Money in the Bank

Here's a closer look at just some of the ways you can get your bank account bulging! Some people can see savings of up to €10,000 a year.

Reduce Food and Drink Spending

Let us start with the obvious. We all spend far more money on food when we are working outside the home. Eating out is both unhealthy and costly, but people still do it, this era encouraged many people to cook their own meals at home, which probably made us all realise how much money we can save. The swift half at lunchtime is also a thing of the past unless it’s in can format! Overall savings here based on 5 lunches could come in a €1,500 a year comfortably

Cutting Down on Coffee Costs

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, financial experts were lecturing us all about the money wasted each week on Coffee, the Greens were lecturing us about single use paper cups(a whole different article on them soon!) anyhow, it adds up to a small fortune every year.

Well, now is the time to reel in that habit too, If you purchase two €6 jars of decent coffee per month instead of 2 takeaway €3 coffees a day,  over 20 days you work each month that saves you over €100 per month and nearly €1,300 a year.

Less Clothing Required

Very few people feel the need to dress up when working from home, and that translates into substantial savings on wardrobe costs. No need to dress up when your meetings are mostly over Zoom. The savings has amounted to about €1,500 a year for some. For others, they still have their clothes from 2003 but either way, the average across will be well over €1,000 a year.

Reduced Car Maintenance

Cars are lying idle in driveways and parking spaces throughout the land. This is yet another development that translates into tangible household savings on multiple levels. Cars will last years longer, maintenance will be minimal. I'm personally saving at least €2,000 a year, probably more than that when you consider I'm extending the life of my vehicle.

Using Less Fuel

Vehicle maintenance costs are not the only savings associated with driving less. There's also the obvious fuel savings. In commuter land, an average person could save €300+ per month, that’s over €3,000 per year once tolls are included.

Cutting Down on Public Transport

Not all of us relied upon a car to get back and forth work. Many opted for public transportation and The Tax Saver ticket was a very popular choice amongst our contractors. Annual commuter tickets even after tax relief are still saving over €1,000+ a year.

Beauty Products

I might start this by saying that the research I carried out indicated that some women wear about €5 worth of products per day. I could end up in hot water here, so I might draw this one to a close! Either way, the suggested reduction for home working is 60%-75% showing a saving of about €900 a year!

Fragrances

Gents – When did you last buy a can of deodorant? Fragrance sales for men and women has fallen through the floor. We estimate savings of €250 a year.

Making the Most of Tax Relief

Working for home also translates into a potential tax relief. Revenue allows for claims against some home office expenses on your annual tax returns.

Revenue’s rate for the cost of running a home office is 10% of the total cost. This means that you can claim 10% of the total amount of allowable utility bills against your taxes. This is only available for the days that you work from home. This does not include times you may have brought work home to do outside your normal working hours.

So, with Heating, Electricity and Broadband, a tax credit of €300+ a year could be seen

Reducing Housing Costs

And finally, perhaps one of the most significant benefits of working from home is the freedom to live wherever you want when not constrained by having to locate in a community that provides a reasonable daily commute to an office. In the long term, rents are expected to drop due to lower city occupancy, its hard to put a figure on this just yet, but it may well be significant in 2022.