If You WFH How Is the Cost Of Living Crisis Really Impacting You Compared To Pre Covid?

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Pre covid I commuted on a daily basis to work, had an annual season ticket, bought lunch out etc.

Post covid I'm in the office one day per week and make my own lunch. Granted my utilities have gone up but overall I'm saving money mainly due to not having travel costs. Taking into account the upcoming rise in utilities in Q4 this year I'm probably better off by £10/week than I was pre covid. It's not a lot but I suspect many people who work from home are not as hard hit as they think they may be compared to pre covid.

If you primarily work from home, are you actually better off financially than pre covid?

It’s the cost of food. It’s out of control.

I agree, I hardly put any fuel in anymore. I was lucky enough to fix energy just before prices went up so havent been hit with that.

Although, food bill has certainly increased. Ive had some work done to the house which prices have been overinflated.

I think give it another year with increases to interest rates, rents, fuel, in turn consumables will increase no one will escape this and its going to get much worse.

With regards to being better off before covid, yes, I will admit to being this. Holidays, social events, kids stuff, didnt buy any clothes, I sold my large expensive car and bought a run around, which again wouldnt have done if I wasnt working from home.

The little amount the government has given to help with fuel could have been spent much better

I am a single parent with a statistically just above uk average wage so by no means rolling in it so I am still concerned about this and trying to watch the pennies.

True but if you were office based pre covid and used to buy your lunch out most days then surely you are still saving money now compared to 2.5 years ago?

Not everyone who works in an office buys lunch and coffee, my food bill is the same whether I work at home or in the office! If anything, I probably save money on food being in the office as I only eat what I bring with me and can't go foraging through the fridge and snack tin throughout the day! They provide tea and coffee in our office which I realised saves me a fair bit when I had to keep myself fully caffeinated during lockdown!
Also, I don't really have space to work from home so coming in the office is saving me at least £100k on my mortgage to move to somewhere that I could have dedicated home office space.

Back in 2020 I was better off briefly, but now anything I saved from no longer being in an office is being eaten up by fuel, utility and food costs and I would say I'm a good £50 a week worse off than before covid hit.

I never bought my lunch when I worked in the office (I still do work in it 2 days a week). DH buys his lunches and we worked out he's spending over £200 a month just on lunches in central london. BONKERS!

Definitely better off. I moved from a 50 mile a day round trip commute, to being home based and getting mileage for any travel. I am so grateful to not have the expensive commute, especially now. My husband always worked from home, and we don't heat the house during the day, so any additional electricity cost is minimal. I would have the increased food costs regardless of where I worked, but WFH is definitely saving me money.

I very, very rarely bought lunch in the 20 years when I worked in an office, always took a packed lunch.

Like a PP said, its the cost of food and utilities that is crippling. My only saving is petrol by not commuting.

I couldn't actually afford to go back to the office full time now. Literally. Our bills went up by over £350 a month.

Food prices have skyrocketed. We used to have a Friday treat lunch from one of the local food markets but I could see nothing for under £9.

I have to budget the month by counting the days in the office and how many days I can get 'back' by booking annual leave etc.

I think winter may be different, when I weigh up what costs more - travel card or trying not to freeze to death at home.

I wfh four days a week. But my office is only a 15 minute walk so not saving any money on a commute. I have the heating on a bit at home, even in the summer, which costs me money but it's too cold not to most of the time.

I also used to go to the gym at work before work and shower there but now showering at home so guess I use more water/towels.

I get paid an average salary for where I live and I am lucky that I also locked in a fixed tariff which does not end until Spring next year, so not impacted too much by the rise in heating costs whilst WFH.

I have/will be saving the extra fuel assistance for winter 2023, so hopefully have staved off the worst until winter 2024. Hoping that prices might have reduced a little by then.

I remain better off due to hybrid working as I am saving on commuting, lunch costs and no longer nipping out to the shops during lunch/after work. Also finished house renovations and cleared debts during lockdown and built up some savings as I figured there would be some sort of recession post lockdown/Brexit.