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Permalink Reply by Liz on February 24, 2013 at 4:59pm

https://www.freakonomicsexperiments.com

Cant make a decision for you,  but there's a lot of reasonably priced suburbs out there.  Price out buffalo grove , libertyville, des plaines, or others before adding $7-10k a year to car commute. 

Permalink Reply by WillG on February 25, 2013 at 3:19am

Yikes! I always consider any auto commuting that I need to do as part of my workday when I'm thinking about my level of "true compensation."

For example: Say that I have a job paying $15/hr. I cannot ride my bike to work and it takes me 1 hour by car. If I work an 8 hour shift I make 8 * $15 = $120, but I also had to spend 2 hours driving! Therefore, my "true compensation" for that days work is only $120 / 10 = $12/hr, or about 20% less than my gross hourly wage. Plus, if we also consider the gas/fuel/oil/wear/etc. for the car, we're coming out even further behind. For example, let's say that we drive 40 mi each way during that hour, we should subtract another $0.555 * 40 * 2 = $44.40 from our daily take home, leaving us at a $7.56/hr (($120-$44.4)0 / 10) in "true compensation." Total bummer.

Yes, yes, I know that not everyone will value their time like this, but I think that the point stands that you should underestimate how much vehicle commuting is/will really costing you.

Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on February 25, 2013 at 3:57am

Both of my work associates live in Cedarburg, and commute by train 2-5 times a week.   You could always get a fold up bike, and hop off the train a few stops early to get some biking in.

Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on February 25, 2013 at 4:06am

I know I wouldn't want to face that commute in any way, but if you end up commuting between Milwaukee and Chicago via Metra or Amtrak, at least that gives you good leverage with the GF for a brand-new, tricked-out folding bike to carry onto the train.

Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Dan Allison on February 25, 2013 at 5:59am

i would never in a million years choose to car commute between milwaukee and northbrook everyday. that would crush my soul, and i've really become quite attached to my soul over the years. 

Milwaukee is a great city, but your GF needs to get some perspective on how specialized your job is. overall, housing is more expensive in chicagoland than it is in milwaukeeland, but we're not talking about an order of magnitude here. my advice: talk some sense into your woman, or move on.

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