Down with commuting!

[M5]

Up until a few months ago, my wife and I worked in two separate cities in opposite directions of our home while commuting roughly 3600 miles a month! Yikes! At that point she got a job in the same city I work in, but our commuting distance hadn't changed and we are unable to carpool.

I am thrilled to announce that we have purchased a home that is within 8 miles of each of our jobs!!!

What's even better about this?? Our new home is twice as big and 4 times as expensive as our current home, but our monthly bottom dollar will remain the same!! AND we are keeping our current home as a rental property that already puts us one investment closer to retirement!

We are 24 and 23 years old, respectively, discovered MMM about 6 months ago, and have made drastic financial changes that should allow us to FIRE by our early 30s! Woohoo!!!!

[M5]

Congrats...but you're doing it wrong (said in a sincerely joking manner). We did something very similar 2 years ago. We worked in cities in opposite directions 25-30 miles away from home, then I got a job in the same city as DH, 6 miles away from his job. Luckily we could carpool but we were putting ~75 miles a day on my car. Then two years ago we moved to right between our jobs (3 miles for me, 5 for him). But we bought a house 1/3 the size and almost 1/2 the price of our old one. Hands down the second best decision I've made in my life (behind marrying DH of course)

Lol unfortunately downsizing from our current 725sq/ft and $38k house is nearly impossible. Sounds like you guys made an awesome decision though!

[sw1tch]

Now you're within biking distance to work.  I'll challenge you to do so.

[HenryDavid]

Had a job with a commute one time, I mean a car commute. Must have been 19, borrowed my mom's car. Decided ""this is fuckin nuts." Then as a student ended up an hour from campus on transit, hated that, bought a bike. Ever since then life has been commute-free. You draw a circle around the main places you need to go each week, then you only look for housing inside that circle.
It's mind-boggling that people sit in cars or on buses for hours each week and find that "normal."
Why?

[bunchbikes]

Had a job with a commute one time, I mean a car commute. Must have been 19, borrowed my mom's car. Decided ""this is fuckin nuts." Then as a student ended up an hour from campus on transit, hated that, bought a bike. Ever since then life has been commute-free. You draw a circle around the main places you need to go each week, then you only look for housing inside that circle.
It's mind-boggling that people sit in cars or on buses for hours each week and find that "normal."
Why?

I don't get it either.

Location to ammenities was the #1 factor in me determining a place to live. Rent was #2.

I work from home now... can't beat that commute!

[Falconer]

I wish I could cut the commute but it's just not possible. if i moved to the area where my office is, I would not able able to walk to the shop or anywhere else for that matter. I would have to drive everywhere.

I envy you guys.

[bunchbikes]

I wish I could cut the commute but it's just not possible. if i moved to the area where my office is, I would not able able to walk to the shop or anywhere else for that matter. I would have to drive everywhere.

I envy you guys.

Anything's possible, but you'd have to change something.

Get a new job?  Start a business?

Is spending an hour a day in soul-sucking misery worth it?  Is your job worth risking your life every time you get on the freeway?

[jowww]

Is your job worth risking your life every time you get on the freeway?

I once considered Uber/Lyft to make a little extra money, but then considered how much extra risk I'd be taking on by being in the car so much.  Especially if you try to get the surge prices on the weekends, when you certainly up your chances of being nailed by a drunk driver.  Needless to say, I haven't started Uber-ing.  Not worth it.

I also walk/bike to my main job.  Driving commutes are the worst.

[nick663]

Is your job worth risking your life every time you get on the freeway?

I once considered Uber/Lyft to make a little extra money, but then considered how much extra risk I'd be taking on by being in the car so much.  Especially if you try to get the surge prices on the weekends, when you certainly up your chances of being nailed by a drunk driver.  Needless to say, I haven't started Uber-ing.  Not worth it.

I also walk/bike to my main job.  Driving commutes are the worst.

If you guys are this worried about risk, aren't you concerned with riding a bike?  I haven't been able to find a per mile comparison but I would guess that riding a bike is more dangerous (especially if you are riding in a bike lane or on public road).

I'm not anti-bike by any means but I've just kind of accepted that it's a higher risk activity for transportation.

[PaulMaxime]

Is your job worth risking your life every time you get on the freeway?

I once considered Uber/Lyft to make a little extra money, but then considered how much extra risk I'd be taking on by being in the car so much.  Especially if you try to get the surge prices on the weekends, when you certainly up your chances of being nailed by a drunk driver.  Needless to say, I haven't started Uber-ing.  Not worth it.

I also walk/bike to my main job.  Driving commutes are the worst.

If you guys are this worried about risk, aren't you concerned with riding a bike?  I haven't been able to find a per mile comparison but I would guess that riding a bike is more dangerous (especially if you are riding in a bike lane or on public road).

I'm not anti-bike by any means but I've just kind of accepted that it's a higher risk activity for transportation.

MMM Himself has posted about this.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/

[nick663]

Is your job worth risking your life every time you get on the freeway?

I once considered Uber/Lyft to make a little extra money, but then considered how much extra risk I'd be taking on by being in the car so much.  Especially if you try to get the surge prices on the weekends, when you certainly up your chances of being nailed by a drunk driver.  Needless to say, I haven't started Uber-ing.  Not worth it.

I also walk/bike to my main job.  Driving commutes are the worst.

If you guys are this worried about risk, aren't you concerned with riding a bike?  I haven't been able to find a per mile comparison but I would guess that riding a bike is more dangerous (especially if you are riding in a bike lane or on public road).

I'm not anti-bike by any means but I've just kind of accepted that it's a higher risk activity for transportation.

MMM Himself has posted about this.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/

That's an interesting article, thanks for the link.  I'm not sure I agree with computing the numbers per hour instead of per mile but it includes the exercise angle which I wasn't thinking about.

[PaulMaxime]

MMM Himself has posted about this.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/

That's an interesting article, thanks for the link.  I'm not sure I agree with computing the numbers per hour instead of per mile but it includes the exercise angle which I wasn't thinking about.

That might be a bit of a stretch, but the odds of someone biking 70 miles to work vs driving 70 are pretty low. Mostly if you choose to bike to work you are going to live closer. I used to bike ~20 miles from Downtown Baltimore to Columbia, MD for work once or twice a week and it was always fun and a great time saver because you overlap your commute with your workout. One thing you discover is that even with all the highways the old backroads are still there. I managed to find a route that was pretty scenic and mostly car free, except the part of the route through the city.

Here's an old blog post of mine with my old route: http://fromaremotevillage.blogspot.com/2007/05/bicycle-commuting-around-baltimore.html

The more telling thing to me was that there were only ~600 biking fatalites vs 30,000+ for cars.

I've been a cyclist for 40 years. I have had one serious accident (concussion, about 5 years ago) but it was me being stupid and there were no cars involved. I've ridden tens of thousands of miles including twice across the US, and on all sorts of roads (even interstates in some places), dense urban areas (San Francisco, downtown DC, Baltimore), winding country roads and you need to keep your wits about you but I've never really felt scared or threatened.

Europe is definitely more bike friendly, but it's definitely not as dangerous as people intuitively think.

The more people bike the safer it's going to be.