This is how much experts say you save by working from home in Toronto

Hesitancy about returning in-person to the office After two years of working from home, many are expressing hesitancy over the potential in-person return to the workplace.

A Toronto man says eliminating his work commute from Milton to North York is saving him two hours a day and hundreds of dollars a month.

“We were easily saving $500 a month by not commuting,” Tom Nightingale, a managing editor in Toronto, told CTV News Toronto.

“It was really quick that we were able to see the difference,” he said, adding that just a couple months after he and his wife stopped going into the office, they saved enough money to paint their home.

But now, with a gradual migration back to physical workspaces across Canada, experts say those savings could be traded in for a hefty price tag.

“It’s huge,” John Klotz, a certified financial planner of 30 years, told CTV News Toronto.

After tallying up the savings that come along with cutting the commute, eating out, buying professional clothing and child-care costs, Klotz estimates an individual’s savings could reach as high as $1,800 per month.

“Think about the drive to work,” he said. “When you go and fill up your car and you look at other people, everyone has this look on their face. They are livid. By not commuting, they can save on that.”

With record high gas prices showing no signs of slowing, Klotz said an employee transitioning from a commute that stretches from their bedroom to their kitchen table, to one that actually involves turning the key in the ignition could cost $320 a month.

While public transit is roughly half the price of filling up at the pump, Klotz still estimates $156 a month of savings when taking the TTC to work is eliminated.

That cost is even higher for employees who were seeking more space and took a leap outside of the city during the pandemic.

“We saw a huge influx of people moving outside the city,” Michelle Hung, author and founder of the Sassy Investor, told CTV News Toronto. “If employers are requiring them to go back to work, there is going to be some added costs.”

Hung said jumping on the GO Train instead of the subway equates to between $200 to $300 a month, depending on the distance.

“It's an astronomical amount of savings working from home,” Hung said.

She also notes the value of time saved by cutting the commute, which on average could amount to at least two hours a day.

For people who have children, that translates to a dollar figure when it reduces child-care hours. Klotz estimates that paying for three hours of after school oversight a day could equate to $800 per month.

On the flip side, he said working from home creates the flexibility to pause the work day at 4 p.m., pick up the kids, and then return to the computer later in the evening.

The Latte Factor

Beyond traveling and time saved, Klotz said the “latte factor” of pouring a cup of coffee at home, instead of hustling to a nearby coffee shop, means saving a fortune.

“That $10 per day latte is basically a retirement plan in a cup. If you took that $200 per month and invested it over 25 years, you will be a millionaire,” he said.

In the same sense, crafting a homemade sandwich equates to $10 to $15 of savings per day and builds to $300 per month, Klotz said.

When it comes to sticking with working out at home, instead of a gym membership near the office and selecting sweat pants instead of office attire, he said that’s about $100 a month, respectively.

“The last 18 months have made me so thankful to work for a company that has embraced remote work for me,” Nightingale said.

“To be able to save that money,” he said. “It made me realize how lucky I am to be in that position.”