We all know that working from home gives us the freedom to do what we want without having to slog into the office but did you know there are many additional unexpected benefits?
If being the master of your own domain isn’t enough, here are but a few of the unexpected benefits of working from home.
The following are ones which you may not have thought of right away – see if you can find any that sound appealing for you.
Commuting
- Save the planet. What if, suddenly, 10% of the population suddenly started working from home? With 10% of the cars off the road, less pollution would be put into our ecosystem.
- It could save a life. In 2008 (not to sound morbid) there were over 34,000 traffic fatalities. For every hour you’re on the road you increase your chances of being in a car accident – it’s not going to happen at home.
- Cut out that extra car payment. The average home in the United States has 2 cars – since you won’t be driving to the office you can easily cut out one of these (plus you won’t need car insurance!).
- No more traffic tickets. It happens, we all get a ticket at some point for small things we never notice. Well, since you’re not driving back and forth to work each day you can avoid these pesky fines.
- Forget about parking fees. If you’ve ever driven in the city, parking can be very expensive (and adds up). Working from home? Yeah, that will help you get away from those little vampire expenses.
Food & Health
- Skip “going out” to lunch. If you go out to lunch 3 times a week at $20 a pop, that’s $60 by the end of a week, $240 by the end of the month! At home you can make your own delicious meal – and share it with your family!
- Avoid fast food. We all go for fast food, it’s hard to avoid because of the convenience. Without the temptation to stop for a burger and fries, you’ll focus on eating healthy and begin shedding those extra pounds.
- Stay stress free. Stress can be good and bad but most people find their job very stressful. Working on your own (from home) lets you handle stress however you see fit – you can’t be that!
- Finally find time for exercise. Working late hours, sitting at your desk, eating snacks all day – not all that great for your health. Working from home gives you more time to get that much needed exercise.
- Keep your body in check. When we’re assigned a desk, we usually don’t get to choose our setup. If you have your own home office – invest in those comfy chairs, desks and build your office to keep your body in check.
- Stop your peers from driving you insane. You know the ones, they play music too loud and smell. Not at home – well, unless you decide to wing it for a bit in your undies.
Time
- Work around family time. Scrambling to get kids to daycare, babysitters, nanny’s – not anymore. Schedule your time around your family time and you can cut out costs and spend more time with them.
- Remove time anxiety. Have you ever had that sinking feeling that you’re wasting time because your job is going by so fast? Slow it down, work from home and stop being constrained by the anxiety of working on others time.
- You’ll be less distracted. Office employees walking in and out of your office. Phone calls, email, that loud radio in the cubicle next to you. Take back your time without all these distraction to get more done.
- Get more done with less time. Let’s face it – if you have 8 hours of work, you’ll find a way to fill that time out with meaningless tasks. Because you’re now on your own, you get more done with less time.
- Setup better work flows. That first hour or two is just a slog as you get up to speed at your office. At home, you can start whenever you’re in the flow so when you do get down to work, you get the job done.
Life & Family
- Reconnect with loved ones. Work can be stressful, especially in an office environment. Hours upon hours at the office puts a strain on family life. Working from home keeps a family tight by being around more often.
- Help your kids with school. If you have kids you know how important their education is. Working from home will give you more time to help them learn and develop by working closely with them.
- Build character & good habits. Working from home is tough – mainly because it requires you to be very disciplined. Having everything ride on your shoulders, you’ll build great character and habits that will last a lifetime.
- Be happy. Remove the stress, spend more time with family & friends, develop your own schedule, work your own hours, be your own boss – all of these are the steps to becoming happy with your job.
- Learn more & often. Your “downtime” at work involves busy work but at home you can spend it learning new skills, reading, watching documentaries and absorbing knowledge.
- Play with your pets. Having a pet around can greatly reduce stress and keep you happy – you can’t do that at most jobs. Spend some time with your loyal companion and kick back from time to time.
What unexpected benefits could you add?
In this post, I talked about 20 unexpected benefits (less the obvious ones) that many people overlook when debating or actually working from home.
But I want to hear what unexpected benefits you have in mind. Post a comment below and let’s make this a post that anyone reading it will jump into the work at home lifestyle!
Photo credit: Jeremy Levine
I can masturbate when I want without having to nip to the staff toilet to do it
.-= ebele´s last blog ..Triviala- Another £15 Won- =-.
LOL! That’s a very valid point Ebele.
PS: Awesome URL Man, if only hey. If only
.-= Alex´s last blog ..How to Make your Blog Posts more Appalling A Grammatical Guide =-.
Hehe! Very valid indeedy.
Thanks re: the url – was the mildest name I could come up with at the time
.-= ebele´s last blog ..What Big Mamas Been Up To- an Update =-.
ha!
