To say that this is one of the best ways to improve work/life balance?!

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Living near your workplace/school.

Now I know it seems really logical but I cannot believe how much easier it has made my life. I am now 15mins away from my workplace and I can drop my DC to School on the way. It just makes everything so much easier being able to be home by 5. Everything is an easy drive, going to the shop, bringing the DC to their clubs (some of which they can walk to themselves!) I really feel that being in a central location to the places you use makes a massive difference. We used to live early and I would waste half an hour in a car to get anywhere.

A cousin of mine has just bought a house right next-door to the school her and her husband work in. Their son’s nursery is two minutes up the road. She cannot believe how much easier their lives and and how much more time they have together. They used to spend 40mins commuting.

Another friend of mine lives a 5min walk from the school that she teaches in and her boys goes to the same school. No need for a childminder no need for an Afterschool service. They come into her classroom when they are finished and wait for her to finish her last bits before heading home. They do homework and play. It really suits them all. They are home by 3:00/3:15.

I know this is impossible for everyone to do but my eyes have been truly opened! Anything to make life easy! 🙌

anyone else have similar set up? So thankful 😌

This is why houses close to schools are so expensive, and close to but not actually in town centres. It's not really a secret just often unaffordable.

🙄 pointless, mean post

Completely agree. I am extremely fortunate to live about 5/10 minutes walk from kids primary school and to WFH. Secondary schools are either 15 minute walk or short ride on direct bus from a stop just down the road. The difference it's made from.having to drive to both school and work is immense. I see more of the kids, I get more fresh air and work is safely contained behind the door of my home office.

However it is not just as easy as saying "hey everyone should do this", I am sure most people would if they could.

Whilst some of my situation is the benefit of a good career choice, I recognise I am very privileged to have been able to carve out this set up.

Genius idea! Why’s it never occurred to me?

Doh

Hopefully someday soon a solution will present itself. I really hope it does 😢

I know this isn't possible for everyone, but it does make a huge difference.

My drive to work is less than 10 mins (I'd love to be able to walk it but not possible as have to carry lots of things!) Husband works one day in the office which is a 10 minute drive in good traffic, rest of the weel he WFH. And when DC start school, it'll be on my way to work as is creche. I haven't known any different, but really don't take it for granted. Very fortunate!

It’s definitely not that easy and as I said I of course I know it’s not an option for everyone. I’m just now realising how life changing it can be to be honest.

Would you like every thread to be woe is me, isn't life awful?

Yep. I moved to a job 15 min drive away when the kids were young. It’s amazing.

My husband works a 5 minute drive away. Nursery is on the route to his work and when she starts school in September she will hopefully go to the school 10 min walk away from the house. Husband will do drop offs as it's still on the way to his work.

I work 3 days, 1 office day and that's going to change to an hour commute sadly as we're moving offices.

I mean... obviously. It's not rocket science, is it? I think most people would choose to live near work or school if that was in any way feasible or suitable. It's not like people don't know that a shorter commute makes life easier. Everyone knows that.

But the reality is that if you work in a big city centre or somewhere out of town in a business park off a motorway, you're not going to be living five minutes away. Similarly, if your home and child's school is in an idyllic rural village in the middle of nowhere, finding a job round the corner isn't going to happen for most people.

Also, companies relocate, people get made redundant, jobs change over time etc.It's great if you can do it, but it's really not some simple life hack that people haven't thought of.

This is so obvious and I’m baffled as to what your magic revelation is?
it is blindingly obvious if you live close to school… then school run would be easy? Am I missing something? If work is close too then…….?

Is this a surprise though? We all do some kind of benefits trade of for ease and salary and lifestyle.

Your set up sounds great. I have a reasonable commute, but I only go in twice a week and live in the same street as school and nursery which is a great help

@CutePixieGirl "I don't think a lot of people do, though because when you are doing it, you are just getting on with it. You don't necessarily think about it."

