12.5 percent pay cut for a shorter commute time is it worth it? (Sacramento: quality of life, live)

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

If you guys commuted via public transit you wouldn't mind a one hour trip.

Not if you're on BART going to the East Bay and you work in the city. My wife works in SoMa and we live in Walnut Creek. I've taken BART home with her a few times during the evening rush hour, and it takes about 90 minutes to get home, and you're often standing elbow to smelly armpit for a large portion of the BART ride, let alone the MUNI bus to GET to BART. We're looking at moving into the city because my commute going FROM the city out to Pleasanton on BART doesn't seem as taxing as doing the opposite route.

Happy wife, happy life. I'll take the bad commute until I can find a job in the city, and that would be worth a reduction in our income if we could still afford to live in a safe area that seems interesting to us.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

Not if you're on BART going to the East Bay and you work in the city. My wife works in SoMa and we live in Walnut Creek. I've taken BART home with her a few times during the evening rush hour, and it takes about 90 minutes to get home, and you're often standing elbow to smelly armpit for a large portion of the BART ride, let alone the MUNI bus to GET to BART. We're looking at moving into the city because my commute going FROM the city out to Pleasanton on BART doesn't seem as taxing as doing the opposite route.

Happy wife, happy life. I'll take the bad commute until I can find a job in the city, and that would be worth a reduction in our income if we could still afford to live in a safe area that seems interesting to us.

Hope you guys have a big budget. The places with tye easiest SOMA commute are thr most pricey. The Outer neighborhoods take longer than pretty much all of the inner east bay, and some times compete with the commute from Lafayette. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to Chinatown from Oakland and I am walking from the Transbay Terminal (which is closer to the bridge side of SOMA). My outer neighborhood colleagues have a similar commute and they live in the city limits.

It is roughly a 20 minute bus ride for me, and less crowded than BART to get drooped off at roughly Fremont/Howard.

So check your commute math, you may be surprised.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by jade408

Hope you guys have a big budget. The places with tye easiest SOMA commute are thr most pricey. The Outer neighborhoods take longer than pretty much all of the inner east bay, and some times compete with the commute from Lafayette. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to Chinatown from Oakland and I am walking from the Transbay Terminal (which is closer to the bridge side of SOMA). My outer neighborhood colleagues have a similar commute and they live in the city limits.

It is roughly a 20 minute bus ride for me, and less crowded than BART to get drooped off at roughly Fremont/Howard.

So check your commute math, you may be surprised.

We have a big enough budget, but it's certainly pushing the limits at the moment until I can find a job in the city that pays the local wage for what I do. (I transferred my job from FL and am still on FL salary)

We are looking at parts of the Mission which show a 20 minute or less commute into SoMa, and if I can walk to BART then I would be looking around 90-100 mins to Pleasanton and back. We looked at Rockridge/Temescal and really liked the area, but my wife still felt like it was too far for her.

[k.stvns]

It seems to me that moving to Roseville is off the table so I am going to put this out there.
Commute costs:

• Vallejo to Roseville: $80*4.33 weeks ~ $346/month.
• Vallejo to Burlingame: $119*4.33 weeks ~ $515/month.

Pay cut: ~ $10,000/52 weeks*4.33 weeks ~ $832/month.

Transfer to Roseville:

Positive(s):

• Be close to family and friends.
• Less time spent driving.
• Less wear and tear on my vehicle.
• There will be more opportunities for advancement, seniority, and pay increases.
• No worries about public transportation in terms of being on time, delays due to equipment failure (so to speak), hoping there is room for one more, workers' strikes, etc.

Negative(s): Salary reduction

It appears that I'll take the pay cut and transfer to Roseville.

[jade408]

It sounds like a win to me

[redg415]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

Not if you're on BART going to the East Bay and you work in the city. My wife works in SoMa and we live in Walnut Creek. I've taken BART home with her a few times during the evening rush hour, and it takes about 90 minutes to get home, and you're often standing elbow to smelly armpit for a large portion of the BART ride, let alone the MUNI bus to GET to BART. We're looking at moving into the city because my commute going FROM the city out to Pleasanton on BART doesn't seem as taxing as doing the opposite route.

