If You Live in Washington, Working From Home Could Pay For Your Family Vacation
Alex Healey
· 3 min read
During the global pandemic, many
Washington
businesses were forced to adapt and thousands of people found themselves working from home.Now that most adults have been vaccinated and companies are asking employees to go back to the office, some workers are reluctant to return to the daily drudge of commuting. Especially because
fewer people are taking mass transit
, and major highways like the I-5 are more congested than ever.For parents, the benefits of working from home are pretty clear; less time prepping and traveling means more time spent with the kids.
In addition to this, a recent
study from Jerry
shows that working from home could save the average Washington driver almost $5,000 dollars each year! That’s more than enough for a nice family vacation.
Working from home is great for families
Before the pandemic, weekday mornings in the average American family home were a chaotic blur, as everyone scrambled to get out of the house on time.
Facing long commutes, many parents barely had time to pop Eggos in the toaster, let alone spend any quality time with their kids.
After work, the same parents would rush out of the office, battling traffic in a desperate attempt to make it home in time for dinner.
It was stressful and emotionally exhausting, but it was normal.
Following the shift to work from home, people experienced a better way. They no longer had to spend their mornings applying makeup, or ironing shirts, or worrying about rush hour traffic.
Now the threat of a return to the commuter lifestyle is looming and unsurprisingly, most workers don’t want to switch back.
Washingtonians are no exception. According to a recent Jerry study, the average Washington commuter spends 55 minutes driving to and from work each day, traveling just over 40 miles.
This equates to 10 whole days behind the wheel each year. Ten days that could be spent enjoying family time, or doing chores, or exercising, or a million other things that are better than commuting.
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Working from home can improve your finances
MORE: A Robot Will Retrieve Cars at a Washington Condo Complex
Aside from the mental and physical benefits of working from home, researchers from Jerry have calculated the financial cost of commuting in Washington.
Based on car insurance rates, gas expenditure, and vehicle maintenance costs, the average driver spends $4,714.25 getting to and from work each year.
Taking it one step further, if the average Washington resident was able to give up their car, and got paid to work the hours they would've spent commuting, they’d have an additional $8,001.49!
That’s more than enough to take the family on an all-inclusive vacation.
Ways to save money on your commute
While working from home is not possible for everyone, there are other ways to save money on your commute.
Currently, 71.91% of Washington commuters drive to work alone. Carpooling would not only be a wise financial decision, but it’s also better for the environment and would cut down on road congestion too.
If that’s not an option, the easiest way to save money on a commute is to find
cheap car insurance
. And the easiest way to do that is with the Jerry
app. Our price comparison service only takes a few seconds, and the average Jerry user saves $879 a year on car insurance.
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