Kevin-

>I work 180 miles from the house. I get up at 4 and arrive at the ofice at 7. I leave at 6 and get home at 8 or 8:30. I'm in the car 4 hours a day. I work four 10 hours days and I am off on friday. Gas is costing me close to $700 a month just to get to and from the office.
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>Option                    Pros	                                   Cons
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>...........
>Hotel reimbursement	  Reduce or eliminate my gas costs a few   Expense for Company. More time
>                         days a week. Writeoff for Company.       away from my family.
>                         Less long drives. Close to the office.
>...........
>

May I assume that you do not sleep at work or while commuting? Then I will infer that if you're home for about 8 hours, that you're likely sleeping for most of those hours.

The way I see it, staying in a hotel two nights a week might enable you to pack your 40 hour week into three work days (sounds stressful), thereby increasing your family time and reducing your overall commuting costs.

Plan B: Drive in on Monday, work longer, hotel overnight, start earlier on Tuesday, quit earlier, and drive home. Take Wednesday 'off', and repeat the Mon-Tue routine on Thu-Fri. Cuts your gas costs in half which covers some of the hotel costs.

Sometimes you have to spend money to 'buy' time with others and to improve your sanity, whether or not the company reimburses the costs. IMHO, quality family time it ain't unless the quantity is there to make it.

Just some ideas - take 'em or leave 'em.

HTH,