I drive 36 miles each way, but they are about 1 hour drives, 50 minutes if I am lucky.

I wouldn't care to go much further, but YMMV.

My current commute is 15 miles one way and I hate it. Some times it takes 20 minutes to get to work/home, sometimes it takes 45 minutes.

The problem with any commute is the other people on the road with you.

AS others have said - sell half or more of your toys and move closer.

I was in Bay area.. long commute from east bay to west bay, even past rush hours drove me nuts.

Sell the toys and gain back your sanity. And as Rhino said, after selling your toys, that $500 extra might just be gone (if you're still making payments on those toys)..

If my job was four 10's or better yet 3-12's. And a month of vacation a year. Then possibly yes. Otherwise, no.

No.

Worked from home office for decades, and took car services to airports.

Lived where I wished. Still do even though retired (mostly).

I was also in a similar situation (40 min commute vs. 20 min)...ultimately ended up choosing the shorter commute option, but I had the same considerations others have already brought up.

1.) What kind of drive is the 80 miles? Highway/back roads where it's mostly smooth sailing, or a lot of urban/suburban traffic with frequent lights? I can deal much better with the former, the latter would drive me nuts.

2.) Are you going with or against the prevailing rush hour traffic when you make the commute? Early or late enough to avoid rush hour altogether?

3.) Take into consideration weather (probably not too bad in TN, compared to MI), and the alternate routes in the case of delays/closures. For me, weather played a big deal into the decision, and alternate routes would make the 40min drive closer to an hour each way. Just yesterday the junction at the two main highways I would have needed to take with the longer commute flooded with 13 feet of water due to all the rain we had. Roads closed.

4.) How often do you need to make the commute? In my situation it would have averaged out to only about 10-12 days per month.

5.) Do you make enough money to offset your lost time? Will the extra fuel and depreciation on your car be a financial burden or a minor extra cost? Can you afford to hire people to do things around your house that you might not be able or want to do because of the extra time you're on the road?

6.) If you are set on doing this, however, I would buy something a little more comfortable than a Toyota Corolla or equivalent. Not suggesting you drop ~$70K on a brand new Expedition, but if it were me I would at least look at something a little larger with a smoother/quieter ride. If you're going to be spending ~3 hours in the car each day, you should at least get something you actually want to sit in for that long.

I ended up going with the shorter commute, even if the job that went with it wasn't the most attractive out of my options.

My commute is only 16 miles, but whether I drive it or take public transit makes a world of difference. If I drive it's between 30 and 40 minutes, or 1 to 1.25 hours RT. If I take the bus/train it becomes 3 hours RT. And that, frankly, sucks. I barely have time in the evening to eat, play with the dogs a bit and relax a bit before it's time to go to bed. If I had family to deal with too, it would become unworkable really fast. My employer pays for my transit pass, but won't pay for my mileage if I drive in.

Or perhaps you could one more toy to the stable, a helicopter!

quote:

Originally posted by JonDaddy82:
My question is...is this sane?

15 hours a week sitting in that cheap 4 cylinder, no thanks! I would keep looking. I do 22.5 miles each way now and that seems like torture. I'd definitely be willing to go a little further for the right house, but not 83 miles further.

Is that near Nashville? I have a sister in Brentwood and they just found a new house after a very long search. It seems like it's a crazy market at the moment there.

Used to commute 140+ miles a day. The money was good, but I didn't have time to spend it.

You'll do much better driving less.

You aren't talking a super long commute.

A third of the workforce in Anchorage drives 50-90 minutes each way due to a lack of affordable housing. There's one road, and it often gets backed up into a parking lot by an idiot tourist or methhead.

I did the commute for a couple of years. Actually, my wife and I both did it.

Then a few years later I found myself commuting I-5 for an hour south to work in South Salem while the wife was doing a similar commute North, to portland. I was lucky, I usually commuted in an airplane, which made for about a 15 minute commute.

Last year I commuted to Anchorage for 6 months each week for a position. That was roughly 300 miles round trip. I flew when I could, and spent a lot of time in hotels.


Having a nice vehicle that you enjoy spending time in helps. Listening to books on tape helps. I knock out business phone calls when possible. It helps if you're doing something productive, but that really only works if you're grinding away on a straight and safe road without traffic.

Is perhaps working from home a couple of days a week a possibility in the near future?

I'll say that having spent years commuting, I now have a home office and even for significantly less pay, it's worth it. I hate commuting, and now I avoid driving during peak driving times. My stress levels are reduced, and my vehicles get in less accidents. There's a lot of idiots on the road.

I’d rather die than make that commute everyday. Unrealistic for me.

I’m one hour a day on the train one way, usually can add another 1-15 minutes depending what time I get to the platform and if the train just left or not and how long till another. Then from my house to train station it’s a solid 15-25 minute drive depending on traffic. This also assumes no other delays caused by train breakdowns or idiots jumping into the tracks. So best case scenario is 2.5 hours a day commuting, usually closer to 3 hours all in. I leave home between 6 and 7 each day and try to leave the office at 530 to get home by 7pm unless we have scouts, dance or other events with kids etc. then I go in earlier and leave earlier.

I interviewed for a job similar to mine around the corner, an 8 minute drive and I could probably even bike it. I said, “look I know I am paid very well for what I do at my current company but make me an offer you might be surprised by what I would work for to get 15 hours of my life back each week”. The didn’t want to make me an offer which irritated me because the headhunter that recruited me told me they wanted me.

If it was me, I wouldn’t get myself strapped with a house that I couldn’t afford. That puts a strain on a relationship, no matter how strong it is. And no matter how secure you think your job is, you never know what tomorrow holds.

I would sell some of the toys so you could make a smaller house work, use the ones you don’t sell more often, and spend more time at home.

Just my two cents.

quote:

Originally posted by Suppressed:
My brother commutes from Bellevue, WA to Bellingham, WA which is around two hours.

Wow that’s pretty nuts!

My wife and I just completely downsized our lives. We chased after toys and money for years, and now we are chasing freedom and fun.
We gave up the big house and are about to close on a 1200 sqft home. I ditched a race car and a 2017 E63 for a Hyundai and a SxS. I took a 73% pay cut and the wife’s cut was almost 40%.

Ditch the toys, live closer to work, enjoy more time with your family.

You said future "child"... When you have a little one, you won’t want to waste three hours a day driving and not spending that time watching them grow up.

Time and family time are precious. Don’t give it up to have cool shit. Take it from a guy who has BTDT.

I just spent $200K extra on a house to change my commute from 45 minutes to 12. I spent a couple of years working a 75 mile each way commute and hated it. The older I get the lower my tolerance for spending time in the car. My fellow drivers seem to be getting steadily worse.

I live in the area. That is a low stress/low traffic commute. You might look around Columbia/Lewisburg/Chapel Hill/Centervillr areas to shave 30-40 mins off that drive. Fayetteville is a pretty area but that is a long drive.

I commuted 176 miles a day for 9 months. Made a TON of money, but I don't think I'd do it again.

When I was flying I had an 8 1/2 hour commute from home to my base of operations and after two weeks an 8 1/3 hour back after flying up to 8 hours on the last day. Needless to say I usually pulled over and took a nap about midnight.