Higher salary or 10 mins from home?

[FenMaxwell]

I'm in a real mess about my work situation,
I currently work in a senior admin role for a consultancy. Money is excellent and most of the people are nice, I've been there 5 years so know my job well. It's a horrible commute and I spend 2.5 to 3 hours in the round trip by bus.
I've become increasingly fed up with this as my son is in Year 1 and by the time I get home he is winding down for bed time and I struggle to help him with his reading and spelling. Dh is great and picks him up from school and feeds him but I feel like I'm letting him down. My manager works from home and therefore I am expected to be in the office all the time.

I applied for a job last month at a local charity 10 minutes from me and had a first interview yesterday. It went well and the interviewer told me he wants to arrange a second interview. The money is £3k less than I'm on now but I think we could manage as I wouldn't be paying for bus fare or being tempted to spend money in the city centre which is where I work now. I don't want to waste anyones time but I'm worried I'm trying to back out for the wrong reasons.

I just can't decide if taking a pay drop is a really silly idea or whether I should jump at the chance to work closer to home. I also have had the confidence knocked out for me due to various things and I'm panicking about working somewhere new and whether I'll be any good,

Can anyone give me their view on what you would do?

Personally I would take the pay cut. You don't get this time back with your little one and imagine being home with them on the evenings, no commute stress and work is only 10 minutes up the road. Quality over quantity 🙂

I would take the closer job.
I'm in the exact same position as you pretty much, my dd is the same age my commute the same.
I'm considering going to a lower level role and around 8k a year of a difference for a shorter commute.

Job nearer home, no doubts. It's not even about the money, although after fares and all the things I used to buy because I was in the town I think I'm 20 quid a week down and I cut my hours. I had two reasons for taking my current job, one was the 5 minute walk to work and back, the other was no fancy clothing required.

I took an 8k pay it to work from home and for a charity rather than commute into central London. To be honest once I saved on rail fares, having pret for breakfast because I left home so early, dog walkers, eating out because I was too late and tired to cook etc I hardly noticed the cut in real terms.
I do wonder though if it has impacted my next step but I have a much better quality of life now

Closer job. No question.

3K gross doesn’t equate to 3K net- it would be more like 2.5K, which is around £200 a month. How much is your travel? If it’s £20 a week, that’s £80 or so a month, then a further £40 a month you may be spending on sundries at lunch time. So in real hard cash terms, that’s a possible reduction of only around £80 a month.

100% work close to home, you won’t regret it

#teamnewjob - 100%. You will improve your quality of life and get back precious time with your son 🙂

Absolutely the closer job. No doubt whatsoever.

My DS has taken a job which is a ten minute walk to work. No more train. He's as happy as a clam

Take the closer job! I doubt you’ll regret it. After having my commute go from 90 minutes to 15 minutes I couldn’t get over the quality of life improvement and that is a far less dramatic change than yours. Getting home earlier I had the energy to catch up with the kids, cook, go for walks after work is so refreshing and I just never used to have the energy.

I read the start and th

Sorry it posted before I finished. I read the start and thought it was going to say 10k difference. For 3k it’s a no brainer