Everyone knows the feeling of receiving their monthly pay cheque, excitement and overwhelming sense of relief greets the employee as they see a reasonable figure appear in their bank balance. This is usually followed the next week by an exclamation of “where did all my money go?!” Reality seems to prove that office workers’ budgeting skills aren’t quite up to scratch.

It seems working in the office can actually cost you money. This is most probably due to lifestyle and convenience choices.

Long commutes

Although travelling to and from work is technically out of your control, it’s worth considering other options due to recent fuel price hikes. Conduct some research on public transport prices to see if there are any cheaper options. Sharing cars with those who live nearby and splitting the costs can also save money, just avoid pulling too many sickies and stranding your colleague.

If travel costs are becoming too high for your weekly budget try to negotiate with your boss rather than struggle in silence. There may be a way you can work from home for a few days of the week to reduce travel expenses.

Food for thought

Office workers tend to have bad snacking habits. Sitting at a desk all day can spark boredom, which in turn causes snacking. Vending machines and junk food are readily available in many offices, stuffed with overpriced snacks.

Try to pack your own lunches and healthy snacks and have them on your desk to avoid trips to the vending machine. Not only are vending machine snacks unhealthy they also amount to quite a large expenditure over a month.

Tempting online deals

Working online guarantees millions of adverts bombard you each week. Ranging from junk emails to ads on websites the internet’s worse than walking down a high street. Combine that with purses and wallets beside you all day, it’s easy to see where your wage disappears.

To get avoid temptation through emails unsubscribe to any companies which email you of their latest deals and offers, this will remove one channel of temptation. In regards to adverts there’s not really any way you can avoid them. Leave your credit card at home when possible to prevent yourself from spending and avoid requiring a bad credit debt consolidation loan. However, memorising your card details is completely defeating the object.

To avoid running up masses of debt you should plan a weekly/monthly budget and stick to it. Money worries can amount to stress and illness and even ruin relationships. Before caving in to temptation, check your finances and outstanding payments before jumping into a hefty purchase.