Back in 2011, I considered going back to a corporate job. But thankfully, I got stuck in traffic from Quezon City to Makati for 2 friggin hours! So, I told myself, “if this is what I have to go through daily, then I’d rather not go back to a corporate job.”
Thankfully, my job allows me to work from home, so that’s a real blessing (but more about that in a separate post). That’s why I don’t commute a lot. If I can help it, I’d like to limit my activities to places where there are LRT1 stations nearby. If I bring my car, I want meetings to be held within 10 kilometers of my house. But twice a month, I do a co-hosting stint at Family Matters: a radio program at 702 DZAS.
If you’re a yuppie, then you know EDSA, MRT, buses, and traffic like the back of your hand. You spend 8 hours per day in the office, 9 if you included the one-hour lunch break. But what if your office is in Makati and you’re residing in Bulacan? Or Laguna? Or Marikina?
Here are five reasons why you should rent an apartment closer to your workplace.
1. Fresh & Energetic at the first work-hour.
If you’re riding the MRT or LRT every morning, you’re no stranger to the stress, the sweat, and yeah, the pollution and indignity you’re subjected to every morning. Have you smelled yourself lately when you arrived at the office?
And you’re still sleepy because you woke up very early to minimize traffic, right?
Even if you have a car, driving has its own perils and can sometimes feel like playing “patintero” in the streets of Manila. So when a bus, jeepney, or FX cuts you off, your day is ruined and you already feel like the world hates you when you arrive at the office.
But if you live near your workplace, you can choose to wake up just an hour or so before office time starts; arrive at the office with your perfume still intact; and your face still glows with the freshness of the morning.
2. Save time.
How many hours do you spend traveling to and from your office? A friend of mine who lives in Novaliches, Quezon City spends more than 2 hours every morning just to go to his office in Mandaluyong City. So on any given day, he spends more than 4 hours per day traveling to and from the office. That translates to 3.33 days or 80 hours per month. For a year, that number translates to 40 days or 960 hours per year!
So if you travel for 4 hours just going to and from work everyday, you’re wasting 40 days of your life every single year!
That alone, should make you consider moving some place closer to work. You can then spend more time with parents, or friends, instead of wondering about gazillion things because you’re so stressed out by traffic!
3. Less stress.
This is a no-brainer, really.
At the end of a busy workday, all you wanna do is to sit down in your sofa, drink an ice cold glass of water, and relax. But most yuppies don’t have that option. Instead, after office hours, they still need to squeeze themselves into the MRT, stand in the middle of buses for half an hour or more, and have to endure the stress of public transportation and traffic in the Metro.
That just adds up to the stress you already felt in the office. And so, when you go home, you’re too tired and stressed to hold a good conversation. You also dread the next day when you have to wake up very early again.
4. Save money.
You also save money by moving closer to the office. Granted, the rent might be a bit higher. But if you have to travel back to your home for 4 hours, you’ll need to eat when you get hungry; buy water when you get thirsty. Of course, when you are in a hurry, you will also need to take a taxi, and that would drive your transportation expenses up.
So, are you convinced yet? Should you move closer to your workplace? Or it’s not that easy because it’s complicated?