Mr. "S" and I seriously thinking about moving up to our lake house for good?!?!?! I keep teeter tottering back and forth with the idea. There is sooooooooooooooooooo much to take into consideration!!! It has it's positives and negatives on both ends. So I figured I would share it with "YOU" and get some input on your ideas?!?!?
First off Mr. "S" and I aren't rich by any means but we both do okay as far as making a living!!! We currently have a really nice two bedroom apartment near the big city of H-Town!!! This month and the next 4 months we will be paying our high dollar rent and our lake house loan payment!!! YUCK...double payments!!! I will tell you right now this is NO FUN!!! We knew what we were getting our self into and we were fine with it!!! We just knew that we would have to cut out the "EXTRA" spending (movies, dinners, going out and shopping)!!! I own my car so I don't have a car payment. Mr. "S" does have a car payment!!! Our thoughts on moving to the lake house would be saving money. We would only be paying our lake house loan payment which is only HALF of our monthly rent payment for our two bedroom apartment...crazy huh? The down side to this (because there is ALWAYS a down side) would be the DRIVE!!! Right now I drive 5 miles one way to work...I wake up at 7am and I'm at work by 8am! I leave at 4:30 and I'm home by 4:45pm! Mr. "S" drives about 25 miles one way to work! He leaves around 7am and makes it home by 5:45pm!!! This is where the "DOWN SIDE" comes in....if we move to the lake house it would be 65 miles one way to my work and 86 miles one way to Mr. "S" work!!! I'm sure most of you are already thinking this is CRAZY...well, I must go on!!! =) What we were thinking about doing was riding to work together, buying a gas saving car (this means I get a NEW car). This also means I would have to get up at 5:30am and we would leave by 6am...Mr. "S" would drive in the mornings drop me off at my work at 7am! He would make it to his work by 8am! He would pick me up at 5:30pm I would drive on the way home and we would make it home by 6:30pm or 7pm!!! I could take a 2 hour lunch go to the grocery store, go to the mall if I needed to so I could still get my "CITY GIRL SHOPPING" fix!!! You are wondering how I would go shopping or to the grocery store? We have company cars and I could take one plus one of my best friends works with me and she would let me take her car as I've let her take my car on several occasions!!!
The upside to this is only keeping one house clean, having groceries in one fridge/pantry, having allllllllll of our personal belongs under one roof and not two, paying one light bill, one water bill and one cable bill not two!!!! We would also be able to enjoy our nights at the lake which is sooooooooooo very relaxing!!! The people in our subdivision walk around at night, ride bikes or their gold carts. It's a very friendly community...we both love it!!!
This is our first house together and we really want to make it a home not just a weekend place!!!
We said we were going to test drive the long haul in July for a whole month and see how it works out?!?!? This would give us all of August and September to make a final decision!!!
The other option we have is to down size our apartment and live in a small one bedroom closer to work in the same town we are now. We would just go back to paying double bills, such as rent/lake house loan, lights, cable, water and buying groceries for two places, cleaning two houses, having our personal belongings split between two houses!!! We would save on gas and I wouldn't need to get a new car!!! The gas prices are what freaks me out the most!!! Oh yeah and the drive!!!
What are your thoughts? Are we crazy?
How far do you or your husband drive to work (miles and time)?
There is so much to take into consideration....
I look forward to hearing from you all!!!!
May 7, 2008
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14 comments:
It sounds like you have your mind made up already :-)
I drive about 16 miles each way on my commute. HP drives 3 miles. This doesn't include what he drives to get Tigger to and from school and what I drive to take Eeyore to and from daycare.
I leave home at 7:15 and get to work by 8. I leave work at 4 and home by 5.
Nowhere near as bad as your commute would be but sometimes it really stinks - $50 to fill up my gas tank! But if I had someone to ride with I think it'd be great.
Give it a try, it sounds very doable.
I'm not sure of the miles, but it takes Papa about 45 mins... there is major construction on 78 (and will be for the next two years), so it may take him a little longer now.
I think the July idea is great. see if you can do it! If it works out okay, that's great! If not, then you should consider downsizing to save money.
what about you looking for a job closer to the lake house? It's an idea....
Tough decision to make. Trying it out in July sounds like a good idea.
I used to commute an hour to school and back with two friends and it was quite fun as we got to gossip wouldn't have liked it on my own though.
Would you be up for changing jobs like Frannie suggests or are you happy where you are?
Frannie & Alex....
On the job thing....
I've thought about changing jobs but the "PAY" wouldn't be as good!!! It's more of a smaller country town!! Plus Mr. "S" is going to be driving the same highway I would be driving so we might as well ride it together?!?!? My job is just right off the highway! Mr. "S" could be back on the road highway in just 5 minutes!!!
