How Our Household Expenses Have Changed a Year After Moving Closer to Work

It’s been exactly a year since we moved into our new rented apartment/house. I can’t begin to express how fortunate we were to come across it, and it’s even more difficult to believe how close we moved to work.

And how did we learn about this place?

I was driving back to work from a dental appointment one day when I noticed a “For Rent” sign in front of a house on one of the back roads that led directly to work. I called to inquire about the available rental. The house was divided into two units: one occupied on the first floor and one vacant on the second floor, with a finished attic.

Our biggest upgrade!

Since it was originally a single-family home, the house had an unusual layout. That was fine until the owner informed me that there was no dishwasher. That would have been a deal-breaker for us because I cook frequently and the wifey is always stuck with doing the dishes.

Nonetheless, I mentioned the rental to Tatiana on our way home. She suggested that we look into it and see if the landlord would be willing to install a dishwasher.

We inspected the property and were impressed by its appearance. The landlord completely renovated it. To cut a long story short, he agreed to install a dishwasher after reconfiguring the kitchen and accommodating a few other items that enticed us to take the apartment.

Ready for a lease renewal?

We’ve been here for a year and are about to renew our lease for another year at the same rate (wifey negotiated no rent increase for two years in the original lease).

We were concerned about paying a higher rent before deciding to find a new apartment. We could afford to pay more, but just because you have the money doesn’t mean you should spend it.

After all, aggressive saving and investing is our top priority in order to achieve our goal of becoming financially independent. We decided to go ahead with it anyway because we thought the two-mile commute and extra time back every day would be worth it.

Spending categories affected by the move

If I told you that our new rent is $1,150 per month, up from $750, you could easily calculate that the difference is an additional $400 in rent per month. While this is correct, the total cost, as shown in the table below, tells a different story.

So, how has relocating closer to work changed our lives and finances?

Let’s look at the numbers after a year to see how we’re doing.

Home expenses

The move has an impact on the following spending categories:

Benefits of moving

For an extra $2,743 per year, or $229 per month, we can:

• have more time during the week to prepare homemade meals.
• have time to blog and pursue other interests.
• upgraded to a dishwasher (Tatiana loves it).
• are able to go home for lunch if necessary.
• have a comfortable porch to unwind on after work.
• have a nice park right next to our house with basketball courts and a playground with swing sets.

• have a train station within two blocks that will take us directly to Philadelphia.
• reduced the possibility of being involved in a highway accident while commuting to work.
• are within walking distance of the 14-mile-long Chester Valley Trail.
• have plenty of parking for visitors.

• upgraded from a one-bedroom apartment with a large living room to a two-bedroom apartment with a separate dining room, living room, and a dance/music room (3rd bedroom).
• have a landlord who owns a construction company and looks after the property.
• are 15 minutes closer to our rental property.
• and most importantly, we cut our stressful commute from 40 minutes to 5 minutes.

Commute time value

We now have more time to enjoy life now that our long commute is over. We value our time above all else, which is why we’re working to achieve financial independence. The time we don’t spend driving has a monetary value.

We’re saving a total of 12 hours per week by relocating closer to work. With 48 weeks of work per year (plus 4 weeks of vacation/sick pay/personal time off), we were spending an additional 576 hours per year (24 days) in a car, not including any delays.

Hypothetically speaking, if we valued our time at $40 per hour, we would have spent approximately $23,040 of our time driving. That doesn’t even take into account the wear and tear on our vehicles.

Building wonderful memories

We’re very happy and at ease in our new surroundings. We’re making wonderful memories with our loved ones and hope to stay until our first leg of early retirement.

Cheers to regaining more of our time so we can tell you our story!

Making wonderful memories!
We’re very happy and at ease in our new surroundings. We’re making wonderful memories with our loved ones and hope to stay until our first leg of early retirement.

Cheers to regaining more of our time so we can tell you our story!

What effect does your commute have on your expenses?