Pump Patrol: What’s the difference of working from home versus the office?

DAYTON — Some people have been forced to return to the office, while others have been able to remain in a work from home role.

With the rising cost of energy, News Center 7′s James Rider takes a look at whether work from home is actually saving you money.

If you are working from home, you may just look at the soaring gas prices and think about all the money that you’re saving on your commute but work from home still comes at a cost.

There’s a lot of factors that can determine if work from home is actually saving you money.

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The first thing to look at is how far you live from work because obviously, the longer the commute, the more beneficial work from home is.

“Kara Hitchens, AAA Public Affairs Manager said, “When you have a car you have to figure in maintenance, the cost to replace the oil, just even the cost of taking it to the shop, you have to pay the mechanic as well,”

AAA estimates that it costs about 60 cents per mile factoring in gas as well as wear and tear.

At home, the cost of electricity is more than doubling for many so depending on the size of your home and what temperature you keep it at, it could come at a huge cost now spending an extra eight to ten hours working paying for the lights to be and for the house to be cooler than if you’re away.

There are several tools to help you calculate the prices of going to work.

“What we’re telling people now is if you’re in the market for a car, go to that website and see what the cost of having that vehicle would be in terms of mileage and in terms of maintenance,” Hitchens said.

AAA and UC Santa Barbara have calculators to help you figure out the cost of having to drive to the office. Based on a variety of factors such as gas, mileage, distance and even price per gallon of gas.

Some people may have upgraded their Wi-Fi to work from home too. And, while you’re likely to sav by driving less with gas at $5 a gallon, it still doesn’t mean it’s all profit by being at your house.

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