hello all. i graduated college with a chemistry b.s. this february and had two short contract positions lasting togetehr 4 months. then moved down to charlotte, nc to temporarily help my parents with some issues. after some hunting, i found a job with significant commute from home. for me, this job would be extremely nice on my resume for experience. now for some rough figures i have accumulated:
the salary would be roughly 37k for the 1 year contract. the car is a 2002 camry with 124k miles on it, paid off.
the commute would be round trip of 3 hours @ 118 miles total daily. now, given consumer reports' rate of $ 0.58/mile to operate a motor vehicle and a rough total of 50 weeks/year i figure $17110 in estimated car expenses.
on the contrary, a 1 bedroom apartment runs $650 and with utilities, food, etc factored, i estimate roughly $1100 total. note this includes a 10% buffer for the unexpected. so for 1 year, i estimate expenses at $13200 with this scenario keeping the old camry. note this buffer does not include auto repairs costs. those would be extra.
the car should be replaced soon, as on the past two years i have put in more than 2k in repair costs and maintenance. i was in college at the time and had no money after rent, utilities, tuition, etc. i worked two jobs @40-60 hours to graduate debt free, which is sweet.
third scenario is to stand pat and see if something else comes along. which is dangerous since the jobs in chemistry are very few...
so i am on the horns of a dilemma. the town where its located is small, thus i prefer to commute to avoid the potential of becoming stuck in small town. i would appreciate any advice on this matter. thank you.
