Please help and advice on a pending job contract

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Hello all and one, quick blurb so you dont get bored with the start of this.

Graduated in july 09 2.2 Beng Hons Product Design and manufacture (loughborough). pretty much been bumming it at home since then,with temp work in between. Applied for a few grad schemes > rejected. Recently applied for a product administrator role at a small Custom Door manufacturer in Hitchin Herts(~20 miles above london). Had an interview today went really well got offered a job on the spot, heres the snag tho, still live at home with my parents in East Sussex which is 90 miles away.

I said to them deciding factor is whether or not i can find somewhere to live and easily relocate on the salary given £17000. Got till about wed/thurs to give them a decision, and then some more time after that if i say yes to sort out a place to live. The reason im interested in this job is that they are a very niche company who have expanded last year to new premises, and are again in 2011 to new bigger premises, so quite a successful small company. When i was speaking to the interviewers(2), one of them had tripled his pay after 3 / half years working there, and the other one had doubled his pay after 1 year (30k).

The thing is im struggling to make my expenses work (with a 1 bed flat) without literally having 20 quid left over each week with what to save making things very tight if car breaks down etc..

Expenses/month as follows ( some of these are speculative ie gas/electricity
Car Insurance £115
Mobile Phone £35
Credit Card £ 11
Rent (lowest) £450
Council Tax £~100
Leccy £30
Gas £30
Bt L.L £11
Internetz £20
tv licence £12
food £160

Total £974 Wage = £1122
Left over £37/week for anything like petrol/beer/chewing gum crap like that
Could scrap car insurance if i found somewhere closes enough to walk/cycle.

Leccy and gas as estimates, if not paying gas then could substitute that for water? Council Tax is an unknown at the moment, need to phone up and see how much circa £450 month C.T would be in Hitchin. Problem is aswell that most of the cheap places are unfurnished and i really have no money to get me started and don't know what the fudge to do.

I have a really good feeling about this job, the workforce is under 30 apart from the director, the company is expanding its business all the time getting new contracts = more money and the pay will get better if i work hard once the pay review comes in 6 months time.

What would you guys/girls do in a similar position , im sure many of your have had much experience whilst being in a similar position at some point in your life. This is the first job I have applied for that i haven't been rejected even before the interview stage!
 
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... but I wouldn't ask for a pay rise. I reckon your gas and electricity will be slightly lower than your estimates too. The phone contract could be changed to pay as you go. I would try and make it work, it's not easy getting a job at the moment.

Rgds
 
I was thinking about house sharing, after all was in a house for 2 years outta 3 at uni, while i loved it, the people were students and loved going out all the time, but i did like my personal space to do what i wanted to do, i cant imagine it would be so easy finding like minded people like me LET ALONE hot women hehehehe
 
lower phone contract
No TV (licence go bye bye)
Get a cheaper to insure car. 115/m is silly money.

unfortunately phone is contract 18months(renewed about 6 months ago) so still another year or so left, even tho i only use like a quarter of my allowance(damn my urge to get an n95 so many moons ago!!)

Car unfortunately, is a 1.4 R reg clio, certain legal infractions exist so that is pretty much the cheapest insurance i can get/month. Plus for some reason fully comp was cheaper than 3rd party WTF direct line?
 
Expenses/month as follows ( some of these are speculative ie gas/electricity
Car Insurance £115 - Get a car with lower insurance costs, or sell it altogether.
Mobile Phone £35 - Get a cheaper contract, or go pay as you go if you can. Check how much of your text/minute allowances you actually use.
Credit Card £ 11
Rent (lowest) £450
Council Tax £~100
Leccy £30 - Seems a bit high.
Gas £30 - For a flat it'll probably be a bit lower.
Bt L.L £11
Internetz £20 - Who is your phone contract with? If you move to Orange you can get unlimited web for £7 a month.
tv licence £12
food £160 - You can easily cut this down if you learn to cook and are prepared to buy cheaper ingredients.
 
Share a house, if the company is as good as you say then a rise will be coming quick enough!
Gotta sacrifice some things to have others. Get close enough and sell your car and buy a bike/bus pass.
 
Expenses/month as follows ( some of these are speculative ie gas/electricity
Car Insurance £115 you dont need a car in london
Mobile Phone £35 get sim only 200 mins £10 400mins £15
Credit Card £ 11 get rid of it
Rent (lowest) £450
Council Tax £~100 find a share accomodation and say only one lives there
Leccy £30
Gas £30 thats too much for gas
Bt L.L £11
Internetz £20 you can get cheaper much cheaper ie £20 line rental and internet with free calls.
tv licence £12 you dont need to pay that
food £160
btw water bills but you dont need to pay that aswell.
 
I would say that you'll probably need to share to be able to do this and still afford to be comfortable.

Also you seem to have no contents insurance listed which could be a false economy.
 
Get rid of the car altogether or just keep your clio untaxed / uninsured at home and move somewhere within walking / bus distance of the new job.
Problem solved for the short term.
Once wages increase and you are settled with your actual outgoings, you can re-evaluate the purchase / insurance of a car .
 
Do it and follow Scubascorpions advice, get somewhere close enough to walk/bus into work regardless of how garbage for the first year.

You only live once, while you're there you can always keep your eyes open for overtime or even other jobs in the area. Congratuations on being offered, now accept it and get on with the job!
 
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