Commuting - how far is too far?

tori.k

I have a 40mile and DH 50, currently we've decided to move slapbang between our commutes like others it's not the driving but the time I can both be home in 35 mins on a good day in the summer it's an hour+, the time I get home cook tea and get everything sorted its 8pm before I've clock off.
We get less house for our money closer to work but there is better infrastructure and even running the cheapest most fuel efficient cars our budget allows it's still a 6th of our annual income in transport cost a year.
But.... We are also ( luck holding) on our last stint of employment before retirement and it's also an area we are happy to finish out our days, when we were younger our needs were more closer to family and our support network that helped with the children as jobs changed but that need didn't.

warby68

I've commuted for 30 years, the last 20+ into Manchester from the North.

Of all aspects of life/work and raising a family the commuting has been the hardest for its drain on time and energy. My journey time has risen from 45 mins to 1h 30 each way over those 20y for the same location - I stuck with it as, since children, I have worked part time and staying with my employer kept me in a 'professional' salary with benefits. More flexible working finally reached my employer last year and some working from home is now possible - I had been requesting it for 15 years lol. THIS is the godsend. My travel, now it isn't every day, is so much less of a grind. You seem to have that perk and a flexible employer so are pretty well placed. However, if you don't commute 5 days a week then it can be hard to take advantage of season tickets for travel and parking - generally speaking the common theme has been 4 days a week min to make a season ticket worthwhile although I'm not up to speed these days as I drive for my sins.

When my sons were small, we used family and my husband who was usually more local for emergency pick ups. If BOTH of you are 90 minutes away and have noone else, childcare could be tricky unless you use childcare near work rather than home. However it doesn't end there - the school years were actually trickier as there was very limited after school care at the time. Hopefully better now. Still never known anywhere open beyond 5.45/6pm which never worked with a 5pm City finish.

Plus side, we've always had a decent size home in a nice area and even 20+ years ago when I was making a career move to Manchester, I couldn't afford South Manchester in an area I was comfortable with (single then). With hindsight, staying this side of Manchester was probably the right call - the proximity of family, countryside, nice areas and other connections proved more vital than a swanky postcode.

I sympathize, it isn't an easy call. I'd probably favour trying an area out these days before committing even if there is some cost as moving after buying is far less easy than it was. That said, nothing ever has to be forever. If you get it wrong something will change be it job or location and sometimes these things are outside your control anyway.

If I had to call it now, even with all that experience, I'd still probably favour chancing a dodgy commute over a dodgy, inferior living environment. Feeling 'at home' somewhere is very important especially with a family.

PS Its NEVER distance, its TIME and EASE which make commuting good or bad.

oz0707

I've just finished a 3 week job. 1hr there 1hr 15mins home. Quite far for the time - 51 miles. Then again I live close to the motorway and the job was also close to a junction. Also it was all m1 so easy driving.

I don't mind a commute like this for a short term but wouldn't want it everyday for a year. Everyones different, it's normal for some people.

snowflakes2019

Hi, have you thought about Rossendale / whitworth area ? I have been commuting to Manchester for the last 19 years, manage it in 40 minutes.
Nice rural aspect , villages. Some beautiful old property sale reasonably priced.
Access to M60 and M62, trains available but I drive so have never used them.

MoneySavingUser

Hi,

I haven't read the entire thread, I used to drive 1 hour to work and 1 hour back every week. At the time I got used to it, though one of my coworkers mentioned that in a way all that time in the car is like doing an extra day of work!

I now live closer to work and it is only 15 minutes.

My suggestion is that as you have some flexibility at work can you work slightly different hours such as 7-3 or 10-6 and perhaps you would miss some of the traffic by doing this but still be in the office for meetings etc? (not sure what time the traffic starts building up for you). Does your other half have any flexibility?

I suggest trying to get a house you can afford easily and see if work can be fitted around the traffic!

KatieDee

snowflakes2019 wrote: »

Hi, have you thought about Rossendale / whitworth area ? I have been commuting to Manchester for the last 19 years, manage it in 40 minutes.
Nice rural aspect , villages. Some beautiful old property sale reasonably priced.
Access to M60 and M62, trains available but I drive so have never used them.

