I've considered moving closer to work, but that would require switching counties. The next county over has a 1.5% income tax, which pays for most of the yearly fuel bill. Rent would most likely increase 100$ a month as well. I work in industrial manufacturing, so living close to work really isn't desirable. Right now my commute is 26 miles of highway, 25 minutes. If I moved 15 miles closer, I'd have 10 miles of crowded 35mph stop/go traffic, so it'd still take about 20 min.
I have actually biked to work for a summer, 3 days a week, but I burnt out physically. 52 mile round trip is quite a workout, and a 3.5 hour time sink. The ride is a little sketchy in some areas, and railroad crossings really suck for skinny tired bikes. I've wrecked twice, once on railroad crossing, the other while turning on an oily/slick road. I loved the first part of my bike commute, but the last 7 miles were terrible. The closer I get to work, the more hazardous it becomes. So even If I moved closer to work, I'd still have to bike the bad areas. It's still my backup plan if I ever can't start the car on a weekday.
I'm going to push this car as far as it can reasonably go, but the question of reasonable comes up at every problem and is the hardest part to determine. I will probably end up financing whatever I end up getting when it dies. I invest everything so that I can't spend it easily, but I could always cash out some. The frugal solution, right now, would probably be a nissan versa sedan, manual, unloaded, <12k. I've read some hypermiling reports got it up to 50 mpg...