I love working from home. I would much rather work at a desk in my own house making more dollars at home than in an office somewhere downtown. Here’s just some of the reasons I think working from home has major benefits.
1. The Clothing Allowance – If you work in an office or in a storefront, chances are pretty good that your bosses don’t want you coming to work in jeans and a golf shirt. Right? How much money do you spend each year on buying clothing for work? $200 a month? $400?
Work at home and you can reduce that amount to $100, if that. You shouldn’t be sitting at your desk wearing your old holy sweatpants and your stained sweatshirt, but you don’t need to be decked out in a suit or dress either. A pair of khakis with a dress shirt works just fine. It’s comfortable, looks good if you need to meet with clients and it will cost you a fraction of what a three piece suit would cost.
2. The Commute – What is there to say here? You don’t have to drive to the office every day. You may need to meet with clients, but you won’t have to do that every day. If you’re so successful that you do have to meet with clients every day, thank your goal-focused mind and know you’re making more than the fuel you’re using. Work from home and save a lot of maintenance costs on your vehicle too. What to do with the time you would have spent in your car commuting? Have another cup of coffee, help get the kids off to school, throw in some laundry. You get the picture.
3. The Office AHole – Yes, we all know one. It seems there is at least one in every office or job site. Often there is more than one. Heaven forbid, the AHole has the bosses ears. Working from home means you don’t have to work with the AHole anymore. Unless you are the AHole. If that’s the case, you SHOULD work from home and spare everyone else a lot of grief.
4. Day Care Costs – If you have a baby or young kids, working from home means that largely, you can arrange your work schedule around your children’s needs. What can be better than that? If you work outside the home and have young kids, have you worked out the actual, true, honest to God costs of working out? Are you sure you are making any money? Start tracking this and answer the question. You may be surprised how much it is costing you to leave every day to go to work.
5. Better Relationship/More Involvement with your Children – This is never a bad thing. Arranging your schedule around the needs of your children means you can spend time with them, looking after them. Work when they are down for naps. Take the older kids to ball practice and actually stay and watch them play. Sit down and work again in the evening after you put the kids to bed.
There you go – there’s 5 great reasons to try to work from home. I’ll post more benefits and if you have tips, leave a comment and I will add them. Let’s work together at moredollarsathome.com and ummm, well…make more dollars at home!