How working from home saves money

Admittedly: There are costs, that occur when working from home, too, because unlike at the office, you have to pay for power, water and other utilities. However, these are easily calculable overhead costs that you can consciously reduce and keep low by being sustainable and resource-efficient.

You can also save a lot in everyday life. When you’re working from home, many small and hidden expenses decrease seemingly on their own. But even bigger items like travel and even rental costs can be considerably be reduced in the long term. With these tips, you’ll save while making money working from home and get more out of your paycheck!

Homeworking affects a substantial share of workers, but savings are not automatic. Destatis reports that 23.5% of employed people in Germany worked from home in 2023. The financial effect depends on commuting distance, days at home, housing and additional household costs.

To Stay instead of To Go

When you have to be at the office early, oftentimes you won’t take the time to eat a healthy and balanced breakfast at home. Instead, you’ll have a quick coffee or a sandwich to go on your way to work. But hastily eating breakfast on the go is not only unhealthy – it’s also pretty expensive. After all, a coffee to go costs almost as much as a whole pack of coffee bought at the supermarket. In addition, paper cups and packaging material create a lot of waste.

When you’re working from home, you save time to enjoy your morning coffee, tea or even a relaxed breakfast. Healthy, inexpensive and environmentally friendly!

Free time instead of travel costs

Fewer journeys can reduce travel time and variable commuting costs. Germany’s Federal Statistical Office reports that 22.6% of commuters spent 30 to under 60 minutes on a one-way journey in 2024, while 5.7% needed at least one hour.

We can do without our coffee to go every now and then. It’s a different story with travel costs. Anyone who doesn’t live near enough to their work place to walk or ride their bike there has to rely on their car or public transportation. And this can be really expensive.

When working from home, you don’t only save yourself the costs for your commute – but a lot of time and nerves. Crowded buses and trains and daily rush hour traffic jams are a thing of the past for you now, once and for all! You can learn more about saving time when working from home here.

In addition, you stay independent from gas prices or fare increases and maybe you can even do without your own vehicle or a monthly pass altogether.

Reduced commuting is one benefit, but telework also creates organisational trade-offs. The OECD’s telework survey highlights impaired communication and knowledge flow and points to the need for ICT skills and updated management practices.

Flatrate instead of expensive plans

Quickly checking your messages or social media channels on your way to work or replying to friends and family via the messenger: If you use public transport to get to the office, you spend a lot of time on your smart phone – and therefore, you need a certain amount of data a month. The result is an expensive phone plan that blends into monthly overhead costs unnoticed.

At home, you’re surfing via WiFi all the time, without the costs of your plan becoming more expensive. This way, you can switch to a cheaper one and are still flexible and available!

Live where you want – and save on expensive rent

To avoid long commutes, many people seek an apartment near their workplace. But living space in big cities or areas of high population density is limited – and expensive. Not to mention noise, air pollution and traffic. When you’re working from home, however, you can live wherever you want, since you don’t have to live near your employer. This also means: You’ll never have to move for a job again, but you can live where you and your family like it best.

Cooking instead of the canteen

A lunch break involving a balanced meal is important for your energy levels and motivation! But depending on what environment you work in, your daily lunch break can get pretty expensive. After all, not all companies have an in-office kitchen or offer their employees inexpensive lunches. And a business lunch in the city can often be just as expensive as dinner in a restaurant. But even if there is a canteen or an inexpensive lunch place around the corner – even those smaller expenses add up and the amount you spend on food will always be higher than if you eat at home.

When you work from home, you can simply cook your own lunch. Not only is this less expensive, but also healthier! After all, you decide on all the ingredients yourself and you create your lunch just the way you like it! You can learn how to stay fit and healthy while working from home here.

Snacks – but healthy and cheaper

But your lunch break isn’t the only pitfall in every day office life. A second breakfast, a small afternoon snack and an espresso with your co-workers at the café next door – there are many opportunities to spend money. Every single work day.

When you’re working from home, you can prepare your own snacks and drinks and thus save a lot of money at the end of the day – assuming you even need to have something at all. At home, there are automatically less opportunities and temptations to snack and it’s much easier to eat mindfully and in a balanced way.

Deliberate rewards instead of spontaneous shopping

We all know it: You actually just wanted to get home after a successful work day, but there was this shop window – and before you know it, you leave the shop with full bags and empty pockets. Especially for people who work in the city center, impulse buying can be a real temptation.

It’s absolutely okay to want to treat yourself after work, because let’s be honest: You earned it! The only problem is that such spontaneous purchases are usually things you don’t need – and thus you spend your well-earned money imprudently and unnecessarily.

When working from home, you can treat yourself with things that will be good for you in the long term, without being too hard on your wallet. For example with a yoga session, a run, a balanced meal or a good cup of coffee or tea. This way, at the end of the month, you’ll have more money for the things you really want and need.

Earn and save money flexibly – With yoummday you can sustainably reduce your living costs

At yoummday, you take full advantage of all these benefits – because as a talent, you work independently and exclusively from home. All you need for your freelance work at yoummday is a stable internet connection, two monitors and a headset. Only you decide when and where you work!

You want to earn money and reduce your living expenses by working from home and actively save? Register easily, without obligation and of course for free – at yoummday.