The real cost of working from home – Brits could have saved up to £19,372

As England emerges from phase two of the lockdown roadmap, some of the country have been working from home for over a year now. We released findings into how much consumers could have saved during 12 months in lockdown, assuming they were working from home.

According to a recent YouGov survey that shows that some 32% of Britons have managed to grow their savings during the pandemic, we worked out how much the average person could have saved.

With offices closed, a commute to the spare room or the kitchen table is free, the morning latté can be made at home instead of being bought, and the same for lunch. No after-work drinks, or eating out, and no need to shell out for fancy party clothes. Our research also showed that 42% of consumers said they weren’t planning to travel in 2021, so that is an immediate saving too.

The average person could have saved as much as £19,372, according to our estimates.

The costs include (average per person):

• Average cost of commute per year £1,738
• Cost of a daily cup of coffee per year – £720¹
• Cost of daily lunch at work per year – £1,200²
• Annual cost of gym membership – £480
• Annual cost of cost of childcare – £9,594
• Mobile phone data per year – £60
• Average eating out annual costs – £1,040³
• Average going out annual costs – £840
• Average costs of spending on clothes – £1,200
• Average annual cost of holidays – £2,500

With some people now working at home for over a year, and some now doing so indefinitely, we wanted to look at how much could be saved. We worked it out to be a staggering £19,372, on average. Little things such as the daily commute, buying a cup of coffee every day and going out for drinks over the course of a year can mount up to a surprising amount.

Obviously not everyone will have been able to work from home, or take advantage of all these savings, but it just goes to show how costs can soon add up. For those looking to save money, even making a small change to a daily routine, such a making lunch at home, rather than buying it, can soon add up to a saving of £1200 over a year.

One other point to note, is these figures also don’t take into account where people may have needed to pay out more – for example, extra utility bills, extra food bills and even swapping work wear costs for lounge wear costs for the extra time at home.

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¹ £3 x 5 days x 48 weeks
² £5 x 5 days x 48 weeks
³ £10 per meal x twice a week x 52