Monday
19May
Living Too Close to Work: A Problem?
Monday, May 19, 2008 at 08:19AM 
As I continue to look for a house, I've realized that there is a good chance that I might end up living very close to the same area where I work. That means my commute, which right now is about 30 minutes, could actually drop down to under 10. Perhaps even five!At first you might think, 'wow, that's great!' You can go home for lunch - maybe even catch a quick nap. You'd bring siesta back to NYC baby! But upon further examination (because I must over think everything), I'm starting to wonder if it's possible to live too close to work. Among the negatives:
1) No excuses. You will always be expected to be at work, regardless of the weather, irrespective of car trouble.
2) The chosen one. Living close to work will likely increase the odds that you will be asked, or expected, to do something on the weekend or afterhours.
3) Unwanted passenger. If your colleagues run into car trouble, and are forced to take public transportation, who will they ask to pick them up from the bus or train station (assuming it doesn't stop in front of the office)?
4) Mini-world. A close commute means you will be shrinking the size of your world. If the trip from home to work is so short, you might be missing out on good shopping experiences or scenes of beauty.
5) Stale. Let's face it, your current commute is boring enough. Even though it's only a few minutes, think about how quickly it will become old.
6) The neighbors. I don't know about you, but I like to keep my work life and home life segregated. That includes keeping what I do private from me neighbors. This cuts down on awkward conversation and unsolicited favor requests. Getting back and forth to work so routinely will tip them off to your schedule, and since they already know the neighborhood, they'll know where you work.
7) Forever? Nothing is permanent, but purchasing a home near your job is a big commitment. It's basically an acknowledgement that you are at your job to stay. Depending on your employer, that could work for you or against you.
8) Spoiled. Human nature always has us wanting more. In the same way high-speed Internet drives us crazy when it slows down, there's a good chance you'll want to trim that commute down from five minutes to four. We lose perspective quickly.
I'm the first to concede that the extra sleep you'll be able to grab each morning trumps the rest of the list. Not to mention the additional time you'll be able to spend with family and friends.
Now I open the floor to you. Would you jump at the chance to trim your commute to mere minutes?
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Reader Comments (13)
I'm happy to have a real commute these days--and I don't feel like I live at the office anymore!
I've gotta ask, was your close proximity to the office the main reasoned you moved? I assume there are other factors, but am curious just how nuts it was driving you!
BTW, I made such a switch last year (daily round-trip commute shrank drastically from 3 hours to 20 minutes). While I enjoy the extra time with my family and at the gym, I made the switch largely because of the new job's long-term potential.
I've always lived within a seven mile bicycle ride or two mile walk from work apart from a brief mistake in the suburbs and some time at consulting client's sites.
It's great and I wouldn't do things differently even if it meant lower housing costs or more space.
I've never had problems taking time of for skiing or to fly a few hours at lunch or been drafted to drive co-workers around (parking a bicycle in the office might help).
Shifting my work hours or spending the time I would have been commuting for an extra 20 mile bicycle ride or 60 mile motorcycle ride up into the mountains is definitely a lot more scenic than the suburban sprawl I might have seen on a commute.
While jobs aren't forever (2-3 years until an acquisition/office closure seems typical) industries do cluster - in a decade I had four jobs within a few blocks of each other with two in the same office park.
1) It is unfair of employers to impose extra responsibility or expectations on employees who live close to work, if your employer doesn't then that's the fault of your employer, not your short commute.
2) See #1.
3) People are too self absorbed nowadays. We're too unwilling to lend a helping hand. Besides you can always tell them no and make up an excuse.
4) A commute, driving by the same exact scenery day in and day out, is not what i call exploring beautiful scenery. Besides the less time you spend commuting the more time you'll have to go out and do things you enjoy.
5) OH NO 5 minutes of boredom! That's way worse than the 60 minutes of boredom i have now! (sarcasm)
6) Neighbors = community. Knowing people that you live by is a good thing. If you don't like them then don't talk to them.
7) This is the best point, but if you're gonna buy a house anyway make a nice compromise between close to your work and average commute time for the area, proximity to other places of employment. If you want to buy a house it's gotta be somewhere, might as well do what works best for you at that moment.
8) I know people that live ridiculously close to work now (5 minutes or so) and I never hear them complaining that it's not even shorter, in fact I hear them gloating and bragging about how much they love it!
I spend 8-10 hours a week in the car now, that's a whole extra day of work in the car. It is a source of chronic stress and a feeling of never having enough free time. I'm moving 5 minutes from work in a few weeks, the extra sleep will just be icing on the cake.
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