Is It (Really) Convenient to Work From Home?

Did you also hear about Smart Working for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic? Personally, I already knew it existed, because the company I work for has always embraced this way of working, for a maximum of 2 days a week. For many, however, this opportunity was unknown and for many, unfortunately, it will remain a mirage.

After all, “bosses” and entrepreneurs like to see people in the office.

They have the Power Trip and enjoy seeing their collaborators take orders, decide on their holidays and maybe criticize some behavior or praise some positive result.

After all, it is their role, while remote work empowers the worker, flattens the structures a lot, and eliminates the control roles.

Theoretically, remote work should also untie work from time, raising the result to a single yardstick for each person’s work.

However, we know that there is a constraint of at least 8 hours for employees and therefore it is not yet possible to act in this sense.

Instead, this possibility is obviously valid for Freelancers.

In this article, I want to ask myself about the economic advantages of working from home and why it is a useful tool for achieving Financial Freedom.

In this article

• Is it worth working from home in terms of costs?
• Is it worth working from home in terms of time?
• What are the downsides of working from home?
• Conclusions

Is it worth working from home in terms of costs?

In economic terms, Work from Home is almost always convenient in terms of lower costs incurred.

For many, going to the office has a very high incidence in terms of:

• mobility and therefore fuel, vehicle wear and/or transport costs in general;
• expenses related to lunch outside the home ;
• clothing, including in this category, in addition to the purchase cost, also the laundry costs.

To these expenses are added some ancillary costs such as the cost of the babysitter and the maid.

By staying at home you can (partially) renounce these expenses because you have more time available and you are physically close to the children’s school.

The lower costs must be compared with the higher costs in terms of energy and internet connection incurred by staying at home, as well as the need to have a comfortable workstation.

For almost everyone, the higher expenses incurred by staying at home are in any case lower than the earnings obtained in terms of lower expenses.

In my case, having a company car and not having to pay almost anything for its use, saving in smart working in economic terms is more related to clothing and lunch outside the home.

Considering a couple of days of smart working a week, I, therefore, save around 80 euros per month on lunch (assuming an average expense of 10 euros for lunch).

I consume fewer clothes and work shoes which have a rather high cost and are obviously subject to wear.

Assuming an annual expenditure of 1,200 for clothes, shoes, and clothes, you, therefore, save around 480 Euros on an annual basis and 40 Euros on a monthly basis.

My savings are therefore about 120 Euros per month, with two days a week working from home, considering the extra costs connected to domestic consumption as zero.

Obviously, mobility, gasoline, toll, and transport costs are the cost that has the greatest impact in most cases and that makes working from home convenient.

For many, going to work costs hundreds of euros a month in terms of fuel, tolls, and parking.

In these cases, the savings are really high and, in economic terms, there is no doubt that it is worth working from home.

Is it worth working from home in terms of time?

Working from home can be very convenient in economic terms, but perhaps the most interesting aspect for those who work from home is the Time Earned.

In fact, by working at home we save time to go to work (in my case 3 hours) and we are quicker to prepare.

Furthermore, by not having the typical office distractions, we can avoid prolonged coffee breaks and optimize the time dedicated to meetings.

In many industries, working only eight hours is really a utopia and maybe you too have a boss or colleague who likes to call you in his office just when you are about to leave …

Here is smart working it is easier to impose your own rules and rhythms at work.

Having more free time will allow you to dedicate yourself to what you like best, but also to try to use this time to create some additional income.

If you don’t know where to start, try reading my Earning Ideas.

Thanks to the hours saved with smart working, I am dedicating myself to writing more articles for the web and to settling a series of financial issues that I have always been putting off.

In fact, even Optimizing an Important Spending and Saving is a great way to improve the management of your Personal Finances.

When you start earning thanks to your side business, you will also understand the real importance of your daily work and how important it is to focus on it, but at the same time create alternative sources of income.

With four hours a week you save, you can really build something interesting.

If you don’t believe it, I recommend this video on my Youtube channel that summarizes the content of Tim Ferris’ best seller, 4 Hours a week.

It is a book that I read many years ago but when I picked it up again to make the video I found it still current and interesting and that guides the reader to work less and earn more.

If you haven’t read it yet, it can’t be missing from your library and you can find it on Amazon.

What are the downsides of working from home?

If you have come this far, you have understood that I am a supporter of remote working.

I have always loved freedom and being able to organize my day in my own way.

For me, Work from Home is, therefore, a great opportunity that frees Time and more, in everyone’s life.

In fact, the approach to work of people and the order of priorities also change in a day in which there is also time to do something useful for ourselves.

This is probably the reason why many were and still are against a more flexible organization of work.

Many companies, on the other hand, appreciate it because, on balance, it is also convenient for them.

They save a lot in terms of office space and employee travel.

Conclusions

Honestly, I don’t see big problems in smart working and working from home.

I do not encounter problems of isolation, lack of socialization, and lack of human relationships.

Of course, you have to compensate for the less contact with other people you have when you stay at home, with an extra aperitif, a dinner with friends and the like. But who doesn’t like having time to spend with the people you care about most.

In short, if I have to put on the scales the savings in terms of costs that we all incur to work and the extra time I can use to earn more, I think that working from home is a necessary step if you want to truly cultivate yourself and grow.

This is why I highly recommend to you if you are approaching the world of work or who already has a job to include this request among the non-negotiable conditions when accepting a new job.

I know it’s not easy, but many don’t even try and don’t value this opportunity to the right extent when they have to choose between different jobs.

Today it no longer makes any sense to lose two hours in traffic or on the wagons of a train every day.

In the era of connectivity, the freedom of work is increasingly within reach, and working from home also allows you to collaborate with companies that are geographically distant but which are willing to enhance and pay for your professionalism.

What do you think? I’d really love to read your opinion in the comments.