Remote Work Savings Calculator

What working from home saves on commuting, food and clothes, and what it adds in bills.

Working from home moves money rather than removing it. The commute disappears and the heating, the electricity, the coffee and sometimes the internet bill rise.

Enter the days you work from home, the commuting costs you avoid and the home costs you take on, and this calculator shows the real saving, per day and per year, with the tax relief you may be able to claim.

At a glance

What you enter: Days worked from home per week, Working weeks per year, Commuting cost per office day, Food bought at work per day, Other costs avoided per office day, Extra home energy per day at home, Food at home per day, Other new costs per day at home, Annual tax relief you can claim, Net monthly income (optional)
What you get: Saving per year, Saving per month, Net saving per day at home, Total including tax relief
Formula shown: Yes - every step, right below your results.
Cost and privacy: Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.

See worked examples ↓ Read the FAQ ↓ Share this calculator ↓

Days worked from home per week days

Working weeks per year weeks

Commuting cost per office day

Fuel, fares, parking and tolls for the round trip.

Food bought at work per day

Other costs avoided per office day

Clothes, dry cleaning, coffees, after-work spending.

Extra home energy per day at home

Food at home per day

Other new costs per day at home

Faster internet, equipment, subscriptions, stationery.

Annual tax relief you can claim

Enter 0 if working from home is not deductible where you live.

Net monthly income (optional)

Enter 0 to skip the income comparison.

Reset

Results are estimates for general information only - always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.

How to use the Remote Work Savings Calculator

1 Enter Days worked from home per week (days)
2 Enter Working weeks per year (weeks)
3 Enter Commuting cost per office day - Fuel, fares, parking and tolls for the round trip.
4 Enter Food bought at work per day
5 Enter Other costs avoided per office day - Clothes, dry cleaning, coffees, after-work spending.
6 Enter Extra home energy per day at home
7 Enter Food at home per day
8 Enter Other new costs per day at home - Faster internet, equipment, subscriptions, stationery.
9 Enter Annual tax relief you can claim - Enter 0 if working from home is not deductible where you live.
10 Enter Net monthly income (optional) - Enter 0 to skip the income comparison.
11 Press Calculate. You get Saving per year, Saving per month, Net saving per day at home, Total including tax relief, and every intermediate step stays visible under “How is this calculated?”
12 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result - that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.

Worked examples

Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.

Four days a week at home on a $14 commute

A hybrid week where the travel, food and small office costs mostly disappear.

You enter

Days worked from home per week: 4 days
Working weeks per year: 46 weeks
Commuting cost per office day: $14.00
Food bought at work per day: $9.00
Other costs avoided per office day: $4.00
Extra home energy per day at home: $2.50
Food at home per day: $6.00
Other new costs per day at home: $1.50
Annual tax relief you can claim: $0.00
Net monthly income (optional): $4,800.00

You get

Saving per year: $3,128.00
Saving per month: $260.67
Net saving per day at home: $17.00
Total including tax relief: $3,128.00

An office day costs $27 that a day at home does not, and a day at home adds $10, so the net saving is $17 a day. Over 184 days at home that is $3,128 a year, or $260.67 a month, which is 5.4% of $4,800 of net monthly income. No tax relief is included. The gross costs avoided come to $4,968 over the year.

Open this example in the calculator →

One day a week at home on a $22 commute

A single remote day with an expensive journey and a tax claim included.

You enter

Days worked from home per week: 1 days
Working weeks per year: 48 weeks
Commuting cost per office day: $22.00
Food bought at work per day: $12.00
Other costs avoided per office day: $6.00
Extra home energy per day at home: $3.00
Food at home per day: $7.00
Other new costs per day at home: $2.00
Annual tax relief you can claim: $600.00
Net monthly income (optional): $0.00

You get

Saving per year: $1,344.00
Saving per month: $112.00
Net saving per day at home: $28.00
Total including tax relief: $1,944.00

The office day costs $40 and the day at home adds $12, a net saving of $28 for each of the 48 days at home. That is $1,344 a year, or $112 a month. Adding the $600 of tax relief you can claim brings the total to $1,944, though the relief is a reduction in tax rather than cash received. No income was entered, so the share of income line reads 0.0%.

Open this example in the calculator →

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Frequently asked questions

Does the calculator count the tax relief as cash in my pocket?

No. It is added as a separate line because a deduction reduces the tax you owe rather than paying you anything. If the relief you can claim is $600 and your effective rate is 30%, the money actually saved is nearer $180, and that only happens when the claim is made.

The total including tax relief line is therefore a cash saving plus a claim. Keeping the two apart stops the figure looking better than the bank statement will show, and it makes clear which part depends on the rules where you live.

Which costs belong in the other saved and other added fields?

The saved field is for everything an office day costs that a day at home does not: dry cleaning, work clothes, a coffee on the way in, the drink after work that only happens because you are already in town, and parking that is not part of the commute fare.

The added field is for the new costs of being at home: faster internet, a desk and chair bought for the spare room, a subscription to a video tool, the extra electricity of a monitor and a kettle, and the heating that would otherwise be off during the day.

Is a day at home really cheaper than a day in the office?

Usually, but less than the commute figure alone suggests. The commute is the largest single saving, and food is the second, while heating, electricity and food at home claw part of both back. In the example here $27 a day is saved and $10 a day is added, so the net is $17.

Two things can change the sign of the answer. Someone who eats lunch at home anyway saves less on food, and someone heating a whole house for one person during the day can add more in energy than they save in travel. Enter your own numbers rather than assuming the arrangement is free money.

How is the share of net monthly income used?

It divides the monthly saving by the net monthly income you enter, which puts the arrangement on the same scale as the rest of your budget. A saving of $260.67 a month against $4,800 of net income is 5.4%.

Enter 0 in the income field and the line is skipped, which is why it reads 0.0% when no income is given. The figure is most useful when you are weighing a hybrid pattern against a full week at home, and want to see how much of your income the difference represents.