With the adjustments in daily life, Working from home has seen a huge increase over the last year and a half. And with good reason. Many people are beginning to realize that working from home is the most efficient way to sustain a healthy work-life balance. There are definitely pros and cons to both working in an office and working from home. But we will talk about all of the things that make working from home so beneficial.
Are there any downsides to working from home?
With the wave of people who work from home now more than ever, the transition can seem daunting. And with this new wave of working from home, comes new challenges. To some, these are worthwhile challenges but to others, it may take some alterations to make working from home comfortable for their lifestyle.
A few downsides of working from home for some people might be;
- Lack of social interaction
- Difficulty designating a workspace
- Increased distractions
- More accountability
Some of these downsides could also be coined as a pro since most people tend to find there are more advantages than disadvantages.
Social Intercation
With the lack of social interaction, the fact is most “work friends” are only friends because you simply spend time with them at work. Social interaction suffers slightly until you realize the social interaction gets improved by joining a sports club, gym, or group you have always wanted to join like tango lessons.
Difficulty Designating a Workspace
With difficulty designating a workspace, that issue arrives simply because many of us do not have a home designed for working. Whether it’s a studio apartment or a 2 bedroom home with children running around, it can be tough to design a work-from-home space. It is recommended to set up in a space that you can create a separate environment from.
If needed, simply place furniture in a way that secludes that area from the rest of the home. Therefore, each time you step into the space, it is your workspace with no other incentives to be there. Ideally, you want to keep it fun with some paintings or quotes/goals as a rest from your eyes for a while.
Increased Distractions
Distractions show up in the form of, it’s your home so it can be harder to step away from the other things in your home because it’s within walking distance. It can get quite easy to throw on a movie and get lost in time because “my office is in the next room” so you blow it off for a while.
Accountability
More accountability stems from doing the work that’s necessary. For a long time, we were told to work 9-5 because that’s the time work is from. But now people are realizing that they can get their entire workday done in 6 hours or less most of the time. So as long as that happens, everyone’s happy. The tricky part is giving yourself adequate time to get the workload done. Being on your own to get tasks done might be a little more challenging because you have to be self-dependent on getting all the items completed.
No commute
On the flip side, the amazing benefits of working from home include no commuting at all. Since you can get up into your workspace in five minutes or less is an amazing benefit. Not only are you saving tons of money by not commuting, you also save so much time. Time is the most valuable thing you have so being able to save it on commuting is a blessing. From that, you are also able to ask for different car insurance policies given that you won’t drive it as much.
By eliminating commuting from my day, I saved over 1.5 hours and over $400/month by reducing insurance and filling up my car once a month.
Work from the comfort of your home
A pretty apparent benefit of working from home is the ability to work from home! Working in your Pjs is a fun feeling knowing you’re comfy but still making money doing work that challenges and excites you! The knowledge that you’re working on something without the stresses of traffic, being late, (unless you sleep past your alarm for a meeting), or any other aspect of being on time is gone when working from home.
Not to mention your lunch breaks are much easier, therefore, saving you both time and money. If you know how to cook, that is the ultimate money saver.
When you pair your lunch breaks, listening to music you like from home, and working in your pj’s you really start to see the benefits of working from home.
Buy your time back
As mentioned earlier, working from home buys your time back in quite a few ways. When factoring in commuting, driving to lunch, chatting with coworkers on your coffee break, and time before work sitting in your car not wanting to go in for one reason or another, all that time adds up. Not to mention you’re there at the office for 8+ hours.
When factored all in, your time at the office totals anywhere from 9-12 hours at work or doing work-related things. Working from home, if you accomplish your assignments for the day or at least block off a few hours of deep work, that is fully focused efforts to accomplish the task.
Even if you did spend a full 8 hours doing real work, you have just granted yourself an additional 1-4 hours if not more working from home.
Time is definitely worth more than money so be sure not to waste it. Each and every second is precious, cherish them by prioritizing the critical few and eliminating the trivial many! (Quote from Tim Ferriss)
Save loads of money
Since you are eliminating commuting, eating out (if you know how to cook) insurance costs most likely decrease, there’s not a need for corporate attire working from home, as well as if you choose to workout from home, you can save loads of money! When you add up all the costs, you should be able to save at least $500-$1,500 a month which totals at least $6,000 a year.
By working out from home, a gym membership averages $35/m, and commuting runs about $100-$200 a month.
Eating out can easily run you $13 on average a meal or $39 a day or $1,170/month. Just on those three savings alone, working from home and doing your best to do all things from home overall, you save upwards of $1,000-$2,000 a month. Essentially this gives you a big raise that you will notice on your monthly spending as long as you’re budgeting like mentioned in a previous blog post While it’s one thing to hear me talk about working from home, I want to hear from you guys on why you want to work from home! If you already work from home, let me know what you like/dislike about it!
Until next time,
- Eric