What is a reasonable work commute

[Tiggeroo]

After being out of work for 5 months dh just accepted a position. Unfortunately it involves a 50 mile each way commute. He'll do it and over the summer he will either find another position closer to home, if the economy is better or he will love the job (quite possible) and we will be relocating. Before he took this position he was on the road a good deal so this actually is much less travel for him. The times of day of his commute will not be during rush hour so no traffic. I guess we will be looking for a cheap basic car that gets good gas mileage.
How far would you or do you commute. Do you love or hate it? If you have a long drive what kind of car do you have?

 

[Imzadi]

It really depends on where one lives and how much time/money one is willing to spend and sit in traffic. It's all relative.

When one is in the Los Angeles area, one can sit on the 405 Fwy for an hour and a half to get to work.

Same for those coming into NYC, who like to live in NJ, upstate NY or L.I.

My BIL, an engineer, used to think that 10 miles was a long commute, until his city dried up, and the nearest, closest city is 50 miles away. That's where the work is. Now, he makes the commute 4 times a week. It's become "normal" to him now.

I don't think it matters what anyone else's commute is. If there is no work, your DH has to be flexible and adjust. As long as he's bringing in considerably more money than goes out for traveling and the time spent in traffic, he has to do what he has to do.

I've noticed a lot of these, "What do you think," Would you do it," type threads lately. It doesn't matter what others think, whether they would do it. It matters if you or DH wants to do it, or does it fit with your lifestyle. Other people aren't going to be paying your bills, no matter what they think.

 

[Disneyluvr]

Well I drive 60 miles one-way, takes me about 45 minutes. This is country driving, hardly any other cars on the road and beautiful scenery, so not bad for me at all. I also have a carpool buddy so we talk on the way and sometimes complain about work on the way home, LOL. It lets us gear up for the day and decompress before we see our family.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I think it depends partly on where you live. My DH had a 63-mile commute at his previous job, and it took him up to 2 hours. There are no interstates around here, it's all two-late, curvy, hilly state routes through small towns with speed limits going from 35 mph to 55 mph.

At the time he was at this job, DH was driving a Hyundai Elantra.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Doesn't NJ have a website that puts commuters together? My DH goes about 85 miles each way but he has always been able to commute with someone else. For a few years he and a neighbor took turns driving but for the past 2 years he has been in a van pool. i think anything more than 45 minutes alone would be hard on a person but if you are being driven then up to 2 hours is tolerable. i used to take a bus into NYC from where I live when we first moved here and it was 2 1/2 hours each way which wasn't too bad on me because I slept and I didn't have kids yet.

 

[gina2000]

In NJ the length of the commute doesn't matter....it's the traffic that does!

 

[design_mom]

My commute is 11 miles (about 20 minutes). If I worked downtown, it would be 30-40 minutes. I wouldn't want to spend hours commuting every day and would not want to live in a city where that was the average. However, if I'd been out of work for a while, I would take the job and deal with the commute, especially if everything else (except the commute time) seems like a good fit.

 

[mster425]

We are in PA, toward Philly, and my DH's office is 40 miles away. 3 days a week he is in the field, anywhere from 60-120 miles away.

40 miles is not abnormal among our group of friends.

He doesn't pay for his own gas though, and the 40 mile commute helps him decompress at the end of the day. More than that he gets tired and frustrated. I would hate it.

You have to weigh the time and $ you lose against the benefits, I guess. I don't like that DH is gone 11 hrs/day, but I like paying the mortgage

 

[mjkacmom]

DH commuted from north Jersey to Princeton for a few years, and was thrilled, because he preferred it over taking the bus (less than 10 miles) into NYC (which he did for 20 years).

 

[Angelhalo]

I won't commute more than 30 minutes. DH doesn't want to commute more than 10 minutes because that is what he has had in the past but right now is stuck with 35-40 minutes.

My job is 18 miles from home and it takes me about 30 minutes to get there. That's pretty much my max.

