Surviving in London on £1000 a Month
- Thread starter bum
- Start date
I like how you waited till after you'd bought to sit down and figure this out
In my defence, I have always knew and thought about this. Only posted this thread as I'm getting the key this Friday
What?! You have me confused.
You said you have 5 times this amount spare when you were a contractor so you had 5k spare a month after rent? Why did you give that up for permanent employment that leaves you with 1k after mortgage?
You said you have 5 times this amount spare when you were a contractor so you had 5k spare a month after rent? Why did you give that up for permanent employment that leaves you with 1k after mortgage?
Soldato
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I can recommend YNAB (You Need a Budget) to help you get a budget/plan setup so that you can see where everything is going and thus not go overdrawn/get in debt. It has a 34 day free trial so give it a go and see what you think. I would also recommend watching the support videos and if possible attending a live webinar which is also free and you can also win a copy of YNAB. It's been great for me as while not in debt I always struggled to 100% know if I would have enough to pay the CC off and would never have enough to pay for car insurance etc in full.
Now after over a year of using it I have a lot more savings and can pay for all my insurances in full.
Now after over a year of using it I have a lot more savings and can pay for all my insurances in full.
Sorry I wasn't being clear before. When I said 5 times I meant 5 times to my current £700 disposal income (after bills), which makes it around 3.6k on a monthly basis after tax.
However, as I am working as a contractor, there will be time when there's no work, such as Christmas and New Year.
Also, I would need to rent. Based on my current need I'll have to rent at least a 1 bed apartment, which in London it would cost around 1.2k a month minimum (unless of course I live like a student again where I share houses with people)
So I changed my job from being a unstable (but well paid) contractor to a permanent employee.
Being permanently employed means it'll be much easier to get a mortgage and the job is much more stable.
I have about 750 a month after bills/rent/travel living in london, and I live comfortably, I dont really save anything, and my only money for holidays comes from bonuses at work, but its certainly not a struggle
If i wanted to save more I certainly could, I eat out a fair bit and have a decent lunch (£5-8) 2 or 3 times a week
If i wanted to save more I certainly could, I eat out a fair bit and have a decent lunch (£5-8) 2 or 3 times a week
Associate
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- 83
This thread annoys me,
How the hell do you live in london and have £700+ spare each month but have no idea how much things cost in the real world.
Some people have it easy
How the hell do you live in london and have £700+ spare each month but have no idea how much things cost in the real world.
Some people have it easy
Also, you were on £5000+ take home a month and you still needed help from your parents to buy somewhere?
As mentioned above I wasn't really paying attention to what I was spending, and generally not taking responsibilities for the past few years.
Bit complicated back story there. I was getting paid well indeed, but I was not living a normal life either.
I did not save up and I actually ended up with debt.
There were also time where I have been unemployed, living off savings (to be fair it wasn't savings it's more like a week's pay) for months.
It sounds all fancy and nice how I am having a high income but if you are not careful you could end up at a worse place.
*EDIT* I only managed to get mortgage (for my new apartment) after I went being a permanent employee.
Surprisingly, I haven't achieved much. Let's see where all the money went:
- Dining out / take aways few times a week.
- Visit supermarket random times of the week with the missus buying whatever we wanted.
- Booking holidays to Europe on impulse
- Spending a hundred quit a week buying drugs
- I was getting paid on a weekly basis being contractor. It's very very easy to blow money away when you are thinking, 'oh I'm getting paid another £1000 again by Monday' coming every Friday.
Turns out these things would cost you a fortune. Money spent, gained nothing but shallow pleasure.
So to sum it up, my life was a mess for the past few years. gf sticked around, helped me get back onto my feet. That's why I've settled down and trying get my life back on track.
Use me as a bad example.
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That sounds alright to me!
If you had a good time doing those things then I don't see any issue with it. The grass always seems greener on the other side if you are not happy at any point in your life but thats just because the other option is a best case fantasy in your head.
What was / is your job?
If you had a good time doing those things then I don't see any issue with it. The grass always seems greener on the other side if you are not happy at any point in your life but thats just because the other option is a best case fantasy in your head.
What was / is your job?
Nothing really that significant. I am a producer working in advertisement.
And as a contractor I'm not even getting paid that much, about £200ish day rate.
*edit* by not much I meant that standard day rate for freelancers usually go around £300.00 in my industry, with senior level goes up to £400 a day.
we live and learn. You can survive on less than that a month so you will be fine. Just next time you go to buy something that is not bare essentials just think *do i really need it?* it's all part of growing up! I used to somehow end up with no money every month and now end up with more money on the same wage even though i have twice the fixed expenditure