the cost of commute

Just how much does getting to and from work cost?  Around where I live, it's about $15 a day, and that is the cheapest.  I work downtown and live in the suburbs.  I don't live in the city because the schools were I am now is better than in the city.  Mr. LLF's job gives some perks for living where we are, and he has a sweet commute, which is good for taking care of kiddie stuff.  Living closer to the city means more expensive house, which we can not afford at the moment.

Why does it cost so much?  I drive to the train station (20mins).  It take 2x times as long to bike there.  The train cost close to $5 a trip, plus parking which is 3.50 to 4.75, depending on which station I go to.  So the gas, plus train, plus parking is about $15/day x 5days.  So my cost of commute which is $65-75 a week.  My employer subsidize $100 a month, so that covers about a week and a half(no complaints there).  That is only if I take the train.  If I drove, it would be more gas, plus $12-15/day parking, downtown.

To reduce cost of the commute, I worked four 10 hr days each week.  Which great because I had 3 day weekends every weekend, and 4 on holiday weekends.  However, that means leaving at 6am and not getting home until 7pm.  This is not a problem for singles and married with no kids.  Since I would like to seem the little LLFers(..haha.hmmmmm) I work only five 8hr days.

Adding to the equation is that I started a new job 8 months ago, and was told that someone up the chain didn't like the telecommuting idea because there was a bad precedence once a few years ago.  I did not want to push the subject, being a new person.  Now, that someone has retired, and it will be 1 year for me in 4 months, I will ask again for the telecommuting 1 day a week, to start off.  Maybe withs some luck, I can eventually get to 2 days a week.  Here to hoping for the best!