work travel time? (Des Moines, Iowa City, West Des Moines: houses, find a job, movies)

[fishcube]

So, how many of you travel 1 hour or more to work every weekday? one way.

We are looking at homes and will be moving, but a few homes we like are near a much larger town than my husbands work. Would be 1 hour 15min drive one way to work town. He's been driving 30 miles (45 min) to work past 10 years. We normally drive 45 min to go to movies/normal shopping items, and 25 min for groceries. If we get home closer to the larger town, then local driving would be 5-15min.

Seems nicer to be closer to bigger town where home is, and farther for work. Since all our local driving (groceries, movies, child related activities etc) will be closer to home. ??

SK

[thtapler]

I live less than 10 minutes from work and a little more than 10 minutes to my classes. Now, maybe it's because I've always lived like this, but I can't imagine in my wildest dreams traveling for an hour every day for work! Maybe if I traveled by bike which has other benefits, but it's completely within reason to live close to work and food.

[iowegian]

Same as above. I would say that a commute that long is probably almost unheard of in Iowa. I would definitely consider living somewhere in between your husband's work and the larger town, if you can.

[Chicago60614]

Wow, my parents live in Iowa City and it's never taken them more than 10-12 minutes to commute. I use to have a 4 minute commute when I worked at Hy-Vee in Coralville!

I've actually never heard of anyone doing an hour or more (in Iowa. Certainly many other places). I mean hell, you could work in Des Moines and live near Iowa City with the numbers you're talking about! I guess I don't understand why you'd want to live THAT far away.

Surely you can find a house within 90-100 miles of your work.

[capitalcityguy]

[SIZE=2]My commute is approx 20 minutes.

A long time ago, I read a book (sorry I can't recall title or author) but is was one of those books on how to live a healthy, happy, productive life. I always remember one point the author made and has always stuck with me (because I believe it). That is, you should never live further than 20 minutes away from where you work. The point: life is too short and most people are always complaining they don't have enough time in the day. Excessive commutes rob people of time and take them away from family, hobbies, exercising, pursuing higher education, starting your own business, etc.etc…. In addition, you have the expense of gas (which in this day and age, who know where that go at anytime?) and wear and tear on your auto.

I think it is very understandable that long commutes might be unavoidable in some circumstances (e.g.…need to be close to an aging parents to assist). But before voluntarily choosing to "write off" 2 hours of your life everyday, I would carefully examine is it really worth the cost (time and moneywise). The beauty of living in Iowa is that almost no one is stuck with having to commute long distances.
[/SIZE]

[SharpHawkeye]

There are people out there who do have extreme commutes--an hour or more a day. They choose to stay in their hometowns or close to extended family, and can't find a job in the area, so they commute to a larger far away city or a plant somewhere. It does happen.

However, the OP's situation is a rather odd one. Instead of living in a small town and commuting to a bigger city for work, your situation is that you want to live in a bigger city, but would have to commute to a smaller town for work. I'm not sure I've heard of someone in that situation before.

If you gave us a rough idea of where the job is and where you were thinking of living, we might be able to suggest some towns in the area that might be a nice compromise for you.

[LeavingWI]

I know plenty of people who long distance commuting or long time commuting and I've done it in the past. Yuck, I would not choose it. You've got an 8-5 job. Now it's like this

6:00 wakeup
6:30-7:45 commute
8-5 work
5-6:15 commute

Half the day gone, and that's not including bad weather (driving or shoveling, construction, car problems) plus extra gas costs.

Gas - compare a 10 mile to 60 mile commute - 100 miles a day so we'll say 3-4 gallons a day, maybe 245 days of work at $2.80 a gallon = $2058-2744 a year. Not knowing specifics that can add $40K to a house price or drop 10 years off a mortgage.

[endof18]

I used to commute ~20 minutes to school. Now that I live in Iowa, it's a block walk. When I graduate, I wouldn't mind commuting an hour each way to work as long as I live in a place that is safe and <5 minutes drive to everything.

Instead of 15min to everything else and 1h and 15min to work, why not pick somewhere it's 45min both way? Wow, it's still bad imo. I'm sure you can find a house you'd like that's <30min to both places.

If not, I'd pick the 1h 15min work drive because I've lived in the big cities my whole life, and not living within walking distance to stuff is scary. Like West Des Moines. It's just rows and rows of houses. I can't imagine living there.