Your Commute Costs More Than You Think

How much does it cost you to commute to work? (Spoiler: It's probably more than you think!) In this video, we run the numbers and talk about why they matter.

TIMESTAMPS:
Intro 0:00
Calculating My Old Commute 0:27
What about a Shorter Commute? 1:45
Calculating Your Own Commute 2:25
How Does This Help You? 3:09
Outro 4:12

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[RachelSmith-rqku]

I live about 4 miles from work and just bought an e-bike in an effort to lower my car costs and be nice to the environment and my health. Also, shiny new toy! Because of YNAB, it was budgeted for, including all of the extra gizmos we needed. Yahoo! So far so good!

[DrewLytle]

I also have always wanted to learn to backflip - time to add a budget category for "Backflip instructor"

[jmecular]

It's almost like we should make active and public transportation much more accessible so that it can be more affordable to get to work! Cars are a money and time sink, not to mention the effects on cities.

[billbatchelor]

Glad to see this topic covered. I cover this same math with anyone that wants to listen. And as another person commented, all those dollars are after taxes. So you need to earn about $8k to take home that $6k of spending on your commute. You did not mention that insurance is also higher based on the estimated total miles a year you drive. My monthly insurance went down almost 40% when I updated my records to reflect an average or 8000 miles a year (from 13, 000). I am sitting on the train right now. At the station I am heading to (a mile from my house) is my “new” EV that I paid cash for (thank you YNAB). “New” in quotes because it was new to me - 24k miles on it when I got it. I also have solar at home for charging. And yet I STILL take the train almost every day. I plan to have that car for 10 years and don’t want to rack up my 70 mile round trip commute wearing it out when the train is such a nice way to travel. Did I mention my bike that I use for many treks around my town to coffee or to get a bottle of wine or to go to dinner? Once you break the habit of driving everywhere, it is super hard to go back. My commute now is actually pleasant and productive sitting on the train doing work, watching YNAB videos, saying hello to the conductors that know me, seeing fellow daily passengers with a smile and “good morning”. And quality of life is hard to pin down in dollars. My newly coined saying is that “If you want to catch up, I suggest you slow down”. This is the opposite of what most people do. They are stressed and want to be efficient with their time and use the fastest means to get around for everything. The net result is that you never catch up, you just free up more time to fill up that time with even more stress. A diatribe comment for sure. Sorry for the long rant.

[barbmiles]

One additional expense for some is a monthly parking fee for parking your car all day while you're at work.
Pre-pandemic, I used to have to pay $550 / month

[DWenning]

Pre-pandemic, I had a 24-mile round trip commute. I miss getting to drive my fun car most every day, but don't miss _having_ to drive every day.

[taktis-sf]

We opted from when we got married to not own a car and instead live close enough to work/study in an area with good public transport. 4.5 years it’s been great! We’ve saved money not only because of what the video mentions but also because we don’t need to rent a place with a guaranteed car space. And we’re able to just hire a car on the go when we need to with goget which is widely available here.

[carolea]

That's why it doesn't make sense to me to force employees to do a job from the office that they were doing from home without giving a pay raise or accounting for rising inflation. I had a 45-minute drive to and from work and this was too much time, energy, and money spent doing nothing in order for management to see my face.

[illusrin]

Using my city's public transit has saved me tons! Sometimes I have to get an Uber/Lyft to go certain places or past certain hours.. it'd be interesting to calculate the savings threshold than if I were to drive, and how many rides would put me over that 🤔

[jonathanwinskie]

We just moved into a little place in town and I work from home. We recently ran the numbers… all costs included (gas, insurance, maintenance, taxes, and payment - didn’t even think to include depreciation), we’re spending about $10k per year on my truck. Currently have it parked for 3 months to see how we’d do “without” it, and so far it’s been great! It takes a little more planning, but I’m really increasingly looking forward to selling it, becoming a 1 car household, and putting that $800 a month in our budget towards other stuff.

[HaveaBiscuitt]

This was SO helpful. I’ve been job hunting but haven’t had any leads, and I was considering expanding my radius out further. This definitely helped a lot with making that consideration! Thanks!!

[minajones]

Working from home also saves on clothing budget. You’re not wearing out “real” clothes by only wearing pjs all the time

[thebudgetnurse]

Such perfect timing! I was considering applying for a job that would have a 38 mile commute😂

[denisekennedy]

I also found the “Your Money or Your Life” technique was useful to work out my true hourly pay rate. As another commenter noted, the figures calculated are paid out of post-tax income. But if you add up the hours you work AND commute to get to your weekly number of hours, then work out your post-tax pay per week, less your costs (and the figures in this video would be deducted from your weekly net pay). Divide your final pay (net of taxes, costs of working and commuting etc.) by the hours worked to see your “true” hourly rate.

I did this with a great deal of precision about five years ago. I discovered that my £115k pa salary ended up earning me about £20/hour.

I retired in December 2020!

[arubafanatic]

I was so glad when my company closed down its office to save money on rent. This happened a couple years before the pandemic. I used to have to commute pretty much 2 hours a day to work and when you factor in gas and tolls it was just insane. I tried saving some money by driving halfway and then using public transportation for the rest of it since where I live there is no public transportation and I saved some money that way but it didn't always work out with timing. But when they close the office I saved at least $100 a month just on tolls alone and I got 4 hours of my day back which meant I could sleep later and be more rested for work.

[CitizenPlane]

The total cost for my commute is $100 per month. And my employer pays for it. That's the value of focusing my job hunt on work close to home, so I can take the bus. Given my other costs of living, I don't think I could afford a car, even if I wanted one.

[hilosky]

My job is a 20 min walk away. Saves me hundreds against public transport and THOUSANDS against a car

[vincentapa]

Insurance? probably another 25% of your cost per year

[happily_blue]

the njtransit shirt fits todays topic well

[smstnitc]

It's a shame we don't live in an area where not having a car is feasible. I'd love to live in a place where everything is in walking distance.