1. #1
    Just curious what others out there spend on work related expenses, such as parking, mandated clothing,tools acessories etc. Back in my military days it varied from $50 to 100 a month, usually haircuts and hail and fairwell plaque fund type stuff. Had a generous clothing allowance every year to help offset the cost of uniforms ruined in the field etc. Now that im retired and working in security its about $15 a month at most, usually on simple stuff like pens, my own clipboard, batteries, and other handy but not mandatory stuff.
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  2. #2
    Outlaw---'s Avatar Senior Member
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    Back when I was working for myself writing software and hosting B2B and retail applications/services, it was about $1000/month. That was for a parking spot in downtown Houston where I had clients, gas/travel, two Linux servers I rented (one in Los Angeles and one in Dallas) as virtual host platforms, and software (development tools, various ActiveX controls - yep, it was a while back, operating systems, SQL Server licenses, etc).

    After the extra taxes you pay for being self employed (thanks for helping out the little guy Uncle Sam), $60 an hours was about the minimum I could charge and still barely stay in business. $85 an hours was what I needed if I wanted to grow the business.

    With IT managers being some of the stupidest people in the world, it became impossible for me to compete with the VB kids that were willing to work for $30 an hour. The aforementioned managers thought those kids were the greatest thing in the world despite the fact that they knew absolutely nothing when it came to enterprise applications. Of course, the managers didn't know anything either so it was a perfect fit.

    --Outlaw.
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  3. #3
    I'm lucky to be working nights as we don't have a dress code in our data center. Just can't wear shorts or flip flops etc. No extra clothing expense for me and all the free gated secure parking I could ever hope for. Got free cable TV too. Gas money for the long drive there is another thing. It's almost fifty miles round trip a night for me. Even though my work car get's about 33 mpg it starts to smart as the prices go up. I'm blowing about $45.00 every two weeks on back and forth to work driving. If train lines finally make it out my way then I'll certainly make the switch away from the car. The cities of DFW are really kicking into high gear on the train lines so I might not have to wait too long. So travel expenses are the only real hurts for me.


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  4. #4
    I've been working for my current employer for approximately 8 months now, and I've spent over $800.00 for tools at this time. For example, tools such as various types of files, air tools like a new orbital sander, a hub micrometer set, and other assorted tools and instruments that make the jobs easier. In my experience, I've found that the smaller companies I've worked for since 2005 have been increasingly spending less and less money on their tool budgets and tend to rely on their employees to either use the existing available shop tools and equipment(some of which are pretty beat up to the point of barely working), or use they own tools. If this the case, I'll always choose the latter because if I use my own tools, chances are that they'll always be in better condition and much more reliable than the shop tools available, as well as that I don't have to wait until someone else is finished using a particular tool that I need to do a job.

    Although it certainly isn't a set or otherwise predictable monthly expenditure like the other forumites' previous examples, I've witnessed that it is a definite advantage to investing money in tools is that it tends to make a potential employer smile when looking over a job resume. I also can write off a percentage on my yearly taxes for yearly tool expenditures so it's not that big of a hit on my financial situation. Plus if I ever have to leave for whatever reason such as a layoff, my tools roll with me to the next place of employment.
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  5. #5
    WTE_Galway's Avatar Senior Member
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    Australian tax rules are different but I usually claim tools, technical work related books, some travel where I have used my own car for work related jobs, a percentage of my computer and internet expenses and relevant study costs.
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  6. #6
    K_Freddie's Avatar Senior Member
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    I currently work from home. A Euphemism for unemployed while legally disciminated against because I'm a white male - South Africa. NB: - This is Nelson Mandela country

    I generally claim (and the Receiver is quiet helpful)
    - Car and petrol (log book)
    - Percentage of house rates and taxes, electricity, landline phone.
    - full internet
    - and other obvious stuff

    Tools and non-claimable expenses naturally get 'built' into regular expenses.

    The Receiver pays me - legally
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