{"id":129640,"date":"2025-09-03T12:09:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/129640\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:09:18","slug":"commuting-lunches-and-impromptu-coffees-how-to-budget-for-the-extra-costs-of-returning-to-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/129640\/","title":{"rendered":"Commuting, lunches and impromptu coffees: How to budget for the extra costs of returning to the office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The work-life shift from kitchen table to cubicle may end up costing workers more money in the long haul.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

More workplaces are calling employees back to the office four or five days a week. Major Canadian companies including Toronto-Dominion Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, Rogers Communications Inc. and Bank of Nova Scotia have all called staff back, with many starting this fall. <\/p>\n

This work-life shift from kitchen table to cubicle may end up costing workers more money in the long haul. <\/p>\n

When they do return, they must consider the added financial expenses that were eliminated, or at least reduced, during remote or hybrid work conditions. Employees should expect to spend more money on commuting, work attire, lunches, coffees and after-work drinks. There are less obvious costs to consider, too, such as child care and pet care. <\/p>\n

David Del Grande was working in the office two days a week, but his employer recently called all workers back to a four-day workweek in the office, effective in the coming months. He expects his expenses to rise when it comes to child care now that he must enroll his child in after-school care five days a week as opposed to fewer days when he worked in the office just twice a week. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the ways I\u2019m looking at saving costs and a way that\u2019s also good for my health is using Bike Share to commute downtown or at least go one way back at the end of the workday,\u201d says Mr. Del Grande, who works in the banking sector.<\/p>\n

Bank staff play musical chairs with desks as return-to-office orders squeeze space<\/a><\/p>\n

Ontario orders public servants back to office five days a week starting in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Toronto resident has a grocery store near his office where he can shop on lunch breaks, but worries he\u2019ll spend more on items rather than shopping after work at a cheaper store closer to his house.<\/p>\n

To curb costs, he plans to pack lunches, his go-to meal prep being \u201chard-boiled eggs and a couple of tangerines,\u201d and take advantage of the free coffee from his office. <\/p>\n

When creating a budget for the added expenses of returning to the office, Becky Western-Macfadyen, financial coaching and education manager at Credit Canada, recommends implementing what she calls a \u201csustainable spending\u201d framework. This strategy involves, using the acronym ABC: A for analyzing your income and expenses, B for brainstorming what you can do to either increase income or cut spending, and C for changing your approach. <\/p>\n

Ms. Western-Macfadyen encourages her clients to look for creative alternatives. For transportation, \u201cthere\u2019s carpooling or ride-share swaps you could do with friends, even with someone who might not work in the same building as you,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Food is a top cost for workers returning to the office, according to Cindy Marques, CFP, director of financial planning at Open Access Ltd. \u201cNowadays, you can\u2019t really get a lunch that\u2019s less than $20,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, if we assume $20.50 a day, that\u2019s $100 a week, $400 a month. That\u2019s a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Western-Macfadyen recommends ditching the cafeteria line by bringing a packed lunch from home. \u201cIt is more costly to buy out of home, you\u2019re paying for a service, then there\u2019s tipping involved often.\u201d Grocery shopping encourages price comparison, which may help reduce costs. She suggests using apps such as Too Good To Go for surplus food at reduced cost, participating in meal swaps with friends and family, and cooking larger meals that will leave leftovers for lunch the next day. <\/p>\n

To cushion child care costs, Ms. Western-Macfadyen proposes an unconventional approach. \u201cCan you look at doing child care swaps or exchange child care coverage with someone who works a different shift or even nanny-share to team up with another family to share the cost of a caregiver?\u201d she asks. <\/p>\n

Opinion: September will bring more in-office days for many, but there is a big disconnect on the reasons to return<\/a><\/p>\n

Bruce Daisley on the return-to-office push and resistance against it<\/a><\/p>\n

People who spent the past five years working from home clad in the pressed button-up and pyjama-pant outfit combo, may feel the need to shop for new work attire. Ms. Marques warns against overspending by sticking to the basics and investing in a few pairs of structured jeans, a blazer, T-shirts, a nice pair of sneakers and dress shoes. She notes that workers returning to the office can get away with more business-casual attire than previously, alleviating the pressure to splurge on a three-piece suit. <\/p>\n

Before you purchase your second or third coffee of the day, Ms. Western-Macfadyen offers some tough-love advice. \u201cAre you working for you to be able to buy coffee? Probably not,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I were to ask you what your purpose of your money is, you probably would come up with something like family, experiences or education, rather than coffee.\u201d <\/p>\n

The sentiment around full-time office work has changed drastically since the COVID-19 pandemic gave way to a transformation of workplace conduct and productivity. Remote work showed Canadian employees that it is possible to continue business as usual behind a screen, as opposed to traditional in-person work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only money that workers may feel is depleted as they shift from remote to office work, it\u2019s also their time. \u201cThe time spent commuting takes a hit on your mental health and when you\u2019re feeling burnt out and exhausted, that usually does lead to poor spending decisions overall,\u201d says Ms. Marques. \u201cNot only are you buying lunches and coffees when you\u2019re at work, but you come home and you\u2019re exhausted from that trip and you don\u2019t feel like making dinner, so maybe you\u2019re ordering takeout again.\u201d<\/p>\n

To mitigate commute burnout, Ms. Marques suggests asking your employer to be transferred to a branch that\u2019s closer to your home. To navigate the lifestyle change, Ms. Western-Macfadyen advocates for leaning on community and having discussions in advance about your increased expenses with co-workers or employers if it\u2019s causing you uncertainty. \u201cYou don\u2019t know unless you talk about it,\u201c she says. \u201dIt\u2019s a missed opportunity to just get those ideas, get some support, get the accountability. It\u2019s a give and take.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The work-life shift from kitchen table to cubicle may end up costing workers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530,82240],"class_list":["post-129640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-pf-ca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}