Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Walking home from work

I have been looking forward to today all week. Not because it means the work week is half over (though that's clearly a given), but because I had read earlier this week that it was going to be in the mid-high 50s today. To me, that means one thing: walking home from work instead of taking the subway. My apartment is approximately three miles from my office, and in the spring, summer, and fall I stop buying subway passes and walk to and from work nearly every day. It only takes an extra 15 minutes per trip, and it's great exercise. Plus, I just love being outside in the open air rather than squished against angry people on the subway; that's just a horrible way to begin and end a day. Walking is a million times better, PLUS I spend the time enriching my mind with awesome podcasts like This American Life, Real Time with Bill Maher, Planet Money, and my all time favourite, Fresh Air.

This afternoon, I was seriously jumping out of my seat at my 3pm meeting - I couldn't wait to get outside into the perfectly cool early-spring breeze, catch up on last week's Real Time, and break in my new sneakers. This is the first time I've walked home from work since October, but I made it in record time: 40 minutes! It's supposed to rain tomorrow and cool off for the rest of the week, but I can't wait until i can do this everyday.

Walking to and from work is not only good for me, but also great for my wallet. Instead of spending $60 on a monthly subway pass, I load (from a pre-tax deduction from my paycheck) a flat amount of about $60 to start. At the end of the month, I decide whether I need to load any additional money or not. Historically, I spend about $25/month on the subway when I don't have a pass, which means I'm saving an extra $35 each month for 8-9 months of the year, an annual savings of about $300.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking about walking or biking to work recently. Do you find that you're hot & icky when you get to work? Or do you change clothes at work?

CSA Box Score said...

I really don't think it gets too bad by the time I get to work, though some balmy summer days are an exception. Some ways to combat this are to keep a stick of deodorant at work, or as you mentioned, wearing gym clothes to work and getting changed there. Good luck! :)