5 ways to squeeze savings from your workplace
Posted
May 01 2008, 10:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Xin Lu at partner blog Wise Bread.
If you are a cube dweller like me, you are familiar with the usual benefits of a salary and paid days off. But there are many other ways you can benefit from your workplace. I am not talking about stealing pens or embezzling large sums of money.
Here are some practical and legal means you can use at work to squeeze just a little bit of extra savings for yourself.
Keep Tupperware or plastic bags in your cube. Not every workplace gives out free food, but if there is an instance when there is a lot of leftover food in the break room, you should be ready to take some home. At my last company we had monthly lunches for the entire company, and there was always tons of food left. My manager and I routinely took home trays of food that lasted for two or three meals. He would have shopping bags ready for his haul. We did this only after everyone else had eaten. My rationale is that the food would be thrown away if I did not take any.
Milk the travel rewards. Do you travel a lot for your employer? If so, make sure to sign up for the mileage and hotel programs that correspond to your travel. Generally the miles and points you rack up with business travel can be used by you personally (unless you are a CIA agent traveling under an alias). Some of the people I know who work for consulting firms can pick up free hotel stays and flights without paying a dime of their own money. One of my co-workers from out of town told us that he is staying at six different Starwood hotels this week so he can get platinum status under their rewards program. Once he has platinum status, he can use his rewards to get highly discounted hotel rates for himself. No matter how often you are on the go for work, it is possible to take advantage of the travel rewards.
Use the recycled paper. In every office I know of, there is a printer room with a recycling bin full of unwanted paper. Most of the paper is perfectly fine and clean, and has printing on only one side. This paper is perfect for printing online coupons.
Get free hardware. In most offices there are old computer parts that are unwanted. For example, my mom's work computer broke, so they purchased a new workstation for her. The old computer's LCD panel, keyboard and mouse were still working but no longer needed. She asked if she could take those parts home, her workplace agreed, and I was able to replace my old CRT with the LCD panel for free. It generally costs money to recycle or dispose of electronics, so you may be able to pick up some perfectly good computer parts for free at the IT department. It never hurts to ask.
Charge electronics at work. This may not save you that much money, but charging something at work does not increase your electricity bill. You can charge your phone, MP3 player, portable gaming device and also rechargeable batteries. I think charging some small items at work is perfectly acceptable, but please do not go crazy with this idea and charge your electric car at work.
If you take advantage of these unwritten benefits at work, you can save hundreds to thousands of dollars a year. Along the way, you will reduce waste and reuse unwanted things, so everyone comes out a winner.
What are some of the perks you have at work that help you save money?
Other articles of interest at Wise Bread:
"Save more gas by safely following trucks"
"7 ways to get free shipping supplies"
"25 ways to use frozen spinach"
