Saving money by using your employer’s resources is both smart and legal.

Today I thought I’d challenge myself to think about the ways to save money using employer’s resources.

First, it’s possible to save money by using your employer’s heating and cooling system.  Just enjoy the mostly perfect temperature at work and turn your heating/cooling system down or off at home either by manually doing so or via a time controlled thermostat.  Think about it, why heat or cool the house for the plants?  They’ll be okay, they told me so, at least as long as it doesn’t get too hot or cold.

We always have software installs or vendor visits and they often bring bagels and coffee, or coffee and donuts from places like Panera and Dunkin Donuts!  Occasionally, my company has client site visits!  After these visits they often have left over club sandwiches and other goodies!  Every now and then pizzas will show up in the break rooms.  Yep, it’s possible to save a lot on food for lunch if you want.

Next, use their electronic technology!  My employer gives their employees both laptops and cell phones so that we can be very responsive at a drop of a dime.   That said, most of the time, I use the laptop at home for my own use.  And as for the cell phone… why buy my own when I can use the one provided from work for free?  My son likes to play the games on it, so he benefits too.

Why buy a beverage while at work?  My employer provides coffee, hot chocolate, cappuccino, tea and filtered water.   I use those single serving packets of Lipton white tea or crystal light when I want to add a little flavor to the filtered water.  It beats buying pop (soda) or a latte, at least from a cost perspective!  I even know one guy that fills up a big water container before he leaves for the day.

Lesser Ways to Save Money

• Use their electricity for listening to music and other uses.
• Some peers use the electricity at work to charger their electronic device batteries.  It’s very clever of them, plug it in and since you’re there anyway, you can watch it and unplug it at the proper time.  No more overcharging!
• Need computer works?  Go to the smartest technician and plead for help!  This can save you hundreds of dollars!
• Take their toilet paper when they aren’t looking (not really, but I thought I would add this as a joke, ha ha).
• I know one guy that uses company paper to prints personal stuff to the printer.  Like materials for the kid teams that he coaches.  I don’t do this because this greatly frowned upon.  It’s kind of funny that the least expensive thing is what is frowned upon the most…
• We have a shower in the downstairs men’s room and I know that of some joggers in the company use it in the morning after they’ve had their run.  Why shower at home in the morning when you can run in the morning and they get a free shower at work.  If you have a lot of members in your family, this could be very convenient!  Plus, no more cold showers.
• We don’t have a company gym, but if you do have one… why buy a gym membership?

Of course people also use company folders, paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, paperclips and even batteries for personal use, but I didn’t include these since this type of using company resources isn’t legal.

What ways do you save money by using your employer’s resources, or do you feel guilty doing so?

-MR

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