5 Unexpected Expenses When You Work from Home

I absolutely love my work from home life but there were a couple expenses that I didn’t expect or budget for.

When you work from home your home gets a lot more use. You are responsible for the maintenance and supplies.

5 Unexpected Expenses When You Work from Home

1. When you work from home your air conditioning bill will increase. And depending on where you live this could be a significant cost some months. I live in Florida, my electric bill gets a little scary in the summer.

If your utility company offers a home energy audit this is a great time to take them up on it. Our utility company determined that our attic needed additional insulation and for a much-reduced fee remedied that.

2. Printer ink. This is one of those, I should have known better, expenses. Printer ink is expensive, and it ALWAYS seems to run out at a critical moment. Plan ahead, order less expensive used cartridges online and ALWAYS keep a backup.

3. Stamps. Sending handwritten thank you notes in the mail is more meaningful then email. If you are sending thank you notes weekly (one of my must do tips) that means you should invest in Forever stamps. And I mean invest! I hadn’t bought stamps is a long while and didn’t realize how expensive they had gotten.

4. IT services. Your laptop, cell phone and website are probably the most important tools you have when you work from home. If your website or blog goes down it can mean lost revenue. If your cell phone dies you will be disconnected from your clients. And if your computer crashed… lets not even talk about how costly that could be!

Invest in a backup hard drive to protect your documents and images. Research who can fix your computer before you have a problem to reduce downtime if the worst happens. And for your blog and website I recommend signing up for iMark Interactive’s services with Grayson Bell. iMark’s affordable monthly plans are perfect for the solopreneurs and online business owners. The piece of mind knowing my site is working is worth every penny.

5. A home warranty. Your home is your office if your air conditioner goes out do you have the funds for a new one? A home warranty protects you from the extra use your home gets from you being there 24/7.

Conclusion

You can proactively prepare for unexpected expenses when you work from home so they don’t cause a hit to your budget.

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