I wish we had love hotels in the west like they do in Asia so you can have a girlfriend without paying $1100 a month to come home to an empty house after work.
I find it really depressing to live with roommates. I spend 8+ hours a day in an open office subject to other people's opinions (and carelessness) about what should enter my ears. To endure that and then come home to someone watching TV or on the phone is literally hell.
I've traded away 3+ hours/day of free time to the commute so that in the little free time I have left, I get to choose the ambient noise.
At least in college, the library was a short walk and open late. There are no quiet indoor public spaces open after work, sadly.
Good quality noise cancelling headphones can change your life - with no music but just for the sound of silence. The bose qc ones are the ones that did it for me :)
Not all commutes are equal. I'm 30 and live in the 'burbs of NYC with my parents. I spend 1:15 in each direction, but it's all public transportation. I have 30 minutes on a commuter train where I can sit and do work. My commute when I lived in the city was ~30 minutes each direction without the ability to do work. So in all actuality, I've really only lost 15 minutes in each direction while saving $1800+ per month. The math works out in my head.
Yeah, it's the Bay Area. East Bay to SF. There are things other than roommates I could compromise on in order to live closer or go faster (standing on crowded, lurching public transit vehicles, sqft, building quality, neighborhood safety, savings %, entertainment and travel spend), but my current situation (90 minutes each way, but by pleasant means - bicycle and ferry) seems to be the least bad option for my tastes.
