Work From Home Cost Savings in Australia: How to Make WFH Work for Your Budget

The headline savings from working from home are well understood: less commuting, fewer work lunches, less spending on work clothing. For someone who previously commuted by car or public transport in a major Australian city, the transport saving alone can be $100–$300/month.

But WFH introduces its own costs: higher electricity bills (heating/cooling and computer equipment running all day), faster home internet data use, and often more spending on home office setup. The net result depends heavily on your previous commute and how efficiently you manage the new costs.

These savings are consistent across most WFH situations:

• Transport - the average Australian commuter spends $80–$200/month on public transport or fuel. Eliminating or reducing this is often the largest single saving.
• Work lunches and coffees - buying lunch and coffee near an office regularly can cost $15–$25/day. WFH reduces this significantly for most people.
• Work clothing - not eliminated, but reduced. Less dry cleaning, less need to refresh a professional wardrobe regularly.
• Car costs - fewer kilometres means lower depreciation, less frequent servicing, and potentially qualifying for a lower annual insurance premium (some insurers offer low-kilometre discounts).

For a typical five-day commuter in Sydney or Melbourne, these combined savings often reach $300–$600/month.

These costs are frequently underestimated:

• Electricity - working from home all day increases home electricity use meaningfully. Heating and cooling a home office space and running a computer and monitors adds to your bill.
• Home internet - streaming video calls and large file transfers can push you into higher data tiers. Check your current plan against actual usage.
• Coffee and snacks at home - it sounds trivial, but at-home food spending often increases when you're home all day. Budget for this explicitly.
• Home office equipment - desk, chair, monitor, and peripherals add up. These are one-off costs but significant if you're setting up from scratch.

The ATO allows Australian employees working from home to claim deductions for home office expenses. As of the 2024–25 financial year, the fixed rate method allows a deduction of 70 cents per hour worked from home, covering electricity, internet, stationery, and phone use. You need to keep a record of hours worked (a timesheet, roster, or diary entry is sufficient - you no longer need a dedicated home office room). You can also claim the actual cost method if your actual expenses exceed the fixed rate. Speak to your accountant or check ato.gov.au for the current rates and rules - these change periodically.

The households that come out most ahead from WFH combine three things: capturing the transport and lunch savings explicitly (by redirecting those amounts to savings rather than absorbing them into general spending), managing the electricity cost increase (see our separate electricity savings guide), and claiming the full ATO deduction at tax time.

The ATO deduction in particular is underutilised - many WFH employees either don't claim it or don't track hours carefully enough to maximise it. For a standard 40-hour WFH week at 70 cents/hour over 48 working weeks, the deduction is worth approximately $1,344 in claimable expenses.

If you're setting up or upgrading a home office, the ATO allows deductions for work-related equipment - computers, monitors, desks, and chairs used for work can be depreciated or immediately deducted depending on their cost and your employment status. Check the current instant asset write-off rules with your accountant.

For the purchases themselves: second-hand monitors and office furniture from Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree are consistently good value. A second monitor (which significantly improves productivity for most office workers) can be found second-hand for $50–$150, versus $200–$400 new.

Roopon is an Australian subscription rewards club starting from $19.99/month. For WFH households, the Subscription Tracker helps surface and cancel unused digital subscriptions that accumulate faster when you're working from home and signing up for productivity tools. Partner discounts span Australian service categories that are relevant to remote workers. And FREE included prize-draw entries per your plan and published campaign terms provide upside - extra packages exist for specific campaigns.

The Payday Allocator tool is also useful for WFH earners who receive irregular income from freelance or contract work - helping allocate income to bills, savings, and spending on the day it arrives.

Make sure you're capturing the full financial benefit:

• Calculate your monthly transport saving and redirect it explicitly to savings
• Track WFH hours for the ATO fixed-rate deduction (70c/hour as of 2024–25)
• Review your electricity plan - increased home usage makes switching plans more valuable
• Audit subscriptions that have accumulated since you started WFH
• Check your car insurance for low-kilometre discounts if commuting less
• Buy second-hand for home office equipment wherever possible