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COVID savings from working from home?


Wally Fairway

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So today will make 1 week of work from home, and I'd guess we have saved at least $200 
Likely 3 or 4 tanks of gas (3 of us work in an office), only had restaurant food once this week, no dry cleaning, no movies, no greens fees, no bar tab

Longer term savings, because I think this goes on 4-6 more weeks - no oil changes for cars, no vacation travel, no new clothes purchases (looking at you Mrs Fairway), 

So I'd guess I'll reduce my spending by about $1,000/month - which is a nice side benefit, until they lay off those of us working from home

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I'm probably spending more. I already worked from home unless I was traveling to customer sites. I was usually on the road 3 days a week, 3 weeks a month. When I was on the road I had a Per Diem, so being at home more, I'm spending my own money on food. I guess the dry cleaning savings offsets some of that, but not $100 a day. 

I AM losing some weight not eating restaurant and hotel food 3 days a week, though. Getting out and walking or riding my bike every day helps, too. 

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Wife and I work at same company but she's able to work from home while I have to be on site.  I'm sure the utilities will be higher since she's using electricity for her work setup, tv, lights, gas wise is the same since I'm driving into work. 

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13 minutes ago, Chapo said:

Biggest money saver is no childcare

No childcare? That sounds nice because I'm still paying for my PreK program even though it's unlikely she even goes back this semester.

Normally traveling a few weeks a month so that means my eating and drinking is no longer covered. Having way more drinks with the wife at home each night. We are cooking at home almost each day so although grocery bills are higher the savings going out to eat definitely outweighs that. However the wife's Amazon habit seems to have increased so right now I might be coming in just barely ahead (financially anyway).

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30 minutes ago, Rip76 said:

Absolutely zero.

Company truck w/fuel & toll tag

Travel every other week to Dallas stopped for now.  (When I travel all expenses are on them)

Grocery and liquor bill higher here now.

Higher utility usage.

All of this. 
 

7 minutes ago, ZB'Tejas said:

No childcare? That sounds nice because I'm still paying for my PreK program even though it's unlikely she even goes back this semester

And all of this, x3. 
 

My wife figured out she doesn’t know how to cook nearly as many meals as she thought she knew, and add limited groceries on top of that, meaning we are definitely doing our part supporting the local restaurants.   

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Hmmm...no gas, cleaners, lunches, happy hours, bars, restaurants........saving money

Drizly (online liquor delivery), liquor stores, DoorDash, HelloFresh......losing money......

I have also been taking advantage of a lot of sales, my favorite clothing brand is having an unheard of 50% off sales for obvious reasons. I also just bought a new puppy saturday.

Edited by TexanTraveling
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Let's see:

$23.50 per day for doggy care

Approximately $20 per day on lunch

Probably $40 per week for after work drinks

Gas and depreciation from no 26 mile RT commute in Atlanta traffic

Probably $5 a day in laundry/dry cleaning

Easily, at least $300 per week savings.

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not sure...i'm the entertainment director in our household, so all food/beverage/entertainment/travel/grocery expenses are mine. 

spending significantly more on restaurant food/takeout b/c 1) our house is under construction (i had my meltdown about it a week ago, i'm dealing lol) and kitchen is a wreck and only 75% operational, and 2) like Jerry above i'm really trying to help our local spots, already lost several hopefully just temporarily. am also tipping the max every time. 

balanced out by a grocery bill that has probably been <$150 for the past month (see above). i'd also been following this thread...i started stocking staples in February :)

i'd estimate we're saving $150 minimum on bar bills, per week. i stocked up on liquor before the shutdown, but really...we're social drinkers. no socializing, very little drinking (did buy a gallon of margaritas for $60 last friday, gotdamn were they and the accompanying tex-mex good, lol... the things we miss...) 

movies, travel, just regular bouncing around town doing whatever, spending here and there...none of that. gasoline bill at zero. 

i'm recently retired so was already home most of the day, husband now WFH but utilities probably negligible, we're only using 3 rooms in the house and can't run A/C b/c of the construction (thank god the weather has cooperated so far).

actually...looking at all that, i'm thinking we are saving a shitload, even with tripling our restaurant food bill! 

*runs off to balance checkbook* 😀

but really...i do miss the socializing. a lot. that's starting to get to me...

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get 10 extra hours per week due to no commuting.  So save gas $ and have extra time.

Lunch was not too much at $5-7 per day, but I guess it adds up.

getting takeout less often.  maybe once per week now

cancelled lawn service after confirming the old lawnmower still works, but still paying maid and afterschool nanny even though we have not used them in 2 weeks.

so net savings, I would say.

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i'm saving a ton.

 

i eat out every day for lunch, and don't like to eat garbage. probably average $18/day.

i regularly go to the coffee shop 2x per day.  about $11/day.

we will get breakfast tacos for the family 2x a week. $25 each time.

we are tired after work so eat out more than eat at home for dinner.  probably $75 per time.  so $300/week.

we have a house cleaner lady come by 2x a week.  now she's not coming at all, but we are still paying her for 1x a week so she doesn't suffer. save $140/week.

not fueling up, but short commute. probably $15/week.

no gym.  $180/month.

no austin bouldering project, random movie nights, baby sitter whatever.  untold amounts.

 

extras are groceries big time, some electricity.  nothing else really.  I can't wait to get done with this and do the math.

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1 hour ago, Chapo said:

Biggest money saver is no childcare

Not for me. I need to get work done and can’t be a homeschool teacher or entertainer for my kids, so I’m still paying a nanny, and probably a few more hours a week because she’s not limited to after school care.

For me the biggest savings are gas, dry cleaning and eating out.

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1 hour ago, SimonBolivar said:

Saving a lot but now I want to buy a keyboard to learn the piano (lol something for a garage sale later) so it'll wash out.

I've been WFH for a decade. I remember going through the initial discovery of savings; gas, vehicle maintenance, lunches, etc... Then I incurred the work from home costs. LOL

My biggest expense was building a home gym and a mountain bike. However I've probably saved money since the initial investment on equipment 10 years ago.

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3 minutes ago, F250 said:

I've been WFH for a decade. I remember going through the initial discovery of savings; gas, vehicle maintenance, lunches, etc... Then I incurred the work from home costs. LOL

My biggest expense was building a home gym and a mountain bike. However I've probably saved money since the initial investment on equipment 10 years ago.

Almost verbatim my story. Having the home gym right now is really nice, still able to lift during all of this. I'd probably be going even more crazy if I worked out at a gym and couldn't go.

To the thread, I'm saving $1400/month on day care. Last month it was prorated to about $700 because we pulled him out mid-month, and all of that went to buying new backyard things to keep him entertained while I attempt to work on the laptop outside. This month dada's getting some new mf'ing golf clubs though.

Edited by BradInATX
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2 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Those that are saving on day care, did they shut down or did y'all just pull them out?

I'm still paying our after school care because it's a small business.  I would hate to have to find another place when I have to go back to work.

We pulled our 18 month old out, but the school ended up closing two days later. That was two weeks ago. Our spot is held by a deposit of a half-month tuition (which will be applied to future tuition when we go back), so we'll be able to re-enroll whenever this blows over. 

Edited by BradInATX
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Those that are saving on day care, did they shut down or did y'all just pull them out?
I'm still paying our after school care because it's a small business.  I would hate to have to find another place when I have to go back to work.

We pulled her out but the daycare is open due to the number of hospital staffers (in the medical district)with kids enrolled. Didn’t want to risk running into an infected nurse. School is running with 20% of normal kids. We still have a spot saved.
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