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Comment by mabbo | Hacker News Reader

I've done 4+ hours of commuting per day before, in the Toronto region. I nearly went crazy. I'd leave at 6:45am and get home after 7pm absolutely exhausted. I'd eat dinner, go to bed by 9, and repeat the process the next day.

I couldn't have hobbies other than reading. I couldn't get a gym membership. I couldn't have any real social life outside of weekends. Grabbing a beer after work with coworkers was possible, but it meant a 3 or more hour bus trip home instead, getting home at 11 if I left the bar by 7.

It's no way to live. After a year, my wife got a job in the city. She now walks to work and I take the subway.

What blows my mind though was the number of people doing this. Why? So that they're kids could have a yard. Never mind that the kids don't use the yard and miss their parents. Any future child of mine will grow up in a condo, but at least they'll grow up with present parents.

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I’ve just moved from a 3 hour commute from the suburbs to a 15 minute walk to work.

While there are lots of positive changes to living so close to work, I’d just like to add some of the negative ones I’ve found since I moved:

1. A 3 hour commute would leave me exhausted when I got home. I would wake up at 7:30, get into the office at 10:00, leave at 19:00 and be home around 20:30. I’d eat dinner and then settle down for to bed. Since moving I now have so much time in the evenings for practising guitar, video games, reading and social events, but I’m no longer tired in the evenings which is preventing me from sleeping.

2. Living in London is stressful. I’m on a quiet street, but it’s a lot of people, a lot of light pollution and a lot of noise pollution. I’m used to pitch darkness and dead quietness. The air is also no where near as fresh.

3. I find that living so close to work makes it harder to unwind. Upon getting home I’m still in work mode. The commute was a nice chance to forget about work and calm the mind.

4. I used to walk almost 25 miles a week, it’s less than 10 now. Sure I can go running more often, but it requires more effort to enforce the habit.

5. I spend so much more cash living in London on rent, food, social life and dating, which leaves almost none for savings and motorsport/track events/cars.

> I spend so much more cash living in London

This is the weird part for me: moving into the city saved me money overall.

In the suburbs where we lived, every person needs a car. It was a 30 minute walk just to get to the nearest store. So we paid insurance, gas, maintenance, etc on two vehicles. In the city, we have one car that we rarely use. If it dies, we'll get a car-share membership. (Frankly, I'm not certain we wouldn't save money if we just did that immediately).

The commute wasn't just long before, it was expensive: $400 CAD or more per month. Inside the city, $140 has me covered. Utilities on the small house we rented were nuts, especially in the winter. We pay a fraction of that now.

Adding it all up, the increase in rent was less than the saved amount.

The only real danger I find now is that I can go out with friends. I have more opportunity to spend money- but at least I'm enjoying spending that money.

I discovered this as well, that's why I moved to downtown Toronto. GTA is a blight of suburban sprawl ... if you live outside the city and have to commute in for work, daily, it's an absolute nightmare AND expensive. After years of doing this the value proposition just didn't make sense anymore.

It seems like you just need to set a schedule for yourself instead of doing what your surroundings force you to. Can you exercise in the evenings to get your activity up and be tired for bed? Can you take a longer route from work to unwind? Maybe set a budget for social activities every month and stick to that. Blackout curtains could help with sleep as well.

My partner and I also do the six-hour commute. From Connecticut, I take a train to Boston and he takes one (plus subway) to Brooklyn. But only two days a week and only during the college semester (about 28 weeks a year). In my case, the train has decent wifi and tables, so I use it as office time. It's really been just fine, though sometimes I do regret the expense.

> I've done 4+ hours of commuting per day before, in the Toronto region. I nearly went crazy. I'd leave at 6:45am and get home after 7pm absolutely exhausted.

How did you manage that? I have 1.5 hour commute and I leave at before you do and arrive after you.

But I agree with you. It is just exhausting and you are left wondering where the time goes.

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