Anyone out there with long work commutes? We are considering moving so that we can be in a safer neighborhood, better school district, etc. One particularly desirable area is about an hour from work. I'm not opposed to it but dang that's a lot of driving. Any thoughts from those who do it? Small sacrifice for better living or avoid at all cost?

I do it. Time to surf TexAgs.

Personally I can not imagine either hating or loving your family enough to spend an extra 2 hours a day in the car.

168 hours in a week
Sleep = 7x8 = 56 hours
Work = 5x9 = 45 hours
Random chores and errands = 7x1 = 7

That leaves 60 hours for family, friends, and hobbies. Is the situation worth spending up to a quarter of your fun time sitting in a car? If yes, go for it. If not, find a way to keep the commute shorter.

FlowCtlr said:

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Anyone out there with long work commutes? We are considering moving so that we can be in a safer neighborhood, better school district, etc. One particularly desirable area is about an hour from work. I'm not opposed to it but dang that's a lot of driving. Any thoughts from those who do it? Small sacrifice for better living or avoid at all cost?

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One hour really isn't that much time and this comes from a guy that thinks every minute counts. Given the advantages you've listed, there's plenty of advantages for your family with the move and they probably outweigh this inconvenience for you.

Both my wife and I live 1+ hours away from work but the benefits of the town in which we live outweigh the drives. I have more flexibility than her when it comes to work hours so it definitely works for us and I'll definitely say that plays in our favor.

What is your commute right now? Going from a 10 min drive to 1 hour is a big change but you'll adapt. Going from 30 min to 1 hour isn't that big of a difference IMO.

Good luck with the decision because it is an important one.

I used to do a 50 minute commute and the drive just became part of the job. I really didn't even think about how long it was, and actually enjoyed it. Now I have a 7 minute drive to work and miss that extra time to myself.

I've had 45-75 minute commutes a lot in my life. I suggest a place that allows you to drive against major traffics going to and coming home from work. Also, find a place that would allow for multiple paths home, in case of major accidents and traffic stoppage.

Hopefully you have a job that would allow you to do business on the phone coming in to work or going home. This would allow you to improve your productivity at work and possibly ease the stress if the drive.

Good Luck

I am six months status post moving. My commute was 45min without traffic and 60-90 with it. Now it's 15-25 with/without traffic. I hope to never go back to spending so much time on the road. It's not worth it.

I've had a 35-60 minute commute for the past 10 years. Currently unemployed. I hope to never have to drive that much again, but it's definitely a trade off of time and money.

Can you work from home a couple days per week?

Is that an hour with or without traffic. My commute is usually 30-60 minutes, but those are without traffic. Commute time varies based on assignment. I don't notice any significant difference in my day with a 30 or 60 minute commute.

Now if your option is 5 min vs. 1 hour opt for 5 min, but with traffic and other issues you may not notice a big difference otherwise.

Live in Kingwood and work in the Energy Corridor. Morning commute is an hour and afternoon is about 20-30 minutes more. This is with a 7-4 schedule. The commute sucks because it's in traffic. If it were highway, I wouldn't mind it. I have Spotify and have found a lot of podcasts to listen to to help keep my mind off the drive.

But we're around family and friends, and the schools are great compared to those closer to work. We looked at Katy but co-workers who live there have a similar commute with less miles. I also look at it that it's easier to move jobs than location if that need ever arises.

I commuted from Wimberley to north Austin for 11 years. Caught a vanpool in Oak Hill and spent close to three hours a day traveling/waiting. We finally moved into town seven years ago and now 30 minutes total. It can be done but turns into a grind.

I live in Fulshear and the commute to the Energy Corridor is 30-35 minutes before and after work. Your Katy coworkers must ride their bicycles if they have similar commutes to you.

Beerosch said:

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I live in Fulshear and the commute to the Energy Corridor is 30-35 minutes before and after work. Your Katy coworkers must ride their bicycles if they have similar commutes to you.

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Freeway miles > getting to freeway miles

Personally, I could never commute a long distance I don't think. I realize some folks work for other people and don't have the same choices I have. My office is a hair over 2 miles from home and I am spoiled to the short commute.

I knew a guy who commuted to the other side of Houston for something like 44 years. One day a group of us got to talking and figured he spent something like 3.5 years of his life driving back and forth to his job.

Audio books

Great insight, thanks.
If curious, this commute would be with no traffic and almost all interstate. My current commute is 35 min, and it's not been bad at all.

Drove 56 miles of generally traffic free (almost always moving 80 whole time) interstate each way for two years (+2 miles getting on highway) . Listened to a lot of podcasts and audio books. Not worth it as a long term answer, imo. If you really like the job, explore all options to be closer. I was that far away because my wife drove in the opposite direction almost as far.

Made a lateral career move 7 years ago (moved houses) and switched to a 15 minute commute. Life changing.

I gotta go from Rock Prairie all the way into Bryan, every work day

Current commute is about 38-45 mins each way. About 25 miles each way. You get used to it I guess. I wouldn't want it any longer. The fact that it's not a ton of traffic and I have 3 different ways I can go depending on traffic/accidents/my mood that day make it tolerable. That said, I wouldn't be very keen on getting a commute any longer than this one.

