Working online is a fantastic way to not only be self-employed and achieve financial independence, but also to enjoy the freedom of being able to work from wherever you want, to set your own hours and to pursue something that interests you as your career. In short, if you can work online you\’ll likely find that you naturally improve every aspect of your lifestyle.
And what you might not also have realized is the sheer amount of money saved when you work from home. Think about it: you\’ll no longer have to pay to commute to work which might mean saving hundreds a month on rail transport, or perhaps a similar amount on parking. You\’ll also have to spend less money on eating out and you\’ll get an extra two hours or more of your day to yourself because you won\’t have to travel… it\’s glorious.
But while there are lots of benefits to working on the web and having a home office, it\’s also important to consider that there can be some downsides too. This is a very unique and unusual lifestyle when compared to what most of us are used to and it\’s actually very different to adapt to for many people in the early stages. So let\’s look at how you go about working out of a home office while keeping costs down.
Stocking Your Office
The problem that many people make to begin with is that their home office is not really a home office. At least that is to say that they don\’t treat it like a genuine home office. Rather than kitting this space out with the correct professional grade furniture and technology, many people will simply keep the furniture they already have in there and essentially they\’ll be working out of a home study or the like. This might be a nice space, but it is not going to be as conducive to work as a real home office.
Unfortunately though, many people just don\’t want to stock out their home office because it can feel like a waste of money. Essentially, if you are working from home to save yourself cash, then spending more money on that property in order to add furniture can seem a little counter-intuitive.
A solution is to invest in second hand furniture, or refurbished furniture. This way, you can stock out your office with much better quality products, without breaking the bank!
Supplies
You might find you also need a number of different supplies for your home office – things like paper and pens for instance. The trick here is once again to treat your office like a real office and to buy in bulk. That means a bigger upfront expense, but the result is that you\’ll never run out of the things you need, and you\’ll be able to make big savings. You can even try buying from wholesalers and manufacturers using sites like Alibaba!
Bills
Finally, remember that you may be able to write off your bills as an expense. That means things like electricity, internet, and more. You can also often find deals for businesses.
