A man named Ayan Chakravarty shared his experience on Instagram after moving farther away from his office. He had initially lived close to his workplace when he shifted to Gurugram in 2023, but later decided to move after finding the rent near his office expensive and the house in poor condition.
Saving money on rent may look like a good financial decision, but one man says living farther from work came with another cost that is the time spent commuting.
He added that living farther away could still make sense for some people, but said they should consider the full cost instead of looking only at rent.
However, Chakravarty soon realised that the savings did not include the time he was spending on travel. A post shared by Ayan Chakravarty (@halfway.home2411) His savings also reduced after accounting for fuel expenses. Moving farther away gave him a bigger home and helped him save around Rs 20,000 every month in rent. He said travelling 60 km every day was taking three hours. With five working days a week and 52 weeks in a year, he calculated that he was spending 780 hours commuting annually, which he described as almost an entire month of his life every year. Chakravarty said his daily fuel cost increased from around Rs 200 to Rs 600, adding nearly Rs 9,000 to his monthly expenses. After this, he said his monthly savings had come down to Rs 11,000, even before considering parking, maintenance and toll costs. Looking back, Chakravarty said he had thought he was saving Rs 20,000 a month on rent, but was actually giving up 32 days of his life every year to save that money.
He added that living farther away could still make sense for some people, but said they should consider the full cost instead of looking only at rent. He also said that while money leaves a bank account, time leaves a person’s life and cannot be recovered.
The long commute also meant waking up and leaving home earlier, leaving him with less time for himself and his family.
