
Two incomes with long commute, or one income with a shorter commute? - gwbas1c
My wife accepted a full time (non-tech) job in a popular vacation spot. We can either live with long, but tolerable commutes, or we can live with a single income very close to her job.<p>I&#x27;m currently a full-time telecommuter, but I anticipate that I&#x27;d need to commute to a major city for my next job if we rely on both incomes. In this case, she&#x27;d commute about an hour south, and I&#x27;d commute to the major city about an hour north.<p>The alternative is that we can live rather inexpensively in this popular vacation spot, and due to my wife&#x27;s hours, I can watch our children while she&#x27;s at work, and still have about 25-30 hours a week free for technical pursuits. In a few years, when the kids are in school, I&#x27;ll have plenty more time.<p>Is anyone in such a situation? Is 25-30 hours a week enough for a &quot;single person business?&quot; What about flexible telecommuting jobs, or flexible contracting on open-source projects? In any case, my wife will provide a comfortable safety net.<p>Would love to hear how other people make this work!
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sheraz
Do you mean commuting in a car or by public transportation?

Either way, the one resource I cannot get more of in life is time. The more I
get on in life the more I protect this resource. And I vow to never give my
time to long commutes.

That said, I think that 25 to 30 hours per week is plenty of time to run a
side business or consult.

Obviously there are many other factors, but when it comes to my time, it is
very near the top of my priorities.

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gwbas1c
My commute would be by train. She would commute by car, but approximately
three times a week.

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sheraz
My only experience is in the NYC area where the trains are notoriously over-
crowded, in need of repair/replacing, and very hard to enjoy during busy
hours. And trying to work on those trains is futile. So needless to say, I'm
not a fan.

Some people have the constitution to make long commutes regularly. I am not
not one of those people.

Best of luck to both of you.

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slater
Quality of life vs. money. Which do you think is more important? :)

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gwbas1c
My fear is that the situation where I can't commute into a major city gets
very boring. If the cost of living were the same in both locations, then we'd
pick the longer commute so I can have a career "when I want it."

