8 Ways Getting To Work Is Eating Up Your Paycheck
While some lucky Americans go to work out of passion, for most of us, work is primarily a way to bring home the bacon. But regardless of whether you enjoy your job or not, wasting time getting to work and back is something that most of us hate equally.
What's worse, gas prices are back on the rise, which means your commute is about to set to get a bit more expensive. But gas is hardly the only factor in the cost of getting to work. A new survey by CareerBuilder finds that Americans spend an average of $3,300 per year just to go to work.
That means that if your company allowed you to work from home, in the case of a web-based job for example, over 1 year you could save the equivalent of what many Americans earn in a month.
The survey also listed the 8 ways in which getting to work is literally eating up your paycheck.
1. Job Hunting
81% of Americans said they did not have to spend any money during their last job search, but of the 1 in 5 who did spend some money to look for a job, most attributed clothing and transportation as their biggest expenses, while just under half cited relocation and printing costs.
The survey looked at over 3,000 full-time employees aged 18 and older. Self-employed Americans and government workers were not included in the sample.
2. Work Attire
Dressing for work takes time and costs money. About half of working Americans say they spend more than $250 per year shopping for clothes, shoes and accessories to make themselves presentable at work. 1 in 4 spend $500 or more per year on work wear while 13 percent said they spend over $750.
3. Caffeine
Who doesn't need caffeine these days? About half of working Americans say they buy coffee during the work week, but 71% say they spend less than $10 on it.
Only 3% say they spend more than $25 per week to get their caffeine fix, while 1 in 4 say they spend between $10 and $25 on coffee per week.
The difference between buying 2 cups of coffee at Starbucks versus brewing your own cuppa every day adds up to about $1,500 per year, according to USA Today's Coffee Cost Calculator.
4. Commuting
According to findings from the CareerBuilder survey, a whopping 84% of American workers commute to work by car.
How much they spend depends on the length of the drive and the price of gas, but most spend between $10 and $25 per week.
7% of workers say they spend $50 or more per week on gas, equivalent to at least $2,600 per year. And that's not including the cost of car insurance, registration and maintenance.
5. Public Transportation
Of the 7% of Americans who utilize public transportation to get to work, almost half spend $25 or more on fares each week, or $1,300 per year.
6. Lunches
Close to 3 in 4 Americans bring their own lunches to work, while half of those who buy lunch say they spend $25 or more on their midday meals every week.
If you packed a brown bag, you could cut your lunch budget by an estimated $1,300 per year. That may not sound like much but it comes to more than $100 a month! Put that in a high-yield savings acｃount instead and you'll be eating like a king later in life.
7. Childcare
About 1 in 3 working parents with kids under 18 spend money on daycare, with the cost of arranging care for their kids ranging from less than $250 to $1,000 or even more every month.
Approximately two-thirds of working parents who pay for their kids' daycare shared that it costs them up to $500 per month.
8. Pet Care
Don't have kids? You'll probably still have to pay somebody to keep an eye on your fur kids. 58% of workers owned up to owning a pet, but more than half quipped they spend less than $10 per week on pet care.
The other half spends between $10 and $50 per week, or $520 to $2,600 per year to have someone else walk Buddy or give Polly a cracker.
Article Source: https://get.com/news/8-ways-getting-work-eating-your-paycheck/
Image Source: https://get.com/media/uploads/shutterstock_lady-driver%20copy-3518490667.jpg
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Bring home the bacon (idiom) ~ supply material provision or support earn a living
2. Attribute (v.) ~ regard something as being caused by (someone or something)
3. Presentable (adj.) ~ clean, well dressed, or decent enough to be seen in public
4. Quip (v.) ~ make a witty remark
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. About how much do you spend every day to get to work?
2. What do you do to save on your daily expenses? Give some examples.
3. If your company would offer a “work from home position”, would you like to do it? Explain your answer.
4. Aside from the items above, what are the other expenses that you have to pay out involving work?
