Cut Your Commute And Increase Your Happiness – Dave’s Diary

Ask any East-sider what they dislike MOST about the West side and you’ll probably hear “traffic”.  The thought of all that time stuck in slow to no moving traffic only drives us nuts!  It’s expensive,it can also take its toll on your health and it can reduce your happiness—a lot!

A happiness researcher has quantified just how much happier we could be if we cut our commutes: about $40,000 happier.

Dan Buettner ran the numbers and wrote the book -  Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way.

Buettner says “When you look at Americans' day-to-day activity ... the top two things we hate the most on a day-to-day basis is, No. 1: housework and No. 2: the daily commute in our cars. In fact, if you can cut an hour-long commute each way out of your life, it's the [happiness] equivalent of making up an extra $40,000 a year if you're at the $50- to $60,000 level. Huge ... [So] it's an easy way for us to get happier. Move closer to your place of work.”

I joke about it but if I hit the light right, I can make it to work in just under two minutes which comes in handy too often!

Buettner's work is part of a five-year study on the residents living in some of the world's happiest places. Other surveys have shown, though, that people would give up a 10 percent raise if it meant being able to work two or three days from home.

(Lifehacker)