To wonder how long I'll be able to afford to drive to work for?

[Octomingo]

I drive 40 miles a day, there and back. I do a childcare drop on the way. I don't always know what time I will finish. Public transport would take me 3 hours one way. No one to car share with. Can't move closer, as that would take dh even further away from his work and can't afford to move anyway.

Those of you with similar issues, what are you planning to do? I can't find any jobs the same level closer to home. The thought of spending so much money just on travelling to work is freaking me out.

Get a work from home job.

I'm going to continue to drive, is it becoming unaffordable for you? In which case I suppose its worth looking at jobs closer and accepting the lower salary which might be offset by not travelling as far?

Start looking for a job closer to home?

Hi,
Fairly similar situation here.
I've gone part time, cuts down the travel and due to unsocial hours I can make ip the difference. Not sure this is an option?
I also downsized my car, approx 100 quid cheaper a month and about 10mpg better than previous. I figure it should help.
Other than that I'm not sure. I flinch every time I pass the petrol station at the mo.

What’s unaffordable-the petrol?

I have to pay to travel to work as if I couldn’t get there, I would be much worse off with no salary.

Are there closer jobs you could start applying for?

Would compressed hours be an option? Working full time but over 4 days so that's one day less petrol? Its scary seeing the price.

Same here but minus the childcare. So far I'm still wfh but I dread the cost of going back. I'm hoping I'll be able to wfh 2 days a week forever 🤞

Otherwise I'll just have to make compromises in other areas 😶

I'm not really sure what the question is,but it isn't an out of the ordinary commute is it?

Yes, it's the petrol.

No compressed hours in my job. Can't wfh. I'm too expensive to go for a lower paid job. You could get a younger, newer version of me much cheaper, which means places with stretched budgets won't look at me. And my job tends to go in house usually.

@whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy

I'm not really sure what the question is,but it isn't an out of the ordinary commute is it?

It's not. That's the point. How are people going to afford it, on top of everything else?

Is it that you’ve been WFH? Or are you anticipating petrol prices going up?

I'm struggling to see the issue. A 20 mile commute is nothing unless you're on a very low income.

As another poster has mentioned could you review the car you are driving? Lower the MPG? What are you driving?

Or afford a older electric car with enough range.

There are ways to drive more economically that don't take much effort to get used to that could save a few pounds over a week.

I know what you mean op. I'm spending 8% of my pay on fuel up from 5% - e10 fuel is my main issue, my car. Fuel efficiency is much worse

What are you driving? What fuel do you use?

What mpg are you getting out of the car

A lot of fuel can be saved by changing driving style, anticipating stopping etc

I’m regularly overtaken on the slip road of a motorway, when I’m exiting - that’s a waste of fuel. Simple stuff but if you’re driving 500 miles a week it could save you a litre a day

I'm sure this e10 stuff is useless.

It goes through the car like water and prices are rising toi

I'm driving a 65 golf. Bought last summer, so that needs to last at least 10 years.

A 20 mile commute is currently costing around 150 quid a month. And petrol seems to be going up daily, with no sign of it stopping.t wouldn't be so bad if that was it, but it's just another unavoidable cost.

Most of my journey is crawling after lorries on a 50mph road. No overtaking, unless you have a death wish.

What kind of petrol are you using? How often are you having to fill up?

£150 a month seems fine? My bus fare used to be £5 a day/£105 a month and that was taking ages often had cancelled and delayed services. To pay £50 more and have flexibility would have been amazing!

Factoring in the current cost of the commute is there nothing closer on a lower wage but would obviously save you in fuel costs?

I work 2 miles from home, I could get paid more elsewhere but my commute would treble and I’d be in rush hour traffic twice a day so also he out of the house a lot longer - I love How close it is and don’t think I’d ever take a longer commute again!

I drive a 1 l 11 year old polo 80 miles at least a day and I’m spending £200 a month on petrol max I only noticed the difference because I crashed a different car that I was filling up every 2/3 days and there is a significant difference in my new/old car. I don’t know get a really old polo 🤷‍♀️

My commute is 85 miles a day all in.
Working from home means trying to work from kitchen or with laptop on my knee as have no home office.
Lose, lose situation

Using that e10 stuff. Filling up every couple of weeks. More if I do things like visit people or take kids out for the day at the weekend.

I would love to walk to work. But I have never, ever seen a job I could walk to round here. There are, occasionally, jobs a bit closer that I could apply to, but it would be a demotion and like I said earlier, I've worked hard to get here.

I’m in the same situation, apart from the childcare. I’ve just in fact had this conversation with DH about an hour ago. It’s frightening. E10 petrol is shite, I’m having to fill up more frequently than I used to. One thing I have done is join Costco, ours has a petrol station and when I filled up there last week it was 6p a litre cheaper than the supermarkets.

I live in a town with hardly any decent jobs; I mean there’s your usual teacher/dentist/accountant/solicitor but I’m none of those things. Otherwise it’s zero hour care/warehouse/retail. I can’t afford to move closer, houses in a nice area near to work cost 3x what they do here like-for-like.

I’ve thought of going part time, but the only position available is fewer hours on a 6 on, 7 off basis. I’d save a bit but not sure it’d be worth that much when the salary drop is factored in as I’d still have to drive a lot of the time. WFH/compressed hours aren’t possible either.

I’d love a WFH job but I’m not qualified in anything ‘officey’ so don’t imagine I’d get very far and it doesn’t seem to be the norm round here. My DB has WFH and prior to that had compressed hours (civil service) but it seems very hard to get in the civil service now (I worked for the-then DHSS at 18 and HMRC for a while and it was a simple form and interview) and his department are wanting people back in the office at least part of the week. He also had to be there for years before they agreed to his compressed hours.