensive sodas or other beverages. Drinking water can not only help you save money but can also help you stay healthy and refreshed. Even if you’re eating out for lunch, skip the sweetened drinks and just ask for water, it’s much more affordable and it’s good for you. If you’re working on-site, bringing your own water in a refillable bottle can also help you abstain from drinking otherwise.
● Brew Your Own Coffee
A regular coffee drinker will be surprised by how much they’re spending on their pick-me-up. You can save by buying an inexpensive coffee maker instead of buying a “venti” every morning and afternoon. A single cup would cost you $55 a month which could be significantly less if you brewed your own cup.
4. Commute Off-Peak Hours
Many companies have now allowed employees to work on flexible schedules. This means you won’t have to suffer rush hour traffic, which also translates to a cheaper commute to the office. A shorter commute means lower gas consumption and lesser maintenance costs for your car. Many jobs are still requiring people to come from 9 to 5 but there is already a great number of employers that allow for times beyond those confines.
You can also take public transportation from time to time to spend less on gas. You’ll not only cut on expenses, but you’ll also be doing the environment a favor.
5. Negotiate for Better Perks
Working for a company will have to entail some negotiation when it comes to getting a better compensation package. If you have the right skills and talent, chances are you have the cards to negotiate for perks and other benefits to include in your package. If your job requires you to always wear suits and formal attires, you can ask them to cover for dry cleaning costs. But it doesn’t have to end there, asking for benefits or a work-from-home option will have to start by being proactive about it.
An average employee spends over $5,500 on work-related essentials and this doesn’t include miscellaneous expenses. If you’re looking on how to personally cut your costs, then looking at your daily expenditures related to your job can help you identify ways to save money. This is not to say that you can eliminate these costs or skimp out on things to de-stress yourself, but being attentive and smart on how you spend your money will get you far in saving for your future.
