Should I move to Milwaukee and give up my bike commute?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diego Rael on February 24, 2013 at 3:08pm

I'm a watchmaker  and the company I work for in Northbrook not only pays great, but they invested a bit of money to move me back to Chicago and are also paying for more training and education so leaving them is not an option. Thanks though. I have till June to figure this dilemma out so who knows what could happen. I really like Milwaukee and  would love to live there but I also love my ride to and from work everyday.

globalguy said:

Diego, what do you do? I have a ton of contacts in Milwaukee. Let me know off-thread.

Permalink Reply by Diego Rael on February 24, 2013 at 3:10pm

I timed it one morning when I left downtown Milwaukee at about 9:00. I know there are variables such as weather,traffic, road work etc. but I aslo have the flexibility to change my hours. 

h' 1.0 said:

One hour during rush hours?  Traffic around Milwaukee can be pretty snarly, even if things on the Northbook end tend to be more reliable.

(BTW thank you for not putting an apostrophe in "Rogers" :-)  )

Diego Rael said:

Well,  I live in Rogers park and commute to Northbrook every day 1 hour each way in the winter and 45 to 50 minutes each way in the summer. Northbrook to downtown Milwaukee is one hour each way 70 miles. I don't know it's a toss up. This is going to take some serious contemplating.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on February 24, 2013 at 4:24pm

Unless your SO has an awesome job offer there that will move their career in great places, I wouldn't even think about it. It sounds like your career field is specialized in a way, so to me, it would be a no brainer to stay. Of course, I wasn't always so cold and calculated, and women have made me do crazy things before, so I completely understand your dilemma.

Permalink Reply by JM 6.5 on February 24, 2013 at 4:49pm

If you don't mind my asking, what company in Northbrook? I'm a big mechanical watch nerd, though my collection has currently been narrowed down to 4 automatics + a G-shock.  I used to wear my diver pretty much daily but I got worried that the rough pavement and knocks it was taking on my bike commute weren't so good for the watch (hence the G-shock).

I also wonder if those of us with a bike fascination/appreciation are similarly attracted to mechanical watches.

Diego Rael said:

I'm a watchmaker...

Permalink Reply by Diego Rael on February 24, 2013 at 6:12pm

I work for C.D. Peacock.  I left Chicago over a year ago and moved down to the Virgin Islands to work for Little Switzerland/NXP. They paid to move me down there and C.D. Peacock came looking for me and paid to move me back. The USVI St Thomas was no place to ride a bike and as far as living there I would only recommend it as a vacation spot. I think people who have an appreciation for all things beautiful and mechanical  interchange their fascinations. 

JM 6.5 said:

If you don't mind my asking, what company in Northbrook? I'm a big mechanical watch nerd, though my collection has currently been narrowed down to 4 automatics + a G-shock.  I used to wear my diver pretty much daily but I got worried that the rough pavement and knocks it was taking on my bike commute weren't so good for the watch (hence the G-shock).

I also wonder if those of us with a bike fascination/appreciation are similarly attracted to mechanical watches.

Diego Rael said:

I'm a watchmaker...

Permalink Reply by Diego Rael on February 24, 2013 at 6:15pm

It's possible she could, and she actually left her great job that she had to move with me to the USVI but then we moved back here and her job situation/ income has not been what it used to be since she gave it up to follow me down there. You see I was unemployed for a year and then I got the job offer down there.

Jim S said:

Unless your SO has an awesome job offer there that will move their career in great places, I wouldn't even think about it. It sounds like your career field is specialized in a way, so to me, it would be a no brainer to stay. Of course, I wasn't always so cold and calculated, and women have made me do crazy things before, so I completely understand your dilemma.

Permalink Reply by spencewine on February 24, 2013 at 6:39pm

I think you could solve this dilemma simply by doing the math:

Multiply your estimated gas+ car expenses+ mental/physical health expenses (for sitting in a car for 3+hours a day) for a year and then multiply that by the life of a mortgage.  Now take that cost and add it to what you estimate your mortgage to be in Milwaukee. How does that compare to a mortgage in Chicago? I'm guessing that you will find the cost of living in Chicago+bike commuting is probably cheaper than living in downtown Milwaukee+car commuting to Northbrook, but you'll have to do the calculation yourself. Regardless, if it were me saddled with this dilemma, I probably wouldn't consider moving to Milwaukee unless my SO had a job in waiting that is better than what she already has in Chicago, otherwise you risk moving from one crappy job to another in Milwaukee and in the process you'll get a pretty crappy commute.

Permalink Reply by Wolf-Pup on February 24, 2013 at 6:52pm

I wouldn't unless I could find a job in Milwaukee and if, of course, I cared a lot for the guy. If not I'd just say, "no." And then I'd go celebrate my freedom with a nice long bike ride and a drink with some friends. I can't imagine leaving my family behind either. Meh.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Schneider on February 24, 2013 at 6:55pm

A long car commute is soul-destroying.  I know.  I did it for many years.  It wears you out so that you don't want to do anything but crash when you get home, while at the same time giving you no exercise.

If you give up all that biking time, you'd better have a plan about how to compensate, and be disciplined about sticking with it (not easy if it involves something boring like running on a treadmill at a health club).  Else you will be fat and in a bad mood a lot (I know that from experience also).  Not a formula to make either you or the Gf happy.

Permalink Reply by Liz on February 24, 2013 at 9:59pm

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 Will G - 10mi on February 25, 2013 at 8:19am

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 (10.6) on February 25, 2013 at 8:57am

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.

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