I have had both long and short commutes since graduating. Longest was 50 miles into Austin shortest was 5 minutes into town. There are a lot of factors that go into if it is worth it or not. For me I don't mind driving and I love where we live. I currently have a 40-45 minute commute but I like my job and there is advancement where I'm at.

I tend to spend most of the drive listening to podcasts or catching up on phone calls to friends and family. When I'm not thinking about it the drive flys by.

I did west Houston to Galveston for about 4 months. that sucked balls. I ended up doing 2 nights per week in a hotel. my usual week was Monday 4am leave to Galveston, work until 5-6pm, hotel that night. start 4am again the next day at the yard, then drive back home around 3 that afternoon and be in my own bed Tuesday night.. do the same thing again on wed/Thursday if I could work Friday out of the Houston office. if not, usually would stay wed and Thursday nights and head home from the yard around 1-2pm Friday

lots of audio books...

F that @%$!$

FlowCtlr said:

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Great insight, thanks.
If curious, this commute would be with no traffic and almost all interstate. My current commute is 35 min, and it's not been bad at all.

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That's not that big of a difference and the advantages outweigh the negative.

Sounds like a extra 25 min each way. Thats 50 minutes per day, 5 days a week. Which is a little over 4 hours a week.

Think about what 4 fewer hours a week with your family means to you. If you see them a lot already, maybe that's not a big deal. If you only get a couple hours a day with them now, that might be a big sacrifice to cut your family time in half.

Use to have 30 minutes which I could get a decent podcast going, now I literally have a 5 minute drive (1.5miles) and it took me a long time to adjust because it was like wake up immediate work, leave work immediate dad time where I use to have 30 minutes to "myself" to work up to it.

Now that I'm use to it I can imagine having to get on a freeway to go to work

I've driven between 10 and 50 minutes over the last 25 years. Ive learned I can tolerate up to 30 minutes. After that I get irritated and frustrated. I don't know why, but that's the magic number. I'm under that now, and my goal is to never have longer than that.

10-15 minutes to work, 10-15 minutes to come home. All against traffic and zero complaints!

30min commute with no traffic, 45-90min with traffic. South side of Chicago up to the suburbs. Unfortunately only job I could find with decent pay and full benefits for myself and my wife. The commute was rough at first but now I just listen to Pandora the whole way and the time just kinda creeps by. Looking forward to a time where I don't have to deal with it though.

I think people have covered the drawbacks of a long commute so far as the time invested goes but have you thought about the impact on your budget and using up your cars a lot faster. I've had long commutes before in Austin and Houston (only 20 minutes now) and one of the things that irritated me most was how much wear and tear and miles you put on your vehicle. You can't really gdruve anything too nice.

But now since my office is so close it's really easy for me to run up to an event at my kids' schools in the middle of the day if I want to or run home to meet a contractor at the house or something like that. I can also run back to the office easily after the kids go to bed if I ever need to finish anything pressing I otherwise would have stayed late to do but instead I can see the kids more.

It's all about trade offs though. My brother lives in The Woodlands and commutes over an hour each way into Houston every day. I couldn't do it but they like TW and homes inside the loop are too expensive.

NW Houston to downtown. I take the bus and go in early. Do my work out at lunch. Longer commute but more time at home in the evening.

Wife commutes about 45 minutes each morning, little over an hour in the evenings. Georgetown to Bee Cave.

To us, it was worth the drive because of the culture in her office and the salary being double what she was seeing in Georgetown/Round Rock. She'll only have to do it for the next 10 years, then she can retire and come work for me part time

Good points I forgot about! We gas up once every 2 weeks now instead of once a week. And I was having to change my oil every 1.5 months because of all the miles I used to put on my car.

Let me say this again - it's not worth it if you can avoid it!!

I agree with not having long commute if you can avoid it but if work moves you to another location what are you going to do? I guess you could pick up your entire family and move closer but who is to say work won't move you again or lay you off etc. I would rather be miserable sometimes than having my wife and kids miserable because they would make me miserable in turn.

I had a 26 mile commute in Houston of which 2 miles was to park and ride and the rest on the bus. This would take about 45 minutes but there was zero stress. Life was good!

Then work moved us to a location with no bus service that was 48 miles away. I drove my old jalopy for about 6 months but after putting 23 gallons of gas in every 3 days I broke down and bought a Prius. In my defense my old car was on deaths door and I still have a pickup truck I can drive if I'm not feeling manly enough. The Prius was 23K out the door and I haven't' regretted it once. I average 59 MPG and could easily get 62+ but I flog it and drive 80+ quite often. This commute was 50 minute there, leaving the house at 4:30 and 1:10 going home leaving the office at 3:30. I've had the commute take 2 hours either way if I left at a poor time.

Work now moved us again 2 years later. It's a little closer so my commute is only 42 miles. This cut about 10 minutes off!

I love the above calculation for 8 hours of sleep. I usually get about 5 hours a night, maybe 6 if I'm lucky. I keep trying to get more but sleep is what usually gets cut.