I took the train to work today

In the next 12 months I plan to move in with my girlfriend who lives approximately 20 miles from my work location so today I did an experiment and to the train to work. All in all it was not bad. I think it took a little longer from a time perspective but it was less stressful not having to deal with traffic.

When I start doing it regularly I will buy 20 trips at a time and they will cost me $1.50 each way as opposed to the $1.75 it regularly cost. Yesterday I filled my gas tank up and at $3.79 per gallon it cost more than $50. Not too long ago it cost me less than $30 to fill my tank. That alone is a good reason to take the train to work.

Currently I pay $110 per month for parking in my building. I think by July I will stop paying the monthly parking and use a daily lot at the rate of $5 to $7 a day when I drive in to work. Now I take advantage of the pre-tax parking program so the parking really only cost me about $92 per month but I can also take advantage of the same type of program with the public transportation cost. If I take the train 20 days to work and make 40 trips then the regular price at $1.50 per trip is $60. Using the pre-tax program would make it about $50.

Something to think about.