Decisions and more decisions

I often wondering what goes into a decision, whether it is driven by logic, emotion, or chance there always seems to be an element of uncertainty. We almost always don't know what will happen in the future. Some decisions are fairly simple but others are almost insanely difficult with out a lot of analysis.

One of the biggest decision that I have been thinking about is whether or not to move out of my apartment into a place that is cheaper to live. Rent in the area has gone up and my place has gone up by $25, which is extremely lucky compared to other apartments in the area. Although my ideal rent would be closer to about $300-400 less than what I am currently paying.

I have done some looking around the surrounding area for cheaper places, but they only can offer a discount of about ~$100 compared to what I am now paying for a single bedroom. They are also all a bit farther away and not in easily accessible locations or new freeways. Many apartments are farther away from shopping malls, supermarkets, and gyms.

So I had a relatively easy question but the answer was more complicated when I dug into the cost benefit analysis of relocation to a new place. One of the stickler was that it most certainly would have to be farther away then where I am now. So first I looked at the cost of gas and realized that by moving 10 miles out, I would almost double my gas bill per month. That means to break even I need to move out to a place that would save me ~$140 per month.

Another factor was the time I would spend in traffic each day, which it is currently at ~20 minutes (round trip), but at +10 miles it would closer to about an hour each day. For someone who has driven a lot in LA traffic I can say that I am not spending anymore of my life than I have to sitting bumper to bumper in traffic. I would lose 40 minutes a day for a total of 800 min or 13.4 hours a month, I don't know about you but I can spend that time doing something more productive.

There are more factors that can add in to make it a more balanced analysis but I can already tell that it won't be the massive savings that I was thinking of. I might be better off finding a suitable roommate then moving out of my place but that presents a whole new set of issues. For now I am partly content with my decision to stay at a slightly higher cost but that might be the case a year from now when my new lease is up.