One thing I was thinking of is....
Ask my company if they would let me do (4) 10's...just rotate my day off...or...give it to me every Friday! That way I would go one day a week off to sleep in or get things I needed to get done around the house!!!
I guess we will REALLY see what July has in store for us!!!! It's going to be the TELL ALL month!!!! I think waking up at 5:30am is going to kick my butt!!! I'm the type of girl that LOVES "MY" sleep!!!
CPA Mom -
Talking about gas....
It takes $75 to fill up my car!!! Dodge Durango...UGH!!!
I wished I could just work from home!!! lol
I drive around 10-15 miles one way to work and Chris is about the same.
We also have a lake house, though, Chris's grandparents bought it awhile ago, so there is no monthly note. But, it did get expensive last summer, buying groceries for both places, etc.
That's a really long commute for both of you each day and I would guess that it will get old pretty quick. But, that's just my opinion. And, you never know, gas prices could go back down in a few years, right? Right??
Rachel - I doubt the gas prices EVER go DOWN!! I doubt we will EVER see that!! NEVER!!!
It's tough....
I'm kind of wanting to get a VERY SMALL apartment close to town! Which will still be 5 miles from my office and 25 miles from Mr. "S" work! Just deal with the double bills (I will say if we are not staying at the lake house FULL time I will NOT have cable up there...that would be a waste of money!! We will have to watch local tv or movies...who is going to be in the house any ways...I'm going to be outside and loving it)!!! We can take food up to the lake house and what we don't eat just bring back home...just keep stuff there that last!!! Keep frozen food there for the weekends and just un-thaw it as we need it!!! Just take fresh milk and eggs...we can pack a cooler. I'm just a little freaked over the drive!!! Mr. "S" doesn't think it's going to be bad...I do!!
Who knows?!?!?!?
I think the trial run will be a good idea. Hubby and I both commuted. We hated it. When I quit, we moved two miles from his office in order for him to be around.
I could never do that long of a commute. But that's me. Plenty of people do that or more so really it's what works for you. :)
J-That is a biggie to take into consideration. My husband used to have an hour drive to work, thus another on the return. He changed jobs and now it takes him 20 minutes no traffic or over an hour with.
You are right gas would be the biggest factor to me. With prices going up everyday. I guess it is a toss up to which would be more economical.
Try it out for a week and see if it is feasable.
Your in my prayers. I know you want to be at the lake. I cannot blame you.
See what July has in store for you. I think living at the lake house might be easier $$ wise, even if the work commute would be longer. Is there a chance you might be able to work 1 or 2 days from home?
Like everyone else, I would definatly advise that you try the commute out AT LEAST for a month. I used to commute- 40 minutes to work and 40 minutes back home. It was okay for a while, but I got sooooo sick of it and we ended up moving 5 minutes from my work. Now, my husband drives an hour to work and an hour home. He is paying over $500 a month in gas!!!!! He is so stressed by the time he gets home from 5:00 traffic that it takes him at least 30 minutes to get in a good mood again.(He has a little road rage- impatience I guess I should say, because he would never do anything crazy or stupid besides yell to himself:) It would be easier since you would be riding together, though... I would just test it out and see. But, I know that after experiencing long commutes, I would NEVER do it again. (sorry about the novel of a comment!)
Oh I don't know where to start.
I drive 17 miles one way to work. It takes me about 30-45 to drive it. I also spend 60 dollars in gas a week, unless we do a lot of weekend driving then it is more. So I really don't know about that long of a drive. J works out of town so we don't have to worry about that. The only thing is, how long are you planning on being at your job? Could there be something closer to the lake? Maybe you could always retire early? I dream of that and I am really young. My mom laughs.
Then if you start car pulling are you going to keep that second car for the what if, days. I don't know. I know that I love our house and would not like the apartment life after living in a house. The plus to living in town is that you always have that get away.
Sorry this most likely doesn't make since. Oh I wish I could retire today. This has been a WEEK!!!
Do the trial run and see if you guys can really pull off the commute. I mean, what about traffic? I come from the NoVa area and was annoyed more times then not with the commute and the traffic so when you said "65 miles", I cringed a little.
Right now I drive about 4 miles to work, and Keven drives about 1.5 miles. And I absolutely love it.
Do the trial run - that's my suggestion.
I just want to THANK all of you for your words!!! We are going to for sure give it a try in July!!!
Traffic isn't that bad...so it will be the miles, gas and getting up early that freaks me out!!! UGH!
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