 

[DawnCt1]

DH took a new position that involves 100 miles each way. We had every intention of relocating and although we had a guaranteed "buy out" on this end, we didn't find anything at the other end that was comparable without taking out a sizable mortgage. We have been mortgage free for a while now. Fortunately for him, he can work three days a week from home and his new position involves a considerable amount of travel. We also live about 10 minutes from the airport which makes flying in and out easy. The upshot of all of this is, he goes into the office about 8 to 10 times a month. We didn't think it was worth taking on debt for that. On days that he has to stay in the Cambridge area, he can stay at Hanscom AFB in their hotel for less than the gas and tolls. Its an easy drive for me to join him there for dinner. When he drives, he gets good mileage with the Nissan Sentra that DS#3 used for college so its very doable. When that wears out, we will consider one of the VW diesels.

 

[disneybound2010]

My father spent 22 years riding the train 2 hours each way from our little town into D.C. We're a nice little bedroom community and the average person around here commutes to D.C or B'more. It's tough, but much cheaper than living closer to the city.

DH drives about 30 minutes and we are actually planning to move closer.

 

[Tiggeroo]

Well it's a pay cut and that's bad. But it's more then unemployment. I was worried about him running out of unemployment and them not approving the extensions currently in place in the middle of winter. His field tends to be much busier in the spring and summer so not having work now is bad. While the pay is less the job is much different and more enjoyable then what he normally does. He is an hvac/r technician and he will be teaching in a tech school. I think he will love it and not want to go back in the field even if the opportunity comes up. So I suspect we will be moving closer over the summer. He will give it six months at least to make sure it is a good fit and feels stable. It's not in an area I would be against moving to and all of my kids are college aged so no problem with them. It would be a nice change actually.

 

[pixiewings71]

DBF commutes 39 miles one way every day, his normal commute time is 45 minutes but on bad traffic days it's more like an hour at the bare minimum. My previous job was a 25 mile commute which amounted to about 30-45 minutes depending on when I was driving. I'm currently hoping to get a job that would be a 15 minute commute from home, large pay cut but more then I'm getting on unemployment and a much better commute.

Good luck to you, adjusting to a commute is not fun.

 

[si-am]

I commuted 50 miles (one way) for two years. It wasn't too bad because I wasn't hitting a ton of traffic. The only annoying part was when I had some kind of evening function or meeting to attend, which meant I didn't really have time to go home, so I just had to hang around town for an hour or two, waiting.

 

[dismom2005]

In NJ the length of the commute doesn't matter....it's the traffic that does!

So true.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I commuted 50 miles (one way) for two years. It wasn't too bad because I wasn't hitting a ton of traffic. The only annoying part was when I had some kind of evening function or meeting to attend, which meant I didn't really have time to go home, so I just had to hang around town for an hour or two, waiting.

This is the reason we may have to relocate. There will be times he will occasionally have to teach an evening class and he won't be able to come home first with this ride. It won't be for some time but eventually it will come up.

 

[Tiggeroo]

So true.

With a 6:30am to 2:30 schedule I"m hoping it won't be much of a problem.

 

[daughtersrus]

After being out of work for 5 months dh just accepted a position. Unfortunately it involves a 50 mile each way commute. He'll do it and over the summer he will either find another position closer to home, if the economy is better or he will love the job (quite possible) and we will be relocating. Before he took this position he was on the road a good deal so this actually is much less travel for him. The times of day of his commute will not be during rush hour so no traffic. I guess we will be looking for a cheap basic car that gets good gas mileage.
How far would you or do you commute. Do you love or hate it? If you have a long drive what kind of car do you have?

My DD commutes about 50 miles and it takes her just about an hour. This is her first year teaching so when she was offered the job last May, she accepted.

DH commutes 17 miles and it takes him just about 45 minutes each way.

We're in the Chicago area. DD's job is west of our house so she's going against traffic both ways. DH's job is east of our house so he gets stuck in traffic both ways.

I work from home but although my commute is the shortest, my hours are the longest. I'm working before DH leaves in the morning and most of the time I'm still working when he gets home.

 

[Tiggeroo]

My DD commutes about 50 miles and it takes her just about an hour. This is her first year teaching so when she was offered the job last May, she accepted.

DH commutes 17 miles and it takes him just about 45 minutes each way.

We're in the Chicago area. DD's job is west of our house so she's going against traffic both ways. DH's job is east of our house so he gets stuck in traffic both ways.

I work from home but although my commute is the shortest, my hours are the longest. I'm working before DH leaves in the morning and most of the time I'm still working when he gets home.

I lived in the Chicago area for a few years. Yes it was actually the worst traffic I've ever dealt with. If you were coming to or from the city it was a nightmare.