commuting

[wibbleywee]

House hunting for ages with little luck, current house too small for our 2 boys. Found an amazing house in a lovely little market town, dp is in love with it, only issue is its a 30-40 min commute for me depending on traffic, i work 3 12hr shifts a week, mainly nights, dp works from home and will take children to nursery. Aibu to. be put off by the commute? i'm not really at the noment but not sure if i am being naive about how hard it will be.

It sounds a perfectly normal commute to me.

Normal commute time.

30-40mins isn't far, most people travel at least 30mins to work, I see that as a totally normal journey time

I'd love that commute mine is currently about an hour

It's not a long commute but either side of a 12 hour night shift I can understand your reticence, especially if you are likely to be driving tired.

So I guess the question is how are you just now after your shift for your current commute?

30-40 mins is standard

You're only doing 3 shifts a week. A 30-40 minute drive is hardly anything, even after a night shift.

30-40 minuet commute is quite average for most people, once you get use to becomes normal and much easier. Though I can understand your concerns especially as it's night shifts and your driving. I suppose it depends on how much you love house, whether your ready to sacrifice a commute or not.

Mine 5is 0min which is train and tube with a 10 minuet walk either side.

*Mine is 50min

As I said on the other commuting thread my commute is normally around 45 min and I'm a shift worker. In the past I've commuted for between 60 and 90 minutes for shift work, including full time 12 hr shifts. DH still commutes for between 60 and 90 minutes for full time 12 hr shifts. Many people we both work with travel significantly further, than us, think 2hours plus. It's the price you pay for a bigger house and/or cheaper mortgage/rent.

I'm all for minimising commutes where possible. But are there houses that meet your needs and budget closer to your work?
If there are you probably won't regret holding out for one to come on the market.
But if not if you're on a deadline then 39-40min is not long, unless it's a difficult road with unpredictable traffic levels.

my commute is 1hr5 on a good day, and 2hrs30+ on a bad day...

Sounds fabulous mines 1hr - 1hr15, walk train tube walk, wanna swap?

It may be a "normal" commute, but it's also one which impacts peoples lives pretty negatively - www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_351954.pdf

You need to be absolutely sure that the housing etc. compensates you, or that you're willing to take the hit for the overall family happiness, it's not much good making yourself so miserable with the commute that you resent everyone else.

60-90 minutes in a car 3 days a week, no chance for me. The same cycling I can manage fine, but you need to decide, and YWBU to rule it out.

there is a thread like this posted today - have a look - it will show you how long some of us commute for

30-40 is totally normal

It doesn't seem like long to me, but then I have always worked in big cities and had a 45m-1hr public transport commute my whole working life.

I think the trick is to make the commute time a nice period of 'me' time. Easier on public transport (I've used my commute to learn a new language, read hundreds of novels, mumsnet) but possible in the car too. I'd definitely be making sure I was stocked up with audiobooks, podcasts, new music etc and get to the point where you're looking forward to the drive because it gives you time to listen to all that stuff.

Would love to have that commute! And it's nice to have some "quiet time" too :P