Five things you can do today to save money in your home office

Posted by Doug on November 6, 2008

It’s a tough world out there, financially, these days, and those of us who work at home, particularly those of us who work in our own home-based businesses, are always looking for ways to save money–or we should be. Here are five tips that you can apply today to begin saving money immediately.

1. Turn down your thermostat and put on a sweatshirt.

If you live and work in a part of the country that actually has seasons (sorry, southern California), the approaching winter means increased heating costs. But you can reduce those costs significantly by merely setting your thermostat a few degrees lower than normal. I’ve got a programmable thermostat in my home, which makes this very easy. I’ve programmed it to set the temperature at 62 degrees Fahrenheit from about 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. (when we’re all snuggled in our warm beds anyway), and from about 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., when I’m the only one at home. The thermostat bumps up to 67 degrees from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., when we’re getting up, taking showers, etc., and from about 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., when we’re home in the evenings. The rest of the time it’s set at 62. On days when that seems chilly to me, I put on a sweatshirt. Most of the time I wear a ball cap, too, which reduces the amount of heat that I lose from my head. According to this article (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-thermostat-tips-save-money.html), which details several thermostat-related money-saving tips, turning down your thermostat can save you about 1% per degree, over an eight-hour period. If you normally set it at 72, reducing it to 67 for eight hours means 5% savings.

2. Stop printing so much.

With the cost of an inkjet cartridge at $30 or more, and the cost of paper going up all the time, printing costs can add up quickly. I confess that it took me a while to get comfortable with not having printed paper copies of certain kinds of documents, such as flight itineraries, hotel reservation confirmations, receipts for online purchases and the like. And when I’m in the thick of the writing process, there are still times when I succumb to the urge to print out a document and mark it up the old-fashioned way while editing. But I’ve saved money on printing costs by simply printing those documents to PDF files, which I can store on my laptop computer, or on an external hard disk, or even on a USB thumb drive. When I’m out on business, my laptop is almost always with me, so I can easily get to any of those documents if I need them.

3. Stop driving so much.

Gas prices are coming down again after hitting nearly $4 per gallon for a while in our area, but I’m still saving money by only driving when I have to, and planning my trips in the car better. There are certain trips I have to take every day, but when I’m looking over my to-do-list for the day, I can plan ahead to accomplish my errands in an efficient manner and avoid putting more miles on the car than I have to.

I’ve also begun riding my bicycle (or walking) whenever I can. “Pedal power” saves me money on gas, reduces wear-and-tear on my car, gives me much-needed exercise, and gets me outdoors where I can enjoy the sun and fresh air. Most of my trips to the grocery store can be accomplished with nothing more than a bike and a backpack, and if I have a meeting or want to head out to a coffee shop to work remotely, the backpack has plenty of room for my laptop and other items.

Riding a bike or walking may not be practical for everyone, depending on where you live (among other factors), but with a little planning, and allowing a bit of extra transit time, you can save money by avoiding the use of your car. It’s also a bit kinder to the environment.

If you’re looking at this tip and thinking, “No way–it takes too long to walk or ride a bike,” then consider this: who doesn’t need some time to think every day? Walking to an appointment or riding a bike to run an errand can provide you with time to think, to work on a creative solution to a problem, to plan or just to dream for a while. If you’re a podcast listener, take your media player along and listen to some of those podcasts that keep stacking up in your iTunes playlists. Taking a little extra time to walk somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean you have to waste that time. Maybe you can’t afford the time for human-powered transportation for every trip, but every time you use your legs instead of your car, you’re saving money, and over time it can add up significantly.

4. Stop wasting electricity.

When I’m working in my office at home alone, it’s not necessary for the lights to be burning in other parts of the house. Most of the time, the only light bulb that is lit in my house during the day is the one in my desk lamp.

Some people will tell you that it takes less power to leave a light bulb burning than to turn it off and on repeatedly. This may be true if you are turning your lights off and on once per second, but otherwise, it’s nonsense. If you’re not using the light in that room, turn it off, and you will consume less electricity. It’s that simple.

You can also save money by using compact fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. The initial cost per bulb is higher, but fluorescent bulbs last longer, meaning that the cost per hour of usage is lower. Not only that, but fluorescent bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs, which means you get the same amount of light for less energy cost. A compact fluorescent bulb uses about 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb producing the same amount of light. If you’re unconvinced, check out this article.

5. Stop eating out so much.

This was one of the first things I noticed when I switched from working a regular job in a corporate office to working for myself out of my home–I’m spending less on lunches. A LOT less. I’m also eating healthier meals by avoiding the fast-food places and fixing my food for myself.

Granted, this may be easier said than done, especially if your business involves taking clients to lunch or having other meetings over lunch on a regular basis. But virtually any meal you prepare for yourself at home is going to be less expensive than a meal that you buy at a restaurant, or even a fast-food joint. There’s a pretty good chance that it will be healthier, as well.

If you eat lunch out every day, in a week’s time you probably spend between $30 and $60 on lunches, depending on where you eat. If you make your own lunch at home, you can easily cut those costs by half.

I left my office job almost a year ago, and I’ve lost over 70 pounds in that time. That’s an entirely different story for another time, but the fact that I’m fixing my own lunches at home is part of that story.

It’s easier than you might think to save money working at home. But maybe you’ve got even better ideas than what I’ve given here. If so, leave a comment and share those ideas with the rest of us!

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