job WWYD (long)

[7costanza]

I'm putting the cart before the horse here, but I've been struggling with this for a while and want some outside opinions.

I currently have a great job that I mostly love, and has a good amount of flexibility, but the commute is minimum 45 minutes each way, up to 1.5 hours with daycare drop off (currently 2x per week, soon to increase to 3x). I drive part of the way and take public transportation the rest. Daycare is near home, in the opposite direction from work and my H isn't able to help with drop off or pick up much, so my son ends up being there 11 hours a day, 2 (soon to be 3) days per week. I only work 4 days  and am paid 80% of my FTE salary, and have 5 weeks of PTO. If I ever increase to FT, I'll be able to work from home one day per week. I've been considering finding a job closer to home for about a year, and actually got two offers last summer but declined both (one because the money was way too low, the other job just sounded horrible). 

Next week I have an in person interview for a job that sounds interesting and that I think I would enjoy and be good at (phone interview was this morning). The base salary would probably be slightly less than my FTE salary, but including bonus about equal, and the commute would be 15 minutes, 20 with day care drop off. The job is full time, so my son would need to be in daycare 4 days per week. 

I keep going back and forth about keeping my current schedule and commute, and looking for a change. I use my day off to do a fun activity with my 21 month old, right now we take a Spanish class, go grocery shopping, and just generally spend time with him. Another possibly relevant factor is that until now my H and I only had Sundays off together, but will soon have both Saturday and Sunday (and Monday) off. 

WWYD? 

[7costanza]

@vicmo Depending on the actual hours at the new job the time out of the house would likely be about equal, but about 5 hours less with my son per week overall (more each weeknight though).

And, yes I did post about Total Workday Control! I'm so glad you liked it, it was life changing for me too!

[mrsfarmer]

I looooooooove my short commute. It got even better when I changed daycares and it's less of a drive.

[water*drop]

I cut my commute down from 45 minutes to 15 minutes several years ago, and it made such a huge difference in my day-to-day life. Less pressure in the mornings, more freedom after work...it's awesome.

[aspentosh]

Shorter commute with comparable salaries and benefits will always win, in my book. Assuming the job is a good fit and you're not working for/with total assholes.

Just think, you may be at work an extra day but you'll have SO much more time with him each day that it'll balance itself out.