Our Frugal Ways: Move Closer to Work

We are a couple with no kids yet living frugally on a single income. My wife is currently not working in order to concentrate with school to finish her bachelor’s degree and she is on track to graduate next year. Hopefully, the economy and job market will look a lot better than this year. On top of all the school activities, she is also in charge of the finances, household chores, shopping, groceries, etc. Of course, I do help her in some other areas so she doesn’t get stressed out as well. Relying on a single income is tough especially with all the expenses that we have to attend to but it is possible if we budget properly and make some aggressive cost cutting moves. As for us, the one that works and help in saving a lot of money is moving closer to work. One advantage of renting is we have a flexibility of where we want to live. However, this is not a good option if you are a homeowner since you have to worry about selling your house first before you moved in to the new one. On the other hand, even if you are just renting, moving close to work may not be feasible if the work place is in the vicinity of a bad area (high crime rate) or it could be in a very good area where the cost of rent is so expensive that it is equivalent to the mortgage. Fortunately, this is not the case for us.

Photo Credit: The Eggplant

Advantages to my family:

1. More time with family

• If you live in the Los Angeles area, you’ll understand how bad the traffic is. A 12 mile commute can turn into an hour drive and it has gotten worst each year. I used to live around 20 miles from work and it is taking me an hour and a half to get home. That’s three hours spend on the road plus the 9 hour work day, I ended up spending more than half of my day just for work related stuff.

2. Save Money

• Gasoline Expenses – With the high cost of gasoline nowadays, moving closer to work really help save money on gas. On average, I used to spend $400 per month in gas. Now I have trimmed it down to just $75. Most of the trips are just errands and weekend travel to gatherings, meeting with friends and families, or just to have fun and spend time with wife. Another reason why I can save on gas as well is sometimes I just walk to work when it is not too hot; It is around 15 to 20 minute walk.
• Car Maintenance –Most maintenance schedule is based on the mileage and since I do not drive a lot anymore, my maintenance schedule has been bumped for a few months.  I used to average 25,000 miles per year. That is a lot of mileage and can shorten the life of the car. Ever since we moved, we dropped our average mileage to just 6,000 miles and it help prolong the life of the car.
• Car payments and low insurance premium – My car has reached the 240,000 milestone already. When we moved close to work, the car was at 226,000 miles. Because of the proper maintenance, the car is still in good condition but if I kept my 25,000 miles per year pace, we would need a brand new car sooner than we have prepared for. Moving close to work not only allowed us to preserve this car, but it also allowed us to manage with just one car. So, this saves us money in car payments and higher insurance premium which can cost to as much as $500 per month. My last car payment was more than 8 years ago and for very decent liability coverage, I only pay $35 per month for me and my wife.
• Lunch – During lunch time, I am able to eat home cooked meals. Not only that I save money but I also able to eat much healthier food.

3. Improve Health

• Driving in traffic can bring additional stress to my health. You would think that I can get used to it after driving for so many years but it’s tough when I am already tired from work and all I really want is to go home and rest or spend time with family. Now, I am so relax and able to do more things at home. The other health benefit is that I have the option of walking to work since it is about 15 to 20 minute walk. Whenever weather permits, I usually just walk and save money in gas at the same time. Besides, my wife can use the car to run some of the errands.

Various individuals have different cost cutting strategies and you want to do what works for you. What works for one person does not automatically means that it would also work for the other. As for us, moving close to where my job is really work well in terms of cutting down on our monthly expenses.

What about you? What other cost-cutting moves have you done in order to meet your budget and save more money in the long run?