How My Job Saved Me Money

It’s obvious that people work in order to make money. When we talk about our jobs, we almost always talk about making money. Not the exact dollar amount, mind you, but more so such as how are you paid? Is it hourly?  Or do you get a salary? Do you get paid overtime? How often are you paid? Is it more than what you were making before? Did you take a pay cut? Etc, etc.

What I’d like to discuss in this short blog post is how certain jobs save you money. Essentially the job perks.  I would like to highlight some in my past and current jobs that have saved me some dough.

With my previous job, I had to wear a uniform. This saved me a ton of money on clothes because I didn’t have to worry about shopping for nice clothes to wear to work.  My previous job location was in an area where there weren’t a lot of food choices around. The cafeteria food was also not the greatest. So I pretty much brought my lunch in every day. That saved money on going out to eat a lot, which we all know adds up over time.  The commute was also only a 15 min drive, about 20 min on the way home. So I also was saving in the transportation department.  I should mention here that I started worked every day at 6:30 am. Waking up just after 5:00 am was hard enough. I can’t fathom having to wake up even earlier to use public transit. I don’t even think the schedule ran before 5:00 am.

I know, I know. You’re probably asking yourself why would she give that up? That sounds like a pretty good deal. It depends on how you look at it and what kind of person you are.  I had my reasons that I won’t get into too much detail about, but I open up about it a bit here.

My job as a group fitness instructor saves me money on a gym membership, because well, I get it for free. I don’t have to buy any clothes, because I use the gym clothes I already have. Initially I had to buy more gym clothes because I was going to the gym a lot more than I did when I was just a participant. Some higher end athletic wear stores such as Lole, Lululemon and Titika offer discounts to instructors and personal trainers, so you save money in that sense. :P.  The gym I work for also offers some savings and benefits for both employees and members on various services, attractions, products and fitness events.

My current job saves me money on food and drinks. There is free breakfast food available to all employees that is courtesy of the company. We also have free juice, coffee and pop. One of my favourite perks of working for a startup is that the dress code is casual/business casual. Again, I don’t have to worry about wearing fancy suits and wear what’s already in my closet.

Breakfast- the most important meal of the day

While it is tempting to go out to eat all the time, based on the location of the office, people tend to bring their lunch in for the most part.  My first week at my new job, I pretty much bought food  every day, each from a different restaurant. After bringing my lunch to work practically every day for 4.5 years, I think I deserved to treat myself to some yummy takeout food.

Has your job saved you any money? In what way?