Long commute to contract - experiences?

[Ignis Fatuus]

This is so true - many people forget that their working day starts as soon as their personal time stops. For me it's not too bad because I am out of the door at 7am and back home at 6pm, but I've had it a lot worse where I've been working abroad week in week out for months at a time. Never again.

whoever has not two thirds of his day for himself is a slave, be he otherwise whatever he likes, statesman, merchant, official, or scholar.

-- Nietzsche

[d000hg]

BTW try taking your net income and dividing it by total hours including commute as well as admin etc, to get your real hourly rate.

That logic partially works, but assumes you could be working for pay those 'lost' hours.

[NickNick]

But factor in that many of us can afford to work for 50% of the year. Having such a huge amount of time off beats a permie's 28 days per year hands down.

Just done my half yearly "state of the business" analysis, looking back at what I've done and looking forward to teh next 6 months as well. And even though I started the year with the resolution to work a few more hours, I still took 5 weeks holiday out of the first 25 working weeks.

It's not the money that keeps me in this game, it's the holidays.

[psychocandy]

But factor in that many of us can afford to work for 50% of the year. Having such a huge amount of time off beats a permie's 28 days per year hands down.

I've always fancied working 3 days a week only. Plenty of spare time and enough income for three days would be ideal.

And of course, I wouldnt mind driving miles for those 3 days either. Its just the thought of 5 day out of 7 having to trek miles....

[kingcook]

I've always fancied working 3 days a week only. Plenty of spare time and enough income for three days would be ideal.

And of course, I wouldnt mind driving miles for those 3 days either. Its just the thought of 5 day out of 7 having to trek miles....

I've thought about < 5 days per week too, but this would mean i'd never get to do a couple of months off at a time, and the warchest wouldn't get much of a boost. Your holidays/time off would be spread out across those 2 days in each week of the year.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

My commute is 50 miles each way, most of it on the M6 between Preston and Warrington, and regardless of what time I set off (ranging from 6am to 9am) I still hit traffic at almost every junction around Haydock - meaning an average time commuting of 90 minutes each way.

I don't think I fully prepared myself for commuting, although distance-wise it's not too far, I detest being stuck on the motorway going nowhere. Last commute was around 30 miles and I could do that in 30 minutes - I guess M6 Southbound on a weekday is just not a nice place to be

Almost the opposite to that - commute from South Manchester to Blackpool (60 miles in total). Didn't mind the commute to start off with but the motorway jams soon got the better of me and I was lucky I turned down a rate cut at renewal. Your post reminded me of those days....

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Just done my half yearly "state of the business" analysis, looking back at what I've done and looking forward to teh next 6 months as well. And even though I started the year with the resolution to work a few more hours, I still took 5 weeks holiday out of the first 25 working weeks.

It's not the money that keeps me in this game, it's the holidays.

Not taken a holiday for 18 months and won't be taking any time off until contract finishes in 8 months.... If I get another contract straight after that then I will take it. Bought a house recently and spending a bomb on building work and decoration.

[psychocandy]

Still doing that home based part time gig?

Do you mean the envelope stuffing one?

[psychocandy]

I've thought about < 5 days per week too, but this would mean i'd never get to do a couple of months off at a time, and the warchest wouldn't get much of a boost. Your holidays/time off would be spread out across those 2 days in each week of the year.

Yeh true. But depends whether you could work 3 days and still take a bit of time off as well.

Never been one to rack up the money for the sake of it. If you can afford to do this then why not. Life aint a game to rack up the most cash before you die. (As I keep telling me old man who wont spend bugger all and his savings are piling up)

[psychocandy]

Not taken a holiday for 18 months and won't be taking any time off until contract finishes in 8 months.... If I get another contract straight after that then I will take it. Bought a house recently and spending a bomb on building work and decoration.

Must be mad. Admitedly, taking a holiday is costly in terms of lost income but still. If you think like that you'll never ever take a day off and work yourself into an early grave!