Some commuting math

Several months ago a good friend was considering switching jobs – taking one final position before retiring.  At the time she was commuting 25 miles to her job each way but it was on busy streets or freeways.  The commute time was approximately an hour each way.  Pay was good, benefits were good, environment was good.  In all it was a good job.

When she was offered a position to work at a small organization based in her small hometown she was excited except for one thing… it would be a significant pay cut.  Would it be worth it? The pay really did matter as retirement was coming close. In seeking an answer to this question, together we went through the math:

Time spent in the car each day commuting
current job: 2 hours (or 41.6 hours per month or 500 hours per year – that’s a full work week each month or 12.5 work weeks annually)
job offer: 20 minutes (or 7 hours per month or 83 hours per year)

Amount of traffic stuck in each day. Or could be seen as time/energy/resources wasted idling in traffic:
current job: 30 minutes (given that the drive would only take 45 mins without traffic)
job offer: 0 minutes

Amount spent on gas/auto maintenance (using the IRS standard rate of $.50/mile)
in current job: $25/day (or $520/month or $6250 per year)
job offer: 5 miles each way, so $5/day (or $104/month or $1250 per year)

In addition, we figured that the spare time saved commuting could be spent starting a small consulting company. Assuming a compensation rate of $50/hr as a consultant,
multiplied by 417 hours per year (saved from commuting) you get a whopping $20,850/year.
Granted it wouldn’t be possible to immediately monetize the free time but it certainly gave some perspective.  It was also reasonable to consider this time could be spent doing more productive and relaxing activities – gardening, exercising, connecting with friends and family – even if it wasn’t monetized.

Apart from all of the left brain calculations there were the added benefits of working for a local, community-based organization. Having a sense of belonging to a community and the feeling of making a difference improves happiness so this should be seen as an added benefit.

When looked at from all of these angles it became clear that even if the job paid $5000 less it would be a break even just on the commute alone. Add in all of the other benefits of lifestyle and the winner was clear. The new job offer won out and everyone lived happily ever after.

This story speaks to many aspects of deep living, but perhaps the most simple point is that there is always more to life than just increasing its gross revenue.