Thank you for the suggestion - I had a quick look on Rightmove and the properties there are beautiful and so affordable! However, it isn't the area for us, I'm afraid

We just got back from a second viewing and I've decided that this property in particular is just too far out for me. It didn't help that it was snowing on the way there and back, but I'm pretty certain that if I'm struggling on a Sunday afternoon, I'd be a wreck in weekday rush hour :rotfl:

As a side note, the A6 is made infinitely worse by morons who think they're above the law and able to park on double yellow lines!

MoneySavingUser wrote: »

Hi,

I haven't read the entire thread, I used to drive 1 hour to work and 1 hour back every week. At the time I got used to it, though one of my coworkers mentioned that in a way all that time in the car is like doing an extra day of work!

I now live closer to work and it is only 15 minutes.

My suggestion is that as you have some flexibility at work can you work slightly different hours such as 7-3 or 10-6 and perhaps you would miss some of the traffic by doing this but still be in the office for meetings etc? (not sure what time the traffic starts building up for you). Does your other half have any flexibility?

I suggest trying to get a house you can afford easily and see if work can be fitted around the traffic!

Thank you! This is a very good idea, and something I would consider if we did choose to move a little further out. Although my partner has far less flexibility than myself, his routes into work are much simpler than mine as he doesn't need to drive. The main issue with us moving out of the ring road is just my drive to work, so arranging to go in earlier and finish earlier would help a lot.

So at the moment, we're trying to work out the perfect distance between being out of the city and living a quieter, village lifestyle, and not spending hours of my life getting to and from work.

mrsammyp

40 minutes on a train seems perfect to me and the season ticket is cheap in reality. Think of the other benefits; cut down to one car (potentially), reduced petrol costs.

I do an 1hr 20 mins journey into London each day and it’s nice to relax, catch up on TV series, read a book/newspaper or even MSE .

Mahsroh

Not read the whole thread but seen comments about focusing more on time than distance. 100% agree with this. I've had a 17mile commute in the past that took an hour. I've also had a 50mile commute that took an hour! I then had a 27mile commute where door to door I was lucky if it took less than 1hr 30mins (though that did include a 10/15min walk just to get to the car park!). Fortunate now that I have a 15mile/25minutes journey!


If it takes you 40mins now, and will be 40mins by train from your new location.... I wouldn't worry about it too much.... As long as the extra travel costs are budgeted for.

lovehols

I use to travel from Northwich to Wolverhampton, 120 miles a day down the grueling M6. The amount of times my travelling has taken me longer than I've actually been at work. The M6 between J15-18 was horrific but I was faced with redundancy so had no choice.

I stuck it for 3 years. I was lucky to get a promotion and I now work from home two or three days a week but do have to spend 1 or 2 nights in London every week. It means catching the train but from Crewe to London is good and work pay for travel and a hotel. If you're on a good train route you should be much better. I couldn't imaging driving the M6 again, though I don't particularly enjoy spending 1-2 nights away from home every week.

Good luck.

JaffaC

We were quite similar to you 6 or so years ago. Renting in Didsbury but not able to afford to buy there so looking at somewhere further out.


We ended up in Hazel Grove which was fine as a stop gap but wasn't somewhere I wanted to stay long term. I would have liked to be in Disley as I think it's a much nicer area but decided that I didn't want the extra hassle of a commute from Disley over Hazel Grove.
With regards to the train, although Disley is just one stop further the trains only run to Disley hourly whereas they are more frequent at Hazel Grove just something to bear in mind. I know a lot of people who live in Disley drive to Hazel Grove and you might be ok with that but that was too much faffing for me in the morning!


I have friends who live in Marple who love it there (they alternate between driving and getting the train into town and that seems to work for them).
Despite my journey to work being much shorter now (I've both moved area and job!) I much preferred a slightly longer commute that was train rather than my current car based commute so something else to consider. Time in the car I see as completely wasted time but on the train I could usually at least read a book/the paper which seemed a more productive use of my time.