The Horrors Of A Long Commute

In the early 1990’s I was fresh out of college and lucky to score a pretty low paying job at a small dotcom start up.  With unemployment at 7.5% I took what I got and didn’t have the luxury of purposely picking something with a short commute.  The thought didn’t really cross my mind.  A job was a job.

The commute I ended up with was approximately 25 miles which took about 35 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes going home.  I did that for three years and it was kind of bearable.  I didn’t know any better.

Then I switched to my government job which came with a 30% raise.  That was the good part.  The bad part was that it was in Washington D.C. and I was still living in Baltimore.  “I’ll figure it out”, I reasoned. 

I knew that D.C. and its suburbs were way more expensive, but I didn’t realize how bad it actually was.  It was clear that even with my 30% raise I couldn’t afford rent in D.C., or even most of the DC suburbs.  Everything was just too damn expensive, even with roommates.  And I was not going to go into debt.  Growing up as I did I at least had that base level of financial acumen, thanks to my Mom.

Then my Grandma passed away and her longtime house was sitting empty.  An empty house in Baltimore is a risk from the inevitable thieves and thugs that will raid it and strip it down to the bones if not protected. 

So my mom agreed to let me live in my Grandmom’s house to keep it safe.  And in turn I paid no rent since the house was paid off. 

The downside?  A 50 mile commute.

 

Miles Of Misery

D.C.’s traffic was then as it is now the worst or second worst in the United States.  It’s notorious.  So, I would purposely leave at 5:30 to get to work at 6:30.  The morning drive was mercifully an hour or just a little over. 

But going home frankly sucked.  Even when leaving at 2:30 it was an hour and 10 minutes at a minimum, and usually an hour and a half or up to two hours on the worst days.  It was white knuckle, everyone-for-themselves aggressive driving the whole time. 

I tolerated that misery for 3 years.  I will never do it again.  It was stressful, dangerous, and life-endangering punishment of the worst kind.

I did it because I kind of had to.  I couldn’t afford rent in D.C., and I could live rent free at my Grandma’s house.  The lure of free rent and being able to save that couple hundred bucks a month was huge for a frugal person like myself.  I religiously set aside the $400 that I used to pay for rent in my previous place and invested it. 

That kick started my journey to financial independence.  It was a blessing. 

But the dark side of the blessing was the life-sapping commute.

 

It’s Literally Killing You

The health downsides of long car commutes don’t need to be studied more.  They’re pretty well established.

Besides the long term health effects and the immediate danger of being killed in a fiery crash, there’s the wallet-draining aspect of car ownership.  I’m not going to hash out all the costs since Mr. Money Mustache did a great job of it.  And his numbers are now low because the post is old.

There are tons of horrible “commuting cost calculators” out there that conveniently avoid things like car insurance and maintenance.  Don’t be fooled, commuting is expensive.

And of course there’s also the pollution factor.   It’s more than greenhouse gas emissions, pollution comes from vehicle tires and brakes too, among other things.  

Setting aside all of those clear negatives, my suicidal commute had another big downside.  Every day at work the worry of the looming and unknown commute home put an ominous black cloud over my head. 

In the back of my mind I was always worried that it would be “one of those 2-hour days”.  The thought of that was literally beyond depressing. 

Making plans after work was always a crap shoot.  I might get home in time, I might not. 

And when overtime opportunities popped up at my job during the day, I really couldn’t stay late and take advantage of them.  If I wasn’t on the road by 2:30 or 3 the absolute latest, every 15 minute delay after that meant another 15 minutes of commute time. 

Leave at 4:30?  Haha!!  Good luck getting home by 7. 

At the end of three years of hell I was 50 pounds overweight and hated driving more than anything.  I’m convinced it took a few years off my life. 

 

Good Decision?

So did I make a good decision by staying in Baltimore rent free and making a 100 mile daily round trip commute?  It’s true that I was able to save lots of money with no rent, but I now I question how much I actually saved.  The real cost of that commute was far more than gas and maintenance.  

After getting a few pay raises I finally moved down to the D.C. area.  My only option was to share a house with four other guys, but I ditched the commute.  I also started de-stressing, losing weight, and getting my health back.  I swore I would never tolerate a car commute longer than 15 minutes again, and I’ve stuck to that pledge. 

Now I ride my bike to work 2 days a week, and don’t care about the distance so much.  Actually a little bit longer of a commute on the bike wouldn’t be bad at all, to me it’s an enjoyable ride and I get to work energized. 

As a person who reached financial independence in his mid 40’s, my main recommendation to reach FI is still to save as much as you can on the big three.  That recommendation is purely financial.  But my second biggest recommendation would be to avoid a long commute and if possible avoid commuting in a car all together. 

It’s not just important for your finances, it’s even more important for your health and for the health of the planet.

Your turn readers – How long is your commute and have you ever commuter an hour or more each way to work?