Paying $800 A Year To Sit In Traffic
When it comes to saving money, most of us don't think of a change in the time we commute as a way that can save a significant amount of money. The truth is that sitting in your car stuck in rush hour traffic is not only frustrating, it's costing you a bundle of money. According to the transportation institute at Texas A&M University, the average U.S. motorist now spends more than two full days (46 hours) every year stuck in traffic jams.
This traffic congestion is costly for the nation as a whole with drivers wasting some 5.7 billion gallons of gas, and the financial cost in wasted fuel and lost productivity estimated at more than $63 billion. For you as an individual, traffic jams cost an average of $829 per person per year according to the study.
You can save a significantly portion of this money by simply changing the time you commute to work by an hour or two. If you are allowed flex time at work, change your commute schedule to miss the rush hour traffic by leaving for work an hour early and then returning home an hour early.
If you aren't allowed flex time, that still doesn't mean that you can't leave early. Leave an hour early and take your newspaper or a book to work and read it in the office instead of at home. You can also take other work that you would do at home and spend the extra time at work completing it meaning that the time at home will be free time.
While it may seem that leaving early and coming home late will use more of your time to save the money, in reality it will save you time as well as money. You'll have extra time at work and your commute time will significantly be reduced since you'll be driving at normal speed instead of in bumper to bumper traffic.
Another option is to leave at the same time, but commute with another person so that you can use commuter lanes. Since commuter lanes are reserved for cars with more than one person, they move much more quickly than the regular traffic. This has the added bonus that not only will you save on time and the expenses of being stuck in traffic, your commute partner will also pay for a portion of the gas costs. If you alternate driving responsibilities, you can also contact your insurance company to inform them that you are using you car less which will likely give you a discount on your car insurance.
Taking the time to critically examine what changes you can make to your commute to reduce the time you spend sitting in congested traffic will lower your frustration level and put a nice bonus into your savings account at the same time.
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