Hi Murray,
I have been working from home for three years now and I think the number one advantage is the ability to time shift my productivity. In the past, if I had a great idea outside the office, I couldn’t jump on the computer and start banging away. When you work from home, whether you are telecommuting or self-employed, you can take advantage of your creativity as it arises. You get a lot more done.
Good points about the environmental impact. I hadn’t considered those.
Tammi
.-= Tammi Kibler´s last blog ..How to Spam Comments- Alienate Bloggers- and Ruin Your Site’s Good Name =-.
That point is actually one of my favorite benefits too – but I’m still very active at my job; maybe one day!
But yeah, when you get the inspiration to work on a piece, it always feel draining by the time you get home from work because you’ve been at it all day. Working from home, you think of something, you can jump right into it!
There is a huge mindset change when you go from having to listen a boss and being surrounded with coworkers, than changing to working from home. You get to avoid the anger and the possibility of punching out your boss.
Great post, Murlu!
How would you know Joe!?
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Do you Want FRIEndS with that =-.
Exactly! I’m usually relaxed at work but every once in a while, people can really get to you – best avoid it by doing your own thing.
I have found the biggest advantages have indeed been the obvious ones, like more time with my children etc, but the biggest surprise has been that those same things have been the biggest problem. Settling into a routine at home is harder because there are way too many distractions, maybe not directly from the children or wife, but certainly from me. I have never worked from home so now that I am I look around and think ‘no, this is where I play Playstation (for eg)’ so it’s hard to get into the mindset and shift that thought process. (hmmm, I may post about this experience,) awesome, thanks for the insightful post – see you gave me a post idea – man you’re always helping me with stuff.
ROCK ON Murray
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Do you Want FRIEndS with that =-.
Thanks Alex – looking forward to that post, be sure to let us know!
A few months ago when I began going minimal, I ended up selling my TV, video games and nearly everything because they were a big distraction for me. It was a little hard to adjust but once I saw that what I did came so much easier, I haven’t turned back.
Plus, we can watch shows online, listen to music and play online games – it’s really shifting from physical to digital haha.
Murray,
Just stopping by to continue the conversation. You’ve got a great blog here. I am a huge fan of the ability to exercise while working as well. I think that the obesity problem would be a lot less of an issue if there were more small business owners on the planet. People would have more time to take care of themselves.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
.-= Joshua Black | The Underdog Millionaire´s last blog ..7 Special Steps for Small Business Success =-.
Oh definitely, without a strict boss or manager down your throat, you can get up more and get a few minutes of walking in.
Don’t many Japanese companies actually have exercise breaks? If you think about it, exercising would get everyone’s energy up, get the blood flowing, make them happier and increase productivity.
I think we’re onto something Joshua!
You have great points about the car, Murray. I love not having to deal with road rage most of the time. They drive like they are in Nascar here. I save so much money on gas, parking, lunch because I forgot to bring mine, etc.
My scariest commuting story was coming home from work in Boston in the freezing rain. The air and ground was colder than the rain so it was icing up my windshield wipers until they looked like popsicles. Apparently the mechanic didn’t tighten the new wiper blades correctly, because the driver side one flew off. There I was on the highway going about 45 and not really being able to see in front of me. I kept the wheel straight and eventually the rain cleaned off my windshield enough so I could exit.
I really like having my cats around for stress relief too. If you ask my husband though (who is working at home because they are reorganizing his building) the best part is getting your wife to rub your shoulders!
.-= Jennifer Barry´s last blog ..Top 8 Signs You Should Leave Your Job =-.
Haha! You’re husband is one lucky man.
I used to live in Boston in another life (also around Cape Cod); please don’t remind me about black ice haha. All the little things adds up. Just take your story for an example. Not only did it cause quite a bit of stress but then there’s the bill for the windshield wiper!
Murray,
I just graduated from college and have been working from home since my freshman year and I must say I freaking love it. For me one of the best benefits is to be able to set up my office however I want. How many people do you know that get a 30 inch monitor and razor mamba mouse at work?
As you said, I also enjoy getting up whenever I want and getting a quick workout session.
And stress…forget about it. If I get stressed I’ll just take an hour play some Left4Dead2 then get back to work.
You point out some other really great benefits and overall I think working from home is one of the most awesome luxuries – one that many people never will have. It takes a lot of work and motivation to be able to work from home, something a lot of people lack. Many people really need to have a boss over their shoulders telling them what to do.
Wow AJ, you’re really doing it up and that’s awesome that you were able to land what you love to do right out of college. So many get out of college and have no idea where to start but just look, you’ve skipped the rat race and already living the dream!
I’d love to hear more AJ – care to share?