Better house but bigger commute or vice versa?

I'd class anything under 30 mins as an easy commute, so whether it's 10 mins or 30 it'd be the same to me. I'd go for the bigger house and the slightly longer drive.

I'd love a 30min commute! Currently 90mins so I'm always gone before my daughter is awake and home just before bedtime. It sucks!
 
You are though, any time spent on working is time wasted as far as I'm concerned - commuting, making lunch for work, washing work clothes, actually working. All a waste of time.

I'd go part time if I was able, certainly 3/4 of my wage would be more than enough to survive on, got better things to do than spend my life on work.

I see what you are saying but you still have the time, you are still alive during that time. You can still use that time to do *something* I personally would not spend 2 hours a day thinking about the stuff I think about on my commute if I didn't commute, coming up with ideas, pondering over a situation.

I am fairly relaxed by the time I get home as well, no need to "wind down" so to speak.


I don't disagree with you though, given a choice of doing what I do at the end of my street for £5k a year less or doing what I do an hour away I would take the former. :)
I just don't have the option to earn that much at the end of my street. :(
 
Go for the bigger house. you will regret not doing so when crammed into the smaller place.

Also, whose to say your work place will stay the same for the next 5/10 years.
 
I'd commute an absolute max of an hour and only then if I could work from home a couple of days a week up to 30-35 minutes though I wouldn't think twice about
 
I'd class anything under 30 mins as an easy commute, so whether it's 10 mins or 30 it'd be the same to me. I'd go for the bigger house and the slightly longer drive.

I'd love a 30min commute! Currently 90mins so I'm always gone before my daughter is awake and home just before bedtime. It sucks!

And that is a why a short commute even if the house isn't s good is worth it in the long. Before long your daughter is all grown up and you barely spent any time with her.
 
Good lord, a 30 minute commute is nothing. Try being a consultant, you could spend the whole week away from home in a hotel in some other part of the country or another country. 30 minutes is nothing, get the bigger house.
 
To many variables to talk categorically but in general I would go for the bigger house, especially if we are talking only 30mins commute for the big house. Heck, when/if I move to be closer to work it will probably still mean over an hour commute each way.

Things to bear in mind IMO are location in relation to other job prospects in case you need to change job i.e. living close to work is only useful as long as you continue to work there (I bought my current house because it is in the town I used to work at, so while it is still a nice place to live, from a practical perspective it has some problems compared to places with mainline train stations etc).

Also it depends a bit on how much space you actually need, for example a small 4 bed may be fine if you have only one child, whereas the benefit from a bigger house is much less than say a family of 5.

Having recently increased my daily commute massively (job change rather than house move) I have to say it hasn't been as bad as expected, but early days yet and I may feel differently in winter.
 
10 minute drive to work and back. Wouldn't want to be traveling 1hr+ unless it was for the right job.
 
I used to have a decent commute. Was 55 miles each way, and would take about an hour if I left early enough in the morning, but was always almost 2 hours getting home.

We moved here for the bigger house, as we were looking a lot closer initially. But I am soooooo happy we moved further, as the extra room is superb.

Sure, you spend a little less time in the house than if you lived closer, but that's through the week. The rest of your life (evenings and weekends, family etc...) you have the extra space, worth it for me.
 
Just realised I didn't answer the first question. I can't drive but max via train is my current 2.5hrs. Over the long term however I'd say I'd want to get it down to around 1.5hrs max although possibly a degree of flexibility.

As a rule I would decide on the size of house first and then see where that allows me to buy relative to work (and other geographical limitations like my wife's work, family and friends etc). So I wouldn't compromise much in terms of getting a smaller house to reduce the commute, certainly not below a target threshold (theoretically I could buy somewhere in London, but to get a decent area would pretty much rule out getting a decent family home).
 
My current commute to work is 5 minutes (Altho I rent and don't own), an hour sounds pretty horrible, 30 mins sounds far better
 
Just realised I didn't answer the first question. I can't drive but max via train is my current 2.5hrs. Over the long term however I'd say I'd want to get it down to around 1.5hrs max although possibly a degree of flexibility.

Eugh, I could never stomach a 2.5hr commute by train (or any other public transport).

I used to do a "1 hour" commute by train. Of course I say "1 hour" but at least 3 days a week it would end up being 2hrs+ meaning I'd either get to work an hour late (and so have to stay an hour later) or get home an hour later. Or if I was really unlucky, both, and get home at 8pm.

So happy I now live 15 mins from work!
 
I see what you are saying but you still have the time, you are still alive during that time. You can still use that time to do *something* I personally would not spend 2 hours a day thinking about the stuff I think about on my commute if I didn't commute, coming up with ideas, pondering over a situation.

I am fairly relaxed by the time I get home as well, no need to "wind down" so to speak.


I don't disagree with you though, given a choice of doing what I do at the end of my street for £5k a year less or doing what I do an hour away I would take the former. :)
I just don't have the option to earn that much at the end of my street. :(
I used to spend my two hour commute thinking about what I'd do when I go home or how much of a ***** someone was at work or how annoyed I am about wasting so much time, then get home and rush to do everything quick time so I can relax or go out and see friends and family.

Horrible experience, much nicer to work 10 minutes away making less money.

Most days I just sort of mill back to the house, stop on the way for an espresso in the brazillian market or go to the butchers on the way back or something, then I get in, get everything sorted and the evening is mine.
 
I think there is an element of truth in the wind down theory, I used to work 5-10min drive away and on days when my wife picked me up I'd get home but still be 'zoned' and potentially feeling like I need a bit of time to myself to collate my thoughts which didn't always go down to well if I was being peppered with questions and giving 1 word answers. Likewise when we lived walking distance from my wife's work she would sometimes be grumpy coming straight off a 12.5hr shift in a high pressure environment whereas now the 30min drive home gives her a bit of time to wind down.

That said, anything more than 30mins is overkill I think.
 
For me I want a 15 mile, 1 hour commute to work, maximum.

I prefer to cycle.

My previous job just south of Cambridge was a just under 15 mile ride. And it took me just as long in the car because traffic is bloomin awful there.
 
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