Renting close to work?

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Ugh the motorway and bypass where I am is more rammed than ever thanks to increased house building but no improvement on two lane road.... 

If I was minted, I'd but a flat close to work and live there during the week! More realistically, a friend lives close by and says could do spare room for £25 a day, so that's £300 a month of I did Mon-Wed. Anybody do anything similar? 

I'm just contemplating options. It's so much more expensive closer to town and I'm not about to sell the house Sheena and I just bought so I'm in a tricky situation with commute. It's 1.25-2 hours all-in (there and back) but that's serious time and although it might sound silly, I'm certain it had physical and mental health impact!
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    I wouldn't charge a friend of mine that much for 5 days a week is my initial thought. 
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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11413

    It does make a difference having a shorter commute.  When mine went from an hour and 40 minutes round trip to a 25 minute round trip it made a big difference to my life.

    Have you tried 2 wheels?  Could let you live at home but shorten the commute.  The only problem for you is that you live in the frozen wastes North of the border if I remember correctly.  Might not be a lot of fun in winter.

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  • GagarynGagaryn Frets: 1553
    I wouldn't either - I'd tell them to bugger off. I value my solitude.
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    I do something similar when working too far away to be a viable daily commute (though I do 2hrs each way each day as a "viable" commute!).

    I normally find somewhere via spareroom, though airbnb works too.

    £25/night sounds pretty decent to me.  I don't see why a friend, even a good friend, should put you up and put up with you for free.

    Consider what you'd be doing in the evenings if you were there.  Is it a comfortable place to relax after a day's work?  Will there be space to do what you want to do, or will you have a choice between sitting with them in a lounge or on your own in a bedroom.  

    It's a bit odd living somewhere else - even for a couple of days/nights a week.  How much of your own "stuff" do you keep there?  What do you do  with all the time you've got from not having to do the normal at-home chores?    Or do they expect you to do a bit of at-home chores there?

    I find that I usually end up doing a 10-12 hr working day and just go back to wherever to sleep, so it's not much of a life.

    Stagger your working hours to miss the worst of the traffic on the commute?
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I've known a couple of people at work who did that. One guy's flat was 5 mins up the road and he was still half an hour late in every day! I think that he found it a bit of a lonely existence, only saw his partner and her kid at weekends. £300 sounds like a fair bit of dosh out of your pocket.

    I'd give it a trial
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16253
    I've certainly known people who have done this kind of thing. When it was still the National Probation Service our senior managers  tended to be career minded people who had a nice house somewhere but monday to thursday stayed in cheap hotels five minutes walk from the office.It also meant they were great at presenteeism, and always available for evening meetings with magistrates,etc.   
    I guess that's slightly different but if your organisation has a policy around flexible working/ compressed hours you might be able to work longer days in the week based from your friend's house and have every friday/ every other friday off.
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27586
    The other possibility if you can do flexible working is to start and finish early (or late), either way missing the worst of the traffic.

    We do that at work, though somewhat unofficially, so I'm normally in the office around half seven and head for home about 2-3pm. I'll then do a bit at home (which may not be possible for you).

    Or see if working from home is possible a few days a week? If you're happy being a bit isolated then it can be very effective.
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    Any chance of working from home some days? My commute is about a 70 mile round trip - not ‘that’ far - but an awkward journey that can take as much as an hour and a half each way. I do 2-3 days from home now and love it. I start work earlier, get more done and can put a wash load on whenever I want....
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  • I've done it this year. Three weeks at the office one week working from home. My commute is pretty far though
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27586
    I can put a wash load on whenever I want....
    Living the dream!
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  • TeetonetalTeetonetal Frets: 7801
    I have a two hour commute to work, so 4hr round trip. New job is just 55 mins each way. Getting that time down really does impact life in a positive way, though trading that for not being at home during the week I'm not so sure of.
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  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    Sporky said:
    I can put a wash load on whenever I want....
    Living the dream!
    Exactly! Some days I even get the ironing done before I start work.... :)
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  • i would try it for a while and see...make the central room as nice as possible so its a pleasure to go "home" of an evening, and enjoy !
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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    I know you cannot sell your  house, have you considered renting it out and renting a place closer to work full time so you aren't a lodger part time - if you are ready for that step of course.
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  • fields5069fields5069 Frets: 3826
    I still commute by train around 1hr 45min door to door each way, even though I could probably swing a hotel for a few days per week. It helps that cost isn't an issue - it's all on expenses, but I still value the 2-ish hours I get at home with my family every day, and the trains I take are usually the new GWR ones with nearly empty carriages so that's pretty relaxing.
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  • I live 5 hours away from my next job, my house is up for sale and I've identified the one I'd like to buy (hope it's still there by the time I can pull the trigger on it). In the meantime I've just agreed to rent a tiny 12x12 room in what looks like a converted farm outbuilding. It's 3 miles from the workplace and it's cheap but Roobi & I will find it a bit cramped after our spacious 3bed semi. Hopefully we won't have to stay in it for too long.
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  • I currently do a trip of a minimum of 35 mins to work, although that's on the A34 which can be an arse at times.  The thing that makes it viable for me is that I'm on a 12 hour shift pattern which means that instead if doing the trip 5 times a week, I'm rostered for 3 as it makes the working hours up. 


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  • Modulus_AmpsModulus_Amps Frets: 2569
    tFB Trader
    It takes me three minutes to get to work and it is great, I grudge driving and think of it as being part of my work day that I am not paid for, anything longer than 30 minutes is way too long.

    More time for guitar/sport/eating/the Fretboard etc

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  • GagarynGagaryn Frets: 1553
    Sporky said:
    I can put a wash load on whenever I want....
    Living the dream!
    Exactly! Some days I even get the ironing done before I start work.... :)


    I do the same thing. If it gets creased and dirty in the works time its only fair it gets washed and ironed in the works time. ;-)

    I used to work with a guy who used the same train of thought for his monthly haircut - if it grows in the works time it's getting cut in the works time. :-)

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  • Gagaryn said:
    Sporky said:
    I can put a wash load on whenever I want....
    Living the dream!
    Exactly! Some days I even get the ironing done before I start work.... :)


    I do the same thing. If it gets creased and dirty in the works time its only fair it gets washed and ironed in the works time. ;-)

    I used to work with a guy who used the same train of thought for his monthly haircut - if it grows in the works time it's getting cut in the works time. :-)

    You remind me of when a Software Sciences chap left the Marconi Radar site too early for lunch and the security guard challenged him, when he said he was going for a haircut, the guard said it didn't all grow in Company Time, and the chap said No, I'm not having it all cut off either.
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