WHERE do you work?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
WHERE do you work?
14
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 4:52pm

I'm not asking what company you work for or what you do for a living, but I am asking WHERE do you work? Are you in a standard office building in some generic inductrial park like me? Do you work in an active downtown in a high rise? Do you work in a location far from home and hate the commute? Do you work in a cubicle or in a fancy office or on an assembly line? Do you work outside? Do you work in a mall? Near a mall? Are you working at home or in someone else's home? Are you on the road a lot?

The reason I ask this is to ask if you think where you work affects your spending habits or puts your saving habits in jeopardy. Does it affect your budget in any way (like I am always buying gasoline!) or does it have advantages for you to be working in the location you are in? (Like there is no where to spend your money nearby like me!)

Answer this question anyway you like......just curious how everyone interprets this question.

Littlesbigs

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-1999
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 5:13pm

I work in a 3 story standard office building in a kind of grungy part of town. We have the whole top floor. I'm the receptionist so I'm right at the front behind a big desk/counter.

My commute isn't far...there's nowhere around the office that I like to go at lunch-it's too far to walk to the mall and there's no decent shops in the area. There's a convenience store but it's pricey (relatively speaking) and Wendy's or Subway (both of which I detest) is a 10-15 walk, then a 10-15 minute wait in the lineups. So I am trying to always bring my own lunch. My car also burns A LOT of gas so I don't even like to go to the mall on my break. So it COULD be great for saving, but if I break down and go to the convenience store (or the fast food places) it really, really destroys anything I save from bringing my own lunch.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-1999
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 6:00pm

Great question, I work in a two story office building (the only office building in a town of 200 people). I can walk to work, about a half a block commute!!! Though I usually drive (I know I should walk BUT my hair is just right and it is windy, snowy, looks like rain!LOL). We have NO shopping here, no bar, no fast food, no grocery store, we do have a post office. I have often times thought I spend a lot less time and $ because of where I live and work, also I'm not tempted by all of the fast food. We live 15 miles from town for grocery shopping, dentist, doctor and bank...we are 75 miles from major shopping like WalMart, Target, mall and Costco. We do spend $ on good reliable vehicles because there is no public transportation here.

cindylee

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-21-2003
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 6:02pm

Hi there,

good question, I think. Yes, where I work does definitely influence my spending habits.

I work in a wonderful old building, late 19th century, with high ceiling, lots of columns, and marble etc. - only the office I share with another woman is rather crowded. The accoustics are crazy: The office has a rounded ceiling, as it was later built by simply putting in another floor right under the rounded, cathedral-like ceiling. So we have at least six or seven spots in our office where you can here yourself twice or thrice because of the echo-effect - no good for holding meetings... ;-)

What does effect my spending habits is that this building is situated just right down-town, near to one of the most expensive spots we have. Loads of tourists come there to see the sights, and quite a few multi-nationals have their German headquarters here. So the place is crowded with people who work like 50 - 60 hrs a week, have loads of money to soend, or don't really care abotu the money as they are on holiday. And now imagine yourself trying to get the necessary shopping done between leaving the office and taking the train home... see what I mean? Expensive. I compared shopping bills from an average work-week and a holiday week (we stayed at home), and the difference was startling: I spend up to 15% more when I buy groceries etc. close to my workplace!

.. that really gave me something to think about...

Greetings, Jordis

ivy_jordis

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 6:54pm

I work in a historic building (museum) on Central Park West in NYC. I take the bus to work, so that budget never gets blown out of whack. I usually bring my lunch and the only money I really spend at work is at the vending machine for diet coke. I stay out of the gift shop. I have to because I can't resist all that merchandise targeted to history geeks like me.

Sandra

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2003
Tue, 11-16-2004 - 8:09pm

I work in what we call the Technopark...where all the name brand companies that take up way too much square footage are located. Our 2 floor company is rather small compared to the rest of the others as our head office is located in Foothill Ranch, California.
It's about 15 min away from the downtown core and less than 10 minutes from my home by car.

To get to the closest mall it's about a ten minute drive but I usually bring my lunch. The only thing we have in the lunch room is the junk vending machine so I try to have less than $1 in change in my wallet so I can't succumb to a pack of smarties...every day :)
We also have a gas station down the street which is very useful to take advantage of gas prices early in the mornings when they drop.
My office (rather a large cube) is actually quite nice with the best chair I've ever had and we really make it our home away from home, complete with pictures, cd players and candles, stuffed toys etc...Every one respects one another's space and property.

Kassandra

"It is said that life has its peaks and valleys.  The challenge is to accept them equally and experience them

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Wed, 11-17-2004 - 12:08am

Ok, I work out of my car and home. I live in a rural area and provide in home services. I do billing, etc. in the basement of my home. I am an independent contractor. My work is actually done in others homes but I use my vehicle to get there. I sometimes drive up to one hour each way, usually less.

As you can tell, gas prices affect me greatly. A reliable vehicle is a must, some place I go don't have cell service. I plan my day so that once I leave I usually don't return home until I'm finished work for the day. So my down fall is convenience food and fast food. Some of us that used to work in a centralized office have started to meet for breakfast every so often, this is adding up, too.

Interesting question, it seems others have much more "typical" jobs than me. But I love what I do. Margaret

Avatar for lovmy2kids
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-17-2004 - 2:55am

I work in a bussiness park full of small office buildings. We are right next to a river and just across the river from a small park. I work 12 hour shifts at night so it's really quiet around here and no traffic. I live just nine minutes from here, I don't even have to get on the freeway! We moved three years ago and gave up our suburban life in a great area to move to the big city. Even though we moved to what most people would consider a lesser neighborhood we are so happy with our decision. We live on quiet street with mostly elderly neighbors who's houses were all built back in the 40's. The best part is that we gave up one and a half hour commutes each way and ton's of traffic. The time, money, and stress this has saved us was so worth the move. I now only get gas once a week, if that and sometimes can go weeks without ever even seeing the freeway other than to drive over it to get to work.

-Darcy

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-16-1999
Wed, 11-17-2004 - 5:34am
I work on the third floor of a five floor building which is part of an office park. I have a fairly large private office which is in a building built in the woods overlooking the water. My digs at work are pretty nice. I do believe that it may have an effect on my spending habits in that since I have nice surroundings I am less stressed than I might otherwise be. It is easier to be frugal and organized when your surroundings are calm.
I commute about twenty six miles a day round trip which adds to the cost of transportation. I think that the semi-isolated location of my employment also adds to my expenses in that if I go out to lunch, I not only drive to get there but tend to eat in better places since that is what surrounds my office.
Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 11-17-2004 - 9:45am

I currently work in a 5-story building that is practically empty.

All my best,
Danni

Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Wed, 11-17-2004 - 11:34am

I work for a small consulting firm in a suburban office park, 17 miles from my house - a straight 20-minute commute down a major highway. I carry almost no money with me because I don't need to buy anything. Lunch is paid for by the company, as are snacks, coffee, soda, beer, and the Wall Street Journal. DH is a SAHD and runs all the errands, so I don't need to take any money with me. I pay for gas once a week with Amex.

Dress is easygoing - business casual is fine when we're not having meetings with people outside the company, so are suits and dresses. Our clients generally do not dress up, so pantsuits and sweaters are fine for meetings. In the 9 years I've been working for the company, I have generally not replaced my suits when they've become outdated - I have a couple of pantsuits for each season for meetings, and the rest of the time I wear pants and sweaters in the winter and dresses and sandals in the summer. I take advantage of the low-key atmosphere by skipping hose in the summer months and generally maintaining only a minimum amount of clothes (though I still have to dryclean my sweaters and pants). I do miss buying beautiful suits and pumps, but I have no need of them anymore and they would look out of place in the office and at clients' offices.

Travel can be tricky. We get reimbursed for meals, but I have to be careful not to drop money on things like bottles of water, snacks, newspapers, paperbacks, magazines, etc. You can drop $20 a trip on "disposables" like that if you're not careful - I try to keep it to $5 by planning ahead.

There are many things that make this an ideal job - not having to spend my own money is a major advantage.

Kelly

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