FAO Londoners - salary to live in London (and enjoy yourself)?

[krooton]

I didn't start to feel comfortable until I hit above £25k, but that still meant house-sharing.

Last year I was still sharing when earning £35k, and as rent+bills was £750 a month, I had LOADS of money left over to enjoy.

Now I live with my gf, and am pumping more in to clearing the mortgage quicker.

 

[krooton]

I don't drink alcohol but I do dine out a lot

Then budget an extra £5k, dining out is hella expensive in London

 

[rojones]

30k in 1990 was a different amount of money to 30k now

Yeh a few sites would suggest 30k in 1990 is equivalent to about 60+k now.

 

[ShortWarning]

For a fairly normal person, zero dependents/other unusual circumstances.

£Min wage - Baffles me how people manage
£15k - Poverty existence
£20k - Tesco value everything, 1 or 2 pints a week. No luxury items
£25k - Pretty passable for most people
£30k - Decent living, can enjoy lots of parts of London but still need to keep an eye on things
£35k - Can get by well without worrying too much about finances
£40k - Might even by able to enjoy life AND save some money
£45k - Able to get as much as most people would want out of London
£50k+ Happy days

For me, this is pretty spot on.

 

[Scam]

I somehow managed to live on 15k in 2014.

renting a house with my brother for 500each rent without bills
cycling to work to save on ticket(175ish/month)
add bills, council tax etc and I was left with around £200/month.

don't ask how but I did fine. Can't say I felt "poor"

That's pretty much what I did for a few years. My room in a shared house was £500 too. I remember spending roughly £20-25 on food per week, no more. That was key. Still had the odd night out!

 

[Spook187]

What's with all the house sharing, i couldn't think of anything worse than sharing with other people apart from my Mrs.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

For a fairly normal person, zero dependents/other unusual circumstances.

£Min wage - Baffles me how people manage
£15k - Poverty existence
£20k - Tesco value everything, 1 or 2 pints a week. No luxury items
£25k - Pretty passable for most people
£30k - Decent living, can enjoy lots of parts of London but still need to keep an eye on things
£35k - Can get by well without worrying too much about finances
£40k - Might even by able to enjoy life AND save some money
£45k - Able to get as much as most people would want out of London
£50k+ Happy days

That's seems an entirely reasonable estimate of the Wages Vs. Quality of Life tiers for London.

 

[Freefaller]

What's with all the house sharing, i couldn't think of anything worse than sharing with other people apart from my Mrs.

Not everyone has that choice.

 

[grudas]

What's with all the house sharing, i couldn't think of anything worse than sharing with other people apart from my Mrs.

how about a neighbor that poops through your letter box twice a week at random times.

Not everyone has that choice.

pretty much, if everyone had the chance to afford a house/flat etc then I'm sure house sharing wouldn't be as popular in expensive cities like London.

 

[nas]

£40k.

 

[dowie]

Good point; having a partner would make things easier as splitting rent/bills etc. But at the minute these plans are for a solo move.

Not really, flatshare would be cheaper. But if you're going to rent a place for yourself that does change things. Really this question depends on your lifestlye. You can easily have fun on a low wage in London. Just means you'll perhaps be getting the cheaper seats in the theatre and a nightbus home instead of a taxi(which will be free/no additional cost on top of your usual travel pass for work).

 

[Xire]

Ive been living in london for 8 years now, started out on 24k flat sharing in a bit of a dive in wilesden - it was a struggle.

Got a new job, for 30k and moved, was then comfortable flat sharing in Wembley.

Now on a much higher earning job but still flat share, purely because I like it and im single (feelsbadman). I see no need to go out and rent a house on my own and have no interest buying property solo.

My advice to you is do it. It totally changed my life for the better and wouldnt do it any other way.

 

[ultralaser]

For a fairly normal person, zero dependents/other unusual circumstances.

£Min wage - Baffles me how people manage
£15k - Poverty existence
£20k - Tesco value everything, 1 or 2 pints a week. No luxury items
£25k - Pretty passable for most people
£30k - Decent living, can enjoy lots of parts of London but still need to keep an eye on things
£35k - Can get by well without worrying too much about finances
£40k - Might even by able to enjoy life AND save some money
£45k - Able to get as much as most people would want out of London
£50k+ Happy days

Just so I'm reading you correct these are net salaries?

 

[geekman]

Not everyone has that choice.

Indeed, but almost everyone outside of London earning £30k does have that choice - personally I'd find earning that kind of salary and still having to share a house with someone who wasn't my partner pretty crap.

I've lived in a few house shares and always had great experiences, but little things can get annoying, such as if you like going out then it can be difficult not disturbing others when coming back in late, and equally difficult for them not to disturb you. I'd be happy to put up with that if I was on minimum wage and had no choice, but if you're on £30k you should really be getting some privacy and freedom.

One of the main reasons I moved away from London was that I couldn't get a job paying much more than £30k, and I worked out that by the time I'd paid my rent, bills, travel and taxes I wouldn't have much left at the end of the month.

Different people have different lifestyles obviously, but to make me move back to London I'd be wanting at least £40k with clear salary progression.

 

[Greebo]

According to the inflation calculator on the bankofengland site, 30k in 1990 is £62k in todays money, so no wonder you had a great time

HMM that explains it then. I knew i didn't want to stay in London and would never come back so went to the museums, theatres, shows, restaurants, pubs, clubs, gigs, wine bars, cinema and made the most of my time there. Having no rent to pay (was squatting ) helped plus my work gave me a all zone travel card for free as well so all my travel was free to boot.

Even my employers were good. All of them went to the wine bar on a Friday lunchtime and never came back so after a few weeks they said I could join them but that I needn't go back to the office after lunch so long as i bought a bottle of wine. Fair swap

Once I moved back up North it was another 20 years before I earnt as much money again as London. Just such a shame I couldn't abