Pay up or take the bus 2722

Points taken, but the "live close to where you work" idea also buttumes you're job is stable, secure, and you're enjoying it enough now (and will still in the future) to want to keep it long term. Who wants to go and move to be close to work just to be laid off a year later or to have the company go through so bad re-org causing you to now hate working there?

Until last summer, I was at a job for about a year and a half that was a mere 4 miles from my house. It was great to be able to leave later in the morning to get there, to leave an be home minutes later, and to oftentimes go home for lunch. But the job itself sucked. Boring as hell, work mates sort of unfriendly in an odd way, evil management getting worse by the day due to changes the company was going through, a worry of losing the job due to the ongoing consoldation of offices by the company.

I'm now working at a place that's 28 miles from home. Average commute time is nearly an hour. Yeah, the commmute bugs me, yeah I wish I wasn't spending so much on gas, etc. But I love the job, love who I work with, and because of it I'm a happier person an have much more energy.

Since I like it, maybe I should move closer? No way. I see little things happening in the company such that I won't be surprised if I want to leave in 5-6 years, or if the company disbands my department in that time. Who knows. I could be wrong, but I'm not going to bet my dwelling on it, especially since I don't even like the housing and recreation options available around there.

Also, one thing I *didn't* like about the short commute last year was that I felt my entire world was confined to a 4 square mile area. Seeing and going to the same places for lunch, to shop, day after day, both during the week and the weekend. ugh.