I live with my husband in a 2 bed house that we bought (mortgage) 2 and a half years ago, we were able to get the mortgage when my husband had a better paid job, not long after, he decided to go go back to uni which meant we survived on just my stipend. im in the 2nd year of a funded phd. I travel to my uni nearly 1 hour on the bus either way, and if im lucky, i get a lift from my other half, it is just 20 mins by car. We are in a good area for schools, we have a 3 year old who will start school so we chose the better area vs. living right next door to my uni. At the moment, my partner has a 1 year contract and he to commute about 1 hour (in rush hour) to get to his place of work. But this is for this year, next year he could be closer or even further away.