Happy wife, happy life. I'll take the bad commute until I can find a job in the city, and that would be worth a reduction in our income if we could still afford to live in a safe area that seems interesting to us.

Thats so true ServoMiff the BART SUCKS it really does not even mentioning the old trains and being cramped up in a train car. I loved the city it was a good place to live, I was born and raised there till we moved to Vallejo when I was 18...it's gotten so expensive and inconvenient and city ordinances that make it difficult for hardworking people and those trying to start a business it is sad. You may find an old apartment in a so so part of the city for no less than 1800 a month. According to a study a couple has to make at least about 60k a year to live in sf and do okay considering the taxes and groceries and the list goes on. I still go often for the scenery or other events but not as often as I used to. I used to want to move back...now I am not so sure..besides alot of sf natives have moved out...half the people I knew and grew up don't live there anymore. But I really hope it all works out for you my friend. And yes a recent study shows that a happy wife is willing to do much more for her partner and family which means happy life LOL.

[redg415]

Originally Posted by k.stvns

It seems to me that moving to Roseville is off the table so I am going to put this out there.
Commute costs:

• Vallejo to Roseville: $80*4.33 weeks ~ $346/month.
• Vallejo to Burlingame: $119*4.33 weeks ~ $515/month.

Pay cut: ~ $10,000/52 weeks*4.33 weeks ~ $832/month.

Transfer to Roseville:

Positive(s):

• Be close to family and friends.
• Less time spent driving.
• Less wear and tear on my vehicle.
• There will be more opportunities for advancement, seniority, and pay increases.
• No worries about public transportation in terms of being on time, delays due to equipment failure (so to speak), hoping there is room for one more, workers' strikes, etc.

Negative(s): Salary reduction

It appears that I'll take the pay cut and transfer to Roseville.

k.stvns thank you sooooo muccchhhhhhhh when someone from a different point of view states simply facts it can put things into perspective. Moving to Roseville...at least not in the near future..it is a nice place though I mean you can head to tahoe/reno or sf in about 1.5-2hours and it's more affordable than the bay area...well not much more than solano county. your numbers are about dead on on. And after doing the numbers the pay cut factoring what I would save in my commute would be less. I wish my pay would put me in a different tax bracket because then the salary reduction would not seem so bad.

My knees and back hurt from sitting in traffic I am telling anyone who wants to do my current commute that it takes 1 hour on a beautiful day with good conditions which are very very very rare...usually 1.5 to get to work...today it was 2..and 1.5-2 to get home...it has taken me 3 hours before. And even when I go to the gym here and leave around 8pm there is still traffic most the time and it takes me an hour or so to get home.

Less time in my car, no more stop and go and selfish/reckless drivers. i can be sure that when I wake up i will be at work in one hour ( it's a much more predictable commute). Currently when I wake up at 5:45am I turn on the news and see what the traffic conditions are and it's always a 25-30 minutes from the maze to the toll plaza no joke...when there is no traffic it takes 2 minutes at 55mph. Traffic use to start there but for some reason these passed 6 months I have ran into traffic in pinole/hercules and at el cerrito which adds one even more time to a drive that when there is not traffic it takes 18 minutes between the carquinez and the maze at 60mph! i don't know if there is a stall or accident which adds on even more time. I gotta be out of the house between 6-6:15 just to be sure I make it on time. And the way home is even worse...mind you there has been a few accidents but it's does not make the traffic/commute much worse because i can count with one hand how many times my commute has been okay from my job home and 3 of those times I left sf about 8pm (went to the gym here) but if i leave between 3-7 its a guarantee the commute will take 1.5-2 hours.

On fridays when my friends want to go out to eat or see a movie or happy hour i cannot assure them I will be there for the 7pm showing even if i leave right when I get off work..do you know how that feels?

Then again do you know how good it feels to be earning enough money to live and do fun things here and there and pay your bills?

[k.stvns]

I am curious to know if you made the move?

[goingforarip]

Dollar amounts matter.

Middle class for life money? Yeah why not. You'll likely never retire anyway. Enjoy your extra free time while life is good.

Serious money? Of course not. Get paid.

[Natural510]

So the question becomes free time ("a life") vs more money? I guess I'm at the age where I'd like to be a little more broke with a better quality of life than spending half my time outside of work in a commute. The stress reduction is worth it.