3 ways remote work can save you money in 2024

One of the best things I’ve done over the past few years was change my job to be fully remote. I worked directly at a museum for over 10 years, and although I loved the work itself, I didn’t like being tied down to an established position to get a job. This is one of the reasons I had to move so often.

Besides the significant financial (not to mention emotional and mental) costs of uprooting my life every few years, there are a few other ways I can save money now that I can work from anywhere.

If you’re considering switching your in-person employer for one that allows remote work, let’s take a closer look at how you can save money in the process.

1. Commute costs

This is probably the most obvious and important way to save money by working remotely. Whether you drive to the office or take public transportation, if you’re not a remote worker, you’re likely spending a significant amount of money on your daily commute. Clever Real Estate found that the average commuter spends $8,466, or 19% of their annual income, on commuting.

This data is skewed towards people who drive their own cars to work (and therefore have to pay for gas, wear and tear, and car insurance). However, public transportation is not free either. For example, if you live and work in New York City, you’ll pay $132 for 30 days of unlimited bus and subway rides.

None of this accounts for the real cost of having a terrible commute. How much time do you spend traveling to and from work? How bad is the traffic? How crowded and uncomfortable are the buses and trains? How much time and stress does bad weather add to your commute? For most of my museum career, I had a fairly short commute of just a few miles (yes, I was lucky). But I’ve spent quite a bit of time in areas with harsh winter weather, and I hate driving in the snow. The stress of having to drive longer than usual to work made me extremely unhappy. And now that I’m a remote freelancer, it’s amazing that I never have to drive to work, let alone somewhere snowy.

2. Work closet

The cliché is that remote workers roll out of bed and spend their workday in their pajamas. Let us clear up that misunderstanding. I have designated “work loungewear” and actually shower every day before I officially start work. You might dress up a little more for a Zoom meeting or something special, but work clothes these days are a far cry from when you worked in a museum, might have to go on a tour, or might have to meet high-profile people. You can make announcements to donors, the public, or install/remove exhibits on specific dates.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how much the average person spends on work clothes, but what I’m talking about these days is what I wear to work (I choose it for warmth and comfort; in the winter, I watch the heating at home to save money). It’s valid. It’s a lot cheaper than what I would have bought to do the job myself.

According to research by The Ascent, the average American household will spend $162 per month on clothing and related expenses in 2022. While working remotely, I haven’t purchased any clothing of any kind in months, and my most recent clothing expense was an item. For vacation rather than work.

3. Vacation time

I actually think it’s important to take time off from work, but if you can work from anywhere, you may not have to take as much time off as you might otherwise. For example, if you take paid time off from your job, you may be able to use less paid time off because some of the time you spend traveling to and from your vacation destination may be used for some work. For example, imagine taking a plane or train to work all or part of the day.

For those of us who are self-employed, working from anywhere can mean taking less unpaid leave. I spent an entire day at the airport after my flight home from a recent vacation was unexpectedly rebooked. ~ after Arrived at the airport at 5:15 a.m.)

If I had known in advance, I would have overslept and taken one last walk on the tropical beach. I was a little disappointed, but I made lemonade out of those lemons and spent the day working in the airport lounge. It was time I would have missed traveling anyway, and I had to cover some of the travel costs instead.

Despite complaints from high-profile CEOs and calls for employees to “go back to the office,” remote work isn’t going away. Many American workers like personal finance benefits like those described above, as well as the flexibility it offers.

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