<p>Personally, I would love a lime green Ford Fiesta. Adorable! :D</p>
<p>When reading all the “books on tape” suggestions, I was thinking iBooks and podcasts. I have a co-worker with a very long commute. She has the whole weekend’s worth of NPR funny shows and lots of books on her iPod, and her car has a jack to plug it in. She gets custom entertainment for an hour each way.
That said, she is shoppping for a house closer to our workplace.</p>
<p>orchestramom, My dad commutes 60 miles each way to work every day. It has it’s pros and cons. If it’s a straight shot with no traffic, it won’t seem very long. That being said, he puts miles on his car like none other! Be prepared for quite a lot of wear and tear on your vehicle. If it’s the type of job where you can work from home, maybe you could work something out to do that like two days a week or something. Gas prices are very high and insurance tends to cost more with further commutes. My dad has to take the turnpike to get to work so that adds up also. </p>
<p>Maybe you could take it and keep looking for a closer job?</p>
<p>I have a 75 minute commute, but only 3x weekly, come home late at night, often in snow. Toyota Prius is wonderfully fuel-efficient but not up to serious (or even moderate) snow. Subaru Impreza is small, probably gets about 25 mpg (I’m guessing, though) and excellent in snowstorms. I’m with the recorded books contingent; I love them. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m hearing in your posts that you like to work, and that you’re not that interested in sitting around waiting for the perfect position. Good for you.</p>
<p>If something else does come along, any employer would instantly understand that you might want to work closer to your home, and would not hold it against you if you wind up jumping ship rather early for a better “fit”.</p>
<p>If it turns out that you can’t stand it for some reason or another, the commute aspect will provide adequate cover for you if you wind up having to quit.</p>
<p>Frankly, if you are as close to retirement as you imply (this really applies to anyone past 45 or so), its pretty tough to find jobs these days. And any employer would be much more interested in hiring someone with the “drive” to take on a 3 hour daily commute than they would someone who is standing by for the perfect offer. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>My H’s boss drives a Prius. He’s been really happy with it but it is not good in the snow. My H had a mid life crisis when he bought his last car! He bought an Infiniti G35 which was terrible in the snow but he put snow tires on it and now it is great. He does not like the gas mileage and we might try to sell it after this summer. He would like to buy a TDI Jetta.</p>
<p>My H’s brother drives a mini cooper. I hear that it is terrible in the snow also. I would never buy one for someone who drives alot it is like driving a tin can. Not comfortable at all. The one thing that my H wanted because he drives quite a bit is a car that is comfortable to drive. Smooth and handles well. He used to drive an Acura, in fact our S still drives it, it has 239,000 miles and is just a workhouse. I would love to own another one. I loved the ride and I loved that car. It even goes well in the snow.</p>
<p>^^ DadX – and others</p>
<p>Just to clarify, this job actually IS the “perfect offer” and a great fit for me. I’m not keeping my eye out for something better, closer to home. The number of opportunities in my field within a 50-mile radius of my home is very small – and the job I’ve accepted is at the top of that heap. The commute is the ONLY downside. That’s why I took so long thinking seriously about the commute, before I made my decision.</p>
<p>I commuted close to 60 miles everyday for 6 years. It was 1.5 hours door to door. At first it seem like a lot, but I got used to it. I left the house at 6am, was at my desk by 7:30, left work at 6pm and got home at 7:30. I listened to music and had time to transition. I was able to leave early by not taking lunch break. When I had doctor’s appt or school activity I would work from home. I managed to have dinners with friends sometimes. It did cut in on my sleep a bit, and I would catch up on sleep on weekends.</p>
<p>I now have 10 minute commute to work, but I don’t seem to have that much more time to do things.</p>
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<p>and</p>
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<p>What is wrong with this picture?? After a 10 1/2-hour day, we call that “leaving early”??</p>
<p>Have you looked into carpools or commuter vanpools along your route?</p>
<p>[Solutions</a> Vanpooling Individual - VPSI Moves The World](<a href=“http://www.vpsi.org/mysitecaddy/site3/solutionsvanpoolingindividual.htm]Solutions”>http://www.vpsi.org/mysitecaddy/site3/solutionsvanpoolingindividual.htm)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in my business those are short hours. I only earned it after have been in it for 25+ years.</p>
<p>“Years ago I commuted 50 miles by car from Wilton, CT to an upstate destination. Most of it was on 84, and I was going against the usual direction, so traffic was never an issue. I also commuted from Wilton and New Canaan to Manhattan by train, and at one point from New Canaan to upstate NJ by car.”</p>
<p>Interesting - I carpool with 2 others about 30 miles south (55 mins) to Wilton.</p>
<p>orchestramom…congrats and good luck with the new job!
I took a job about 6 months ago after being an independent consultant for NINE years. What an adjustment! Commute is an hour each way…I get to work from home once per week. Hours are LONG, demands are high. Weekend work is common. Still adjusting. May just do this for one year total…really not what I signed up for! Job is good…people are good…but I want more time for my real life! Yoga has gone out the door. CC has gone out the door 
and hardly ever see my friends IRL. This can’t last…I see consulting in my future but also hate the sales part. Nothing’s perfect right?</p>
<p>^^^That was my problem with consulting also. I loved working with the clients, solving problems, getting creative, making presentations – but the consulting firm I was with didn’t value that. They just wanted sales sales sales. It was all about, “Yes, you sold that project last week. What have you done for me this week?”</p>
<p>Well, you can pay for a rainmaker or get the consultants to do it. My guess is that you maximize profits if the consultants do it for nothing.</p>
<p>Unless the consultants aren’t very good at rainmaking. That was me. :(</p>
<p>not a good rainmaker either…and I was on my own. Things just came to me for many years through my network of contacts, but when the economy slowed, I needed to go into marketing/sales mode. Hated it. But even when things were crazy busy, I still had more of a life than I do right now. So with the economy coming back, I think it’s time to give it a try again…next year. I can’t sustain this!
The commute is the LEAST of my concerns although it does add wear and tear. It’s more the 80 hour weeks…and even with that, I can’t get through my work. And I’m pretty darn efficient after being out on my own for years. Is this what corporate life is like everywhere? Yeah…they pay me pretty good but this is ridiculous.</p>
<p>The older I get, the more I hate it. I hope I can hang in for another five or so years.</p>
<p>Some funny posts above, mainly from people who live in the urban north east I suppose. It’s great you have a choice to work within an hour of home. Some of use live in places with 12 to 15% unemployment. Some of us drive an hour and a half each way to work, and not in nice new cars either, more like junkers with 350k miles on them and no heat or air conditioning. Even with 25MPG, gasoline expense is 20% of our monthly 1980s payrate paycheck. Still, it’s better than the 2 hr each way commutes I’ve had before.</p>