Cost of Commuting

With the cost of a barrel of oil marching upward and the cost of gas following closely, the cost of the daily commute is going up too. I recently realized this painful reality when I cashed my last paycheck and looked at my checking accounts ledger online. Counting up the trips to the gas pump, which I religiously charge to my debit card, I realized I had spent between $300 and $550 per month on gas!

These totals really surprised me and, honestly, made me very embarrassed of my driving habits. Granted I am a substitute teacher and fencing coach, I have to travel a great deal from my home in rural Albany County to the schools I substitute for and the fencing gym in Schenectady. I also have had to make regular trips out to Boston to visit a friend there. So my necessary travel expenses are going to be high, but are they really worth it?

Between the primary two schools that I substitute for, I average about two weeks of work per month, so ten days total. This works out to a net income averaging around $900. For every day I sub I have to figure the cost of the commute, round trip to the school and back. The closest of the two schools is a 62 mile round trip, the other is 69 miles round trip. To figure out the cost I had to take into account the cost of gas, how many miles per gallon I get and the average cost of maintenance per mile. Gas, today, costs $3.65/g, my car averages 21mpg, and, from what I researched online, the maintenance cost per mile is 5.3 cents. All in all my commute averages out to cost about 16% of my net income.

Is my daily commute worth it, yes. This is especially true when I take into account that I haven't been able to locate and secure a full time position, or just find a full time job anywhere near me.

This is some interesting insight on what it really costs to go to work. I don't like it at all, the fact that 16% of what I earn a month, after taxes (which are ridiculous on their own level), goes into my car makes me sick. To think of the thousands of dollars I spend a year supporting our dependence on foreign oil and an industry that causes disparity on a global scale and contributes enormously to climate change. But the sad fact is that this necessary evil is likely to stay the same in my life for the foreseeable future. But I have plans to relocate within the next year or two in order to cut my commute 50-90% and to increase my monthly income. We shall see how these next couple of years pan out.