What price/value working close to home

aziz_n1
aziz_n1 Posts: 140 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What price or value can one place on being able to work so close to home.🤔
Lovely bright sunny day 🌤 to start March, signs of Spring everywhere.😀
Started my new job on Monday and being able, due to time saved from not having to commute, to walk to & use my gym, for a workout & shower on the way, before getting to the office.😀😀
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Replies

  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    Sounds amazing! It's not always just mileage, traffic can vary so much by location. Traffic was so bad where I used to live, there was a commute almost no matter how close you were. I am lucky that there is a weight room at work. I use it in the evening twice a week. I am unlucky that there is only one commercial gym in my town. I wouldn't want to pay for a membership there, too crowded, not enough equipment.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    One of the benefits and perks of what I do and who I do it for is that I'm afforded quite a bit of freedom when it comes to where and when I work.

    While I tend to prefer being in the main office most days as it makes my job easier and I prefer face-to-face interactions the option of setting up shop for the day in one of the satellite offices closer to home, or indeed working from the couch in my lounge room when the need arises is definitely appreciated.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I work for myself and out of our home, and I never lose sight of how much of a leg-up that gives me when it comes to being able to exercise and eat well.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,111 Member
    I work from home. I love it. Allows me to fit in gym time whenever I want. No office politics. Can stop and go for a walk or play my guitar when I want. It’s not for everyone though.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,487 Member
    Have had anywhere from an 80 to 120 minute round trip commute for 40 years. You just have to make time for what is important in the rest of your life.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,111 Member
    I have a walking commute to the office (2 miles) and I find it pretty beneficial.

    Previous jobs where I've had to commute on a bus, I didn't really mind, as it gave me time to study or read a book. Driving I absolutely hated.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,871 Member
    I always try to live as close to my work as possible. There might be some drawbacks attached to that: smaller flat, no place to park a car, etc but I see it as an advantage as it makes life so much easier: little time spent on going to work (currently 30 minutes by bike and train, which is long for me), little time spent on cleaning, little money on heating, and not having or needing a car also saves tons of money and is good for the environment.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    I work 1 mile from my house and it's amazing! Honestly it is why I took the job. :D I'm a single mom and am able to attend school events easily, be with my kids more after school and I have less stress due to the lack of commute.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,871 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Retired and moved to a historic bedroom community. I walk everywhere now, except grocery store- and that’s under construction.

    Multiple gyms, yoga studio, all my doctors, hospital, dog park, volunteer opportunities, restaurants, art galleries, bike paths, miles of bike and hiking trails: all on my doorstep. Yay!!!!! Only put 12,000 miles on the car since moving five years ago, and the bulk of that was my daughter driving it to Florida several times.

    LIFE ALTERING!!!!!!!

    This is SO not my parents’ retirement!

    May I ask what a bedroom community is? Sounds like a bedroom with shared facilities like livingroom and kitchen across other bedrooms?
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2020
    I would hate working at home, but a short commute can be very nice (not that I have one despite it being not that far in terms of miles).

    I do like that my commute is by public transportation so I can read or surf the web, and when the weather is nice and it's light longer I can bike to and from work, which I used to use as a major part of my workout (I'd take a longer route to go by the lake and add a loop to add mileage). I also used to regularly run home (it was about 6.5 miles) and might again, although I'm a little farther now.

    Worst case I can get in some extra walking any time I want based on where I get on and off the L.
  • garber6th
    garber6th Posts: 1,894 Member
    edited March 2020
    I was working 10 hour days with a commute that was 60 minutes each way on a good day, but usually it was more like 90 minutes on average. By the time I got home, ate, settled in, I was beat, and it was practically bed time. It really affected my ability to squeeze in time for the gym, or time for myself period. Fortunately less than a year later I was offered a job 20 minutes from home. It's not around the corner, but it gave me back a LOT of time for myself. A nasty commute can affect your quality of life. That's a cost that you can't compare to salary.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,303 Member
    @yirara We are a suburb of a large metropolitan southern city. We have several gorgeous historic districts, a classic American town square, and a national battlefield park. “Bedroom Community” because most people commute to the city.

    I enjoy a single family home, a block or two from all this bounty. My “shared” bedroom accommodates a husband, a sweet ladylike kitty with a heart shaped chin, and the attention-seeking cat from hell. Actually, he’s from northernmost Germany but that’s a looooong story.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,871 Member
    Oooh! Kind of like a sleeper town. I get it.
  • jeagogo
    jeagogo Posts: 179 Member
    Technically my office is only 10 miles away from home, but 10 miles in my city can easily take an hour. I normally take the train to work. My gym and a fitness studio I attend regularly are both walking distance from my office, though, so I actually prefer going into the office so I can get in a workout easily. The days I work from home it's much harder to fit in a gym workout.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    After having the Commute From Hell when I first moved to S Florida, I've made a short commute a priority and have been working remotely since 2011. I'm in MA now, and could earn a higher salary if I were willing to commute to Boston, but I'm not.