I don't understand that at all. And I don't believe it. When I was in this position, it was pretty much constant to be looking at the price of rent or purchase near the workplace. We all did it. I bet half of Rightmove or Zoopla website traffic comes at lunchtime from workers looking at this.

there would occasionally be someone who found something walking distance either in a flat share with seven others or some kind of lodging arrangement, but mostly people just can't afford it. Even if they're only looking for a tiny place.

no one is commuting an hour or 90mins home after a 10 hour or 12 hour day and never checked out the option to live nearer.

talking about it like it's discovering sliced bread is just mad to me.

Yes
I WFH but the reason we choose DC school is that its closest one to our house, this is actually the reason we went private over state (appreciate we are fortunate to be able to make this choice)

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I moved out of london during covid to be closer to family (single parent) but it means I have a 1hr 20/30m commute. Post covid i was doing 1 day in the office, but now I am being asked to do 3x a week which is do different. My DC is settled in local school so up rooting us to move back to London would be tough, but I really dislike the commute. On the plus side we are based on a small city so everything else is a short walk away which I love (inc great schools, station, high st, nice walks)

I completely agree. My commute is a short walk through a park and I love it!

I'm astounded how long many of my colleagues commute for though. I completely agree with the idea it can be a privilege, but for teachers, it feels like a choice. Some love it, but when I hear them juggling school runs and sitting in traffic for an hour, I do feel sorry for them.

YANBU.

Out of all of my colleagues my commute is the shortest. 20 minutes with no traffic, in reality it takes longer in rush hour so longer than most people on this thread. But it’s still much better than where I used to live, which was 40 minutes with no traffic and often 1hr+. I work in the office for 2 days, wfh 2 days. My kids go to the village primary so very close and next year ds1 will go to the secondary school that is 5 minute walk away, closer than the primary school !

I live in a small city and literally everything we need / will need regularly (nursery, school, both mine and my partner’s office, doctor, pharmacy, bakery, hairdresser, supermarket, post office, coffee shops, swimming pool, secondary school, park etc) are within a 20 minute walk. We are very lucky to be able to afford to live where we do. We have a car but use it maybe once a week on average.

I think this is the idea behind the French “15 minute city” which seems to make people here really angry (for reasons I cannot understand!)

no one is commuting an hour or 90mins home after a 10 hour or 12 hour day and never checked out the option to live nearer.

Actually lots of people do. They have chosen where they live as it's a nice location, or they could afford a better house, or it's close to family members, or the Ofsted Outstanding school, or because they've lived their all their life and don't want to move.

They choose the long commute over moving because they value the other things in their location more than living close to work. Which is entirely valid. But doesn't mean it's impossible to live closer, just that they've chosen not to.

My workplace is our spare bedroom. WFH full time. Bliss.

Every job I had was within walking distance of my home, and my kids all went to the local schools. We made choices about where to live and where the kids went to school knowing that there would be some compromises. For example, in two cases the local schools were a bit iffy, but we provided extra activities, support and resources at home. This meant that we were able to spend more time together as a family, I wasn’t tired after a long commute, and we were fully embedded in the communities in which we lived. We had houses we could afford rather than houses that we wished we could afford. I think we did the right thing for us, but it wouldn’t work for everyone.

On a wider point, this is why I live fairly close to the city centre. It's very convenient having everything on my doorstep and now that I'm getting older I can't imagine being eg 70+ and being a distance away from amenities and services. It would seriously hamper me in doing the things I need/want to do. Obviously not everyone can have what I do and I know I am really lucky in my situation but at the same time I do wonder about the wisdom of older people moving to the countryside in retirement. Transport infrastructure outside of cities is really poor in the UK, surprisingly so given that we're never talking about vast distances, and for older people especially that presents many challenges.

Um, why do you think so many people live in city central locations? We sacrifice space (and a garden and peace) for time.

I have never understood the mind-numbing back and forth on the same route, day in and day out, between the same places. It’s lost time that you’ll never get back. Days and weeks, when all added together, just going from A to B to C, again and again and again.