Comments on: Eight Minutes to Financial Success – Minute #5: Reroute Your Commute

By: Cassie

Cassie — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:59:18 +0000

Winning at personal finance is all about knowing what your own weaknesses are. If you find it difficult to refrain from 5Bucks in the morning, this simple idea of a new route maybe just the thing you need to help break that habit. If that’s not a problem for you, then cutting the distance of your commute would offer a more significant savings opportunity.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 02:57:03 +0000

Why not look at your route and see what stores are within a reasonable driving distance. Then rather than making another trip to the grocery/gas station/pet/wine stores after getting home you can plan them into your commute?

Work smarter, not harder.

By: Jeanette

Jeanette — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:04:29 +0000

As a big-city dweller, who takes public transportation, the way I save money is to pick up stuff to/from “work” or other errands, so that I’m not making unnecessary trips. I always consolidate errands, too expensive not to!. And I always figure in the cost of public transportation. (Is something really free if I have to pay $5 or more to get to a place and get back? No, it isn’t. But if I can combine it with one or two other legit errands, then it makes sense.)

It saves time, it saves money. But…I go with a list. And and open mind (wallet) because even though I shop the weekly online flyers for places I normally shop (drugstores/CVS, etc. and food shops) for sale items, there are often unadvertised specials.

I’ve tracked my expenditures. When I pick up an unplanned special item, I subtract that amount from somewhere else in the weekly budget. If I can’t do that to cover the cost, then I don’t buy it.

You need to be flexible to really save.

The real issue here is not the “route” home but one’s own penchant to shop and buy. For some, avoiding a place IS the answer to not spending. But nobody makes you go into a place if you’re forced to walk by it every day. That’s your own lack of discipline.

In the meantime, many people are spending like crazy online once they get home, or even while at work. So it’s not about the places, it’s about one’s choices.

But, yea, if you spend your lunch hours trolling stores, hang out in shopping malls to pass the time, or surf the web constantly for deals, you’re gonna spend money you may not have.

By: cv

cv — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:37:15 +0000

I’m another public transit user, and I really value going through commercial areas on the walking or biking part of my commute. Being able to stop at the bank, grocery store, library, drug store, post office, dry cleaners, and other stores without a special trip is a big bonus of urban living! It definitely improves my life to be able to do those things easily as part of my day, rather than having to spend a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon running errands, as happened when I lived in the suburbs.

By: Evita

Evita — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:01:58 +0000

Well… I am not sure if this tip is pertinent to many of us… who doesn’t choose the fastest route to work ?
My car+bus+train+walk commute takes me to work in 75 minutes (each way, yes this is a lot), and I pass 2 candy shops, 4 mag stores, 3 coffee shops and countless garment stores. If I change the train for the subway, it means 30 minutes more in transit.
Learning to exercise will-power is better than losing an hour each working day!!

By: MattJ

MattJ — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:01:26 +0000

I work as a contractor inside a military base, and I live about a quarter of a mile from the nearest gate. My commute takes me past no places to buy anything.

Changing my commute by driving to the next closest gate instead of the nearest one takes me through about 3 miles of shops/restaurants, and adds over 20% to my commute. I only have to take this route when I work on government holidays or weekends, because ‘my’ gate is closed on those days.

By: Interested Reader

Interested Reader — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:59:38 +0000

Trent isn’t really advocating a longer route, he even says “preferably one that also shortens your commute a bit or, at the very least, doesn’t add to your commute.”

Also I don’t think this is bad advice for people with compulsive spending issues but it’s not really something that can help a broad range of people and I wish the series were labelled a little better.

By: Ash

Ash — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:52:41 +0000

Excellent post and very pertinent to me. I used to take the comute past the stores one step furher and actually go out of my way to a shopping mall for a spot of ‘retail therapy’ particulary if i had a stressful or hard day at work.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:22:00 +0000

I agree Trudy:
I have the option of driving a commute that is five miles shorter but has 25 gazillion stoplights and store and traffic or my wonderful way that has bluebirds and hawks and beautiful scenery. I would choose the 5 miles extra even if it took me longer because it destresses me on the way to and from work.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:17:06 +0000

My pronunciations are the same as Kerry D. @ #13. I might sometimes say “route” to rhyme with “mute” on its own, but not as part of “reroute.” I grew up in Michigan and now live in Indiana.

By: Trudy

Trudy — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:01:48 +0000

I have only two ways to get to my job – one is a mile longer but takes five less minutes to drive. Neither one passes a single store, gas station, etc. Ah, the rural life…

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:44:25 +0000

I pronounce like #13…but I’m a born and bred Damn Californian even though I live in Ory-gun.

By: Kerry D.

Kerry D. — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 03:24:51 +0000

For me, commute rhymes with mute, like mute the commercials. And I pronounce reroute to rhyme with out, like “oh no, I ran out of coffee.”

Home is the SF Bay Area.

I take the shortest way home. Period. I look forward to coming home to my dogs and kids.

By: David

David — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:42:26 +0000

Swift demographical survey – for how many people on this forum do the words “reroute” and “commute” rhyme?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:32:01 +0000

Ooops… Meant to add that I realize Trent isn’t recommending longer routes, but most people I know choose their drives by the shortest time and distance, not by whether it goes by their favourite stores. To change their route would be to make it longer.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:29:24 +0000

I’m disappointed by this post. Taking a longer drive doesn’t make sense for the environment, especially during the summer when we’ll be facing smog days again.

I think taking public transit and car pooling are far better strategies to avoid shopping on the way to and from work. Kudos to the commenters for their suggestions.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:05:08 +0000

Do you know what else works? Carpooling, and having the driver tie you up, blindfold you, and throw you in the trunk so you can’t see any stores. You can also split the cost of gas this way.

And if you manage to escape your credit cards should be frozen back home in a giant block of ice.

By: FamilyLifeBoat

FamilyLifeBoat — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:05:01 +0000

It’s good to have different routes ready for those times when your main route is blocked by an accident or something. But guess what, you first alternate is usually everyone else’s so find a third route and you may find that even if it is longer it is several minutes faster due to less traffic, and that is worthwhile to me.

By: Gus

Gus — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:01:48 +0000

The shortest route does not necessarily mean that it will use less gas. For example, a direct route might have many stops (ie: crossing downtown) while a less direct one might have none (ie: peripheral route).

One would have to calculate which of the shorter/longer route is actually more gas efficient.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:10:37 +0000

With today’s gas prices, I’m taking the shorter route and those same gas prices are enough that I’m not tempted to spend on luxuries.