v-Fluence Blog

Calculating the Benefits of Life Without Commuting

As communicated so well by my fellow v-Fluence bloggers, there are a number of perks to our company’s flexible work environment. The flexibility makes even the most difficult appointments convenient, and the comfort of the home office is an advantage during bad weather days or when fighting a nasty cold. However, in my opinion, one benefit to my job trumps all; I don’t have to commute.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average commuter spends 50 minutes a day travelling roundtrip from the working place. Assuming at least two weeks vacation (80 hours) and around 250 business days, this equates to more than 130 hours a year spent going to and from the job. Here is a list of things I do with the time I save working from home:

• Work: An hour of driving is an hour away from important projects and client obligations. Following a quick wash of my face and brush of my teeth in the morning, I’m focused and plugging away comfortably at my assignments, while my commuting counterparts fight highway construction and traffic jams.
• Exercise: Forget trying to squeeze in a quick escape from work to the gym over lunch, or worse, at the end of the day when my sofa is calling. Time at the gym never feels like an extra obligation, but instead a refreshing replacement to the inactivity of sitting in a stop-n-go line of cars.
• Read: Assuming a minute per page, I can read about 25 books averaging 300 pages in the extra 7,800 minutes I save from not commuting to work. WhatshouldIreadnext.com keeps my reading list long.
• Movies: With the Oscars just around the corner, along with the chilling weather across most the U.S., what a great time to become close with my DVD player and favorite actors. Considering most films fall in the two-hour range, I could watch more than 60 extra movies a year in the time I don’t spend watching brake lights and angry drivers. As a fan of Trivial Pursuit, this really gives me an edge in the entertainment arena. (I also save additional movie-watching time by cutting out my commute to the video store by ordering from Netflix.)
• Hobbies: With all this extra time, I can hopefully establish a basic understanding or ability in any subject or trade. Some things on my list include:
  • Learn a new language
  • Try some new recipes
  • Take an art class
• Online shopping: Technically, I could spend my extra time shopping offline as well, but I figure the less time in the car and on the road, the better. Additionally, I can find anything I want on the Internet, and often find more selection and cheaper prices, than what’s on display in the showroom of my favorite shops.
  

Thanks to our flexible work environment, I actually have a few extra dollars to devote to some online shopping. Instead of feeding the gas pump with my debit card once a week, I can put my money to more important things, such as a house payment, or more fun things, like a purse.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas prices this week average a little more than $3 per gallon (even higher on the coasts). For his commute alone, my husband sets aside $1,200 a year for gas, which is about the same price as that flat screen TV he wants. Imagine all the things you would buy with the gas money you’d save by not driving to work.

In addition to saving time and money, my home office shelters me from the stress and irritation that often comes with commuter delays and related uncontrolled circumstances. Instead of drowning in the exhaust of another diesel truck, or facing St. Louis’s Highway 40 shutdown, my biggest frustration in the morning usually involves the realization that I forgot to set the timer on the coffee maker the night before.

I find it eye-opening that most people spend more time travelling to and from their job than time spent on vacation away from that job—and the numbers of these commuting souls is staggering. According to the 2006 American Community Survey, the number of people who work from home is less than 10 million, while more than 130 million people commute. If you add up all their hours going to and from work, it sums to almost 17 billion hours, or more than 700 million days.

I could analyze these numbers for hours, but I have better ways of spending the time I gain by not commuting. Hopefully I won’t waste it debating which book I want to read first.

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