    I work in my pjs until lunch time, at which point I change into exercise clothes. During gardening season, I can take gardening breaks :smiley: This time of year, when it's not raining, I can walk on the trails behind my house, and when I have more time drive to a nearby state park and hike.
  • aziz_n1
    aziz_n1 Posts: 140 Member
    Thanks for all the responses. Been really interesting reading them all and everyone’s views/comments and own experiences.
    Just to let all know, I have taken a pay cut to take this job but have now freed myself from the commuting stress that was driving anything between 1-3hrs depending on departure time & traffic volumes. So against the pay cut, I’m balancing the time saved/gained & monetary savings from not using my car to commute. Also other benefits of going back into the Public Sector, like more leave and a better pension scheme. Also, the job itself as a Civil Engineer, involves a lot of walking at times during the day, such as today on a site inspection.
    Thanks for the good luck messages .
    Naveed
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I work about 3 miles from home, I love it!!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I have always lived in smaller cities/towns and I am gonna admit that my longest commute was about 30 minutes/9 miles. Now I live 2 miles from my office. The only thing I don't like is that due to the types of roads (almost zero curb or sidewalk and tons of traffic) there's no safe way to walk or bike to work. Small issue though! I feel lucky I can get to work in about 12 minutes even with traffic, 5 without...and come home daily for lunch.
  • asthesoapturns
    asthesoapturns Posts: 313 Member
    I was committing 2 or more hrs each way for work for 2yrs before moving in Sept. Now I'm a 35-45mon commute and it feels insanely different. Also within walking distance of parks and shopping so I AM actually walking.
  • peggy_polenta
    peggy_polenta Posts: 325 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Retired and moved to a historic bedroom community. I walk everywhere now, except grocery store- and that’s under construction.

    Multiple gyms, yoga studio, all my doctors, hospital, dog park, volunteer opportunities, restaurants, art galleries, bike paths, miles of bike and hiking trails: all on my doorstep. Yay!!!!! Only put 12,000 miles on the car since moving five years ago, and the bulk of that was my daughter driving it to Florida several times.

    LIFE ALTERING!!!!!!!

    This is SO not my parents’ retirement!

    May I ask what a bedroom community is? Sounds like a bedroom with shared facilities like livingroom and kitchen across other bedrooms?

    they are usually the suburb outside of the major city. they are called bedroom communities because people commute into the city to work, but go home at nite to sleep. many of the major cities in the states clear right out after business hours and not many folks on the streets shopping, dining, etc. its kind of strange and scary.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,242 Member
    I live in a regional town in Australia - one end of town to the other is 15 minutes maximum in a car.
    As I live in a central part of town that means I can get from home to anywhere in less than 10 minutes.

    My employment has 2 locations - I mostly work a location A - which I can walk to from home in 15 minutes.
    (and 15 back, of course - so half hour walking per day)

    The other location I could walk but would take about 45 minutes on foot - I am not that keen so I do drive there, about 7 minutes drive.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,871 Member
    I’ve done something that’s unusual with my current job: I’m living further away, distance-wise from work. Like I said though, it’s still just 30-35 minutes to the office.

    Usually I try to work within a short cycling distance. The previous job was 1.7km B) This one is in a not only very expensive, but also very busy and polluted town, with luttle chance to cycle out into nature on weekends. So I looked at what other towns are with 25 train minutes and fell for this place. Got everything including a good arthouse cinema and two towns within 20 minutes for my underground culture needs and areas with a very varied nature and history just outside town, 2-3km away instead of endless suburbs.
  • reversemigration
    reversemigration Posts: 168 Member
    I really enjoy my 15-20 minute walk to and from work. That, plus being in an active job and having a fitness center on-site, builds exercise into my day. It's one of the reasons I chose to work where I do.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited March 2020
    reversemigration wrote: »
    I really enjoy my 15-20 minute walk to and from work. That, plus being in an active job and having a fitness center on-site, builds exercise into my day. It's one of the reasons I chose to work where I do.

    That would be the ideal for me -- I'd love to be able to walk to work -- although as I said above I don't really mind my commute because I can do other things while traveling.

    My job is such that it needs to be in the downtown business district and although there are places to live a 15-20 mins walk away, I couldn't have a house and would be in a mid or high rise, which isn't my preference.

    My big city is mostly a bunch of neighborhoods, and I love the one I'm in and that it's very walkable and accessible to a nice bike and running path, not to mention good shopping and restaurant districts, as well as being bikeable to work. It's also pretty easy to get wherever else I want to go by public transportation, if it's too far to walk.

    My car is old and has had intermittent issues with the battery in the winter, and last time I took it in they told me the issue is that I don't drive it often enough (I usually drive it at least once on the weekend, sometimes twice). I was like what am I supposed to do, come home from work and go for a drive?
  • Moxie_Reboot
    Moxie_Reboot Posts: 1 Member
    edited March 2020
    I also took a slight pay cut and moved to public sector for a better life balance. I work 6 minutes away and I can access my office using winding beautiful back roads. Like many others have said, my stress level is low and I have more time to focus on what I need to do at home for my family and exercise.

    Usually dinner is done, kitchen is clean and I’m off to either work out or get some chores done no later than 6:30 pm. In the past, I was lucky to make it home by 6:30. I’m glad that I went through what I went through with having a more stressful logistical situation because now I can appreciate my work life balance so much more.
  • reversemigration
    reversemigration Posts: 168 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    reversemigration wrote: »
    My car is old and has had intermittent issues with the battery in the winter, and last time I took it in they told me the issue is that I don't drive it often enough (I usually drive it at least once on the weekend, sometimes twice). I was like what am I supposed to do, come home from work and go for a drive?

    I'm in the same boat lately. I've considered ditching one of our cars and just using Uber/Zipcar/etc for those days when my wife is working and I really need to get somewhere. I have to overcome the inertia of convenience, though! :lol:

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