CARPOOL CURE

The majority of us leave work excited to go home, relax and refresh. However most of us don't leave the office take two steps and walk to our front door, the average daily commute is about 90 minutes round-trip. This trip isn't free flow traffic either its rush-hour, when the most accidents occur, drivers are more aggressive and a lot more irritable, taking out their daily frustrations on fellow motorists. Not only do you take it out on the road, it follows you all the way home, even if you leave work in a good mood, the drive leaves you flustered and then your partner is on the receiving end.
My daily commute is approximately 75-80 minutes round trip and I thought I was doing everything right to avoid road rage, I was getting my coffee at the drive-thru, I was listening to upbeat music and just taking my time, not really letting anything get to me.......but things still got to me. People who didn't signal, don't look when merging, stop short, drive 20 below or over the speed limit, park over two spots in the lot. ARGH! There was no way I was about to revolutionize the traffic situation but I had to find a way to deal so that I didn't end up dumping on my boyfriend when I got home.
The solution arrived when a coworker and friend of mine suggested that we carpool together, she lived about 20 minutes further from work than I did so it made sense.  I did a quick breakdown of the costs of commuting:

• Approx $80/ month for gas
• $160/ month parking pass

and just divided that by two, now we were both saving money on our commute, this alone didn't change how i felt about driving into work, but it did feel good knowing that it was now at half price ; )

Everyday on our morning commute we would discuss dilemma's or issues or where we saw ourselves in 5 years, these little discussions to and from the office alleviated so much frustration and that was the missing component. This whole time I just needed an ear and vice versa, its amazing the conversation that flows during a routine drive. Our carpool know has a third member and our commute is even cheaper now down to a third of the original price.

Today Queen Bee recommends carpooling! Its easy to do just follow these steps:

1. Determine how many of your coworkers live in relative proximity to you
2. How many would be interested in a carpool
3. Of the interested parties whose vehicle is more fuel-efficient, this will be the car you commute with.
4. Determine the approx weekly fuel consumption and any other costs such as parking lot fees or tolls
5. Add up the numbers and divide by the number of people in your carpool.
6. Pick a meeting place, somewhere with free parking is best for those who need to drop off-their vehicles
7. Decide when payments will be received, I find end of the week is best.

A lot of you reading this may think OK that's a great way to carpool but what does it have to do with my relationship. That's just it, every activity affects your mood throughout the day, and therefore the tone in which you address your partner. Anything you can do to relieve stress will pay dividends!!

The first thing I used to do when I got home was complain about the drive, now I'm relaxed, that weight has been lifted for me. I encourage you to give this a try and let me know how it goes!