The first Friday in April, Walk to Work Day encourages everyone to get some more steps into their routine and hoof it to work. Besides the great health benefits, walking to work can also save you money on transportation and travel costs, which is great for your budget.
American Consumer Credit Counseling recommends walking to work if you can.
The average American commutes 16 miles each way to work. At 32 miles roundtrip, walking that may not be the most reasonable choice. But there are still ways to save on transportation and travel costs! Gas is getting incredibly expensive, and every time you don’t drive, you save yourself precious dollars. The money could also go towards debt management.
Consider carpooling. You probably have coworkers that live near you and would be willing to trade off on driving duties. As an added benefit, your relationship with coworkers will improve by adding that extra hour of conversation to your roundtrip commute. You can also nap if you’re not the one driving! You can even do a combination of Walk to Work and carpooling – walk a mile or two to a convenient pickup place, and ask a coworker to pick you up on the way.
Talk to your manager about telecommuting occasionally. Telecommuting, or working from home, has become increasingly popular in the past few years. You can save 20 percent a week on gas if you work from home on Fridays. You’ll also save on clothing expenditures, since you won’t need to spend money on work clothes.
National Walk to Work Day is designed to improve your health, which can also impact your wallet further down the line. Even if you can’t walk to work and instead implement a walking routine at lunch, your bank account will thank you. The healthier you are, the less likely you will need to spend money on medicines and medical bills. Walking just 30 minutes a day greatly reduces your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other extremely expensive and debilitating diseases. Your immune system will be better, and for those of you on heart medications, added exercise may be all you need to say goodbye to those expensive medications.
If you’re struggling to pay off debt, ACCC can help. Schedule a free credit counseling session with us today.
