№ 001 · Remote Work · Calculator

How much is
your tool stack
actually costing you?

Slack, Zoom, Notion, Linear, Loom, Figma, Asana, Slack again because someone made a second workspace. We did the math. You're not gonna love it.

Avg. annual tax

$18,420

per remote worker — Reddit r/remotework, 2025 self-report aggregate. Yes, you read that right.

Inputs

Drag the sliders. Be honest. Nobody's watching except every notification you've ever ignored.

12

Slack, email, calendar, Notion, Figma, Linear, Loom, GitHub… count 'em.

14

Including the standup that should've been a Slack message.

120

Cmd+Tab counts. So does "wait, where did I put that link."

85

ChatGPT Plus, Notion Plus, Raycast Pro, that one Substack.

180

Slack DMs, mentions, email, calendar, Linear, Reddit. All of it.

link copied. now log off.

Your annual tool stack tax

$0

drag a slider to begin

Direct $

$0

SaaS subs

Meeting tax

$0

@ $50/hr

Switch tax

$0

23 sec/switch

Notif tax

$0

2 sec each

Bloat score

0

0 · monk50 · bloated100 · administrating

Verdict

Move a slider to summon your verdict.

Hours lost / yr

0

= weeks of PTO

0

Netflix shows missed

0

The Spectrum

Where do you fall?

Seven tiers of remote work derangement, ranked from "weirdly chill" to "you ARE the org chart."

Receipts

How the math works.

Because somebody on Reddit will ask. Hi, that somebody.

Hourly rate proxy: $50+

Median U.S. remote knowledge worker fully-loaded cost (BLS-adjusted, 2025). Don't @ us — yours is probably higher.

23 seconds per app switch+

Gloria Mark's "Attention Span" research, recovery time after interruption. Yes, even quick ones.

2 seconds per notification+

Conservative. We assume you only glance. We know you don't only glance.

250 work days, 50 work weeks+

Standard U.S. working year minus weekends and a normal vacation. You probably take less. Sorry.

This is satire-adjacent. Mostly.+

The numbers are real. The framing is, let's say, vibes-aware. Use it as conversation fuel, not a CFO memo.

Read next

15 ways to spend less.

Comparisons, audits, and tactical "actually ship something" guides for distributed teams who like sleeping at night.