How far to work?

[d1sneyf4n]

How far do you and/or your spouse drive to work each day? I am asking bc my DH works maybe a quarter mile from home now but we are thinking of moving about 50 min away. Just seeing what everyone's work commute is like.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Dh's commute from the last 3 homes we have owned has been in the 25-30 minute range.

My last commute was from home to the boys' school, and it was an hour each way. Much, much too long for everyone involved.

 

[d1sneyf4n]

Thanks for the reply. My DH says he is good with the 50 min drive bc we would be about 15 min away from beach but I am wondering as time went on would he get tired of it.

 

[beccasmom]

We both have commutes of just under 15 minutes.

But we have both also had longer commutes in our past...45 minutes to over 1 hour....can't say we miss them much!

 

[TheLadyTremain]

The shortest commute I ever had was about 35 minutes (that included minimal traffic). Longest was probably over an hour which included a train ride and commute to train station.

My DH currently commutes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours. He hates it. With me, I was just used to it. Commutes just seem a way of life anymore so I never really fought it or complained about it.

I will tell you that one of the reasons I stopped working when we had our second was due to long commutes. My commute was about 45 minutes (plus a daycare stop). Dh and I figured that with a new baby coming we would never see the kids or one another. Plus, he works long hours so I never had any help with daycare drop offs or pick ups.

 

[d1sneyf4n]

The shortest commute I ever had was about 35 minutes (that included minimal traffic). Longest was probably over an hour which included a train ride and commute to train station.

My DH currently commutes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours. He hates it. With me, I was just used to it. Commutes just seem a way of life anymore so I never really fought it or complained about it.

I will tell you that one of the reasons I stopped working when we had our second was due to long commutes. My commute was about 45 minutes (plus a daycare stop). Dh and I figured that with a new baby coming we would never see the kids or one another. Plus, he works long hours so I never had any help with daycare drop offs or pick ups.

My DH works long hours as well but I am a stay at home mom so he would be the only one with the commute. He says with that 50 min drive it would give him time to unwind from work.......stressful job. I say he is just trying to justify driving that far. He loves this house that we are considering and the idea of being to close to the beach.

 

[kimnvbva]

My DH commute time is about 1.5 hours. We live in VA but he works in NC. We love Va Beach and don't want to move back down there. His thoughts are once he is home, everything we need is such a short distance away. We live a block from Walmart, Target, even our parents!

 

[RMulieri]

We live exactly 7 miles from our jobs...We did the whole 50 min thing and it STUNK and it gets OLD real fast.If you really don't have to do it ,Don't. It isn't so bad in nice weather, it is miserable in bad weather or when you feel lousy

 

[Pumbaa_]

if he already works long hours, now add a 2 hour r/t commute on to that and will he ever be home? Has he actually driven this commute during rush hour to see exactly what it is like?

I have a 40 min on a good day commyute to 1.5 hrs on a really bad day commute. It is what it is, but it makes for long days. I leave at 7 am and don't get home most days til 5:30 -6:30. I miss a previous commute of 10 minutes, not that was fantastic!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

There is some truth to the undwinding if he does it right, but after two years of taking the kids to school and back in that kind of traffic, moving back to the US was more appealing than staying in a place I loved living. Really, it's very draining and costly if gas goes back over $3/gallon.

I am tickled with only driving 7 minutes to school these days...

 

[d1sneyf4n]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate them all. We have not made a final decision as to we keep trying to find that perfect home closer to his work but as of right now we are not having any luck.

 

[Kit'smommy]

I guess you do what you have to. I had a commute of about 20 minutes each way for 5 years at my last job. For the other 8 years of my career, I have driven an hour to and hour and a half each way. And I worked as an auditor for a Big 6 firm for a long portion of that, so the hours were not good.

Currently, DH and I work about 4 blocks from each other and can commute together about 75% of the time. We have an hour drive. We really can't move any closer to work as the nice houses near downtown are about 4 times the price of our current home.

Having Siruis or something else enjoyable to listen to helps.

 

[allyphoe]

DD gets on the school bus at 8:05, and I'm at my desk at work at 8:25. Parking space to parking space, it's only 15 minutes.

DD's preschool was a 30 minute drive from home to preschool, then 20 minutes back to work. By the start of her second year, it was really an issue, particularly since gas had about doubled in the meantime.

 

[sk!mom]

5 minutes for me- I teach at our neighborhood school. About 12 minutes for my DH.

I would avoid 50 minutes at all costs. It is very draining and gets old quickly. If he works long days and drives for two hours when will he see your children?

 

[Misty89]

My DH travels constantly, he does estimates for home repair. ( he can put on 100 miles aday)
I on the other hand walk through my back yard. yup - no driving. ( I work at a daycare, which is affilated with our church and school, which is on the other side of the block

 

[JustinsMommy07]

DH and I both have about an hour commute. Longer on Fridays in the summer. I think it's well worth it to live in a nicer area. DH still gets annoyed at traffic..lol

 

[Steve's Girl]

We moved a few years ago to be close to where DH and I work. We now each have about a 5 minute drive. It makes our family life so much easier. We are both able to be very involved at our kids' school and our kids are able to participate in a lot of after school activities that would not have been possible if we lived further away from our jobs. DH is able to have lunch with the kids at school on a fairly regular basis. He is also able to be there for special things that occur during the school day. I have a more flexible schedule, so when we lived further away, I was still able to be there for most of the kids' special events. But, I would have to miss a lot of work time to make that happen. Now, DH is able to be there too and I miss a lot less work time.

 

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

My husband's commute is about 15 minutes. Mine is a minimum of 40 minutes (if weather is good and no one else is on the road) but averages 50 minutes each way.

To be honest I think the notion that a long commute is relaxing is not realistic to me. While I do listen to audiobooks, lots of music, etc... while I'm driving, I still find it adds hours to my day. My drive is a mix of city and highway and on the city portion you have to be really alert to avoid the lunatics who drive while putting on makeup, shaving, reading the newspaper(?), texting, etc... . On the highway part there's always slowdowns for accidents, slow moving vehicles, etc... One day a couple of months ago it took me over 2 hours to get to work.

 

[mom2aredhead]

Thanks for the reply. My DH says he is good with the 50 min drive bc we would be about 15 min away from beach but I am wondering as time went on would he get tired of it.

Ok - is it REALLY 50 minutes, or is it "supposedly" 50 minutes which in NJ with the GSP north in the morning, south in the afternoon is really an hour and 15, stretching to an hour and 45 in the summer?

I'd commute 50 minutes to live by the beach, which depending on which beach we're talking about, would put me working no further north than the Driscoll Bridge. The south side of the Driscoll bridge.

 

[tloveswdw]

we moved from an ever increasing commute, (when we bought it was 30min, by the time we moved it was 50 min best case 1:15 a lot)..

to next door to the school DH teaches at. He walk not 40 seconds from our back slidding door to his office and classroom.

Honestly, it has allowed us to have another child, him to be stress free, saved us thousands in car maint., and oh did I mention DH is now 100% less stressed than before.

We would not give it up. His hours are way to long already, 7 am to 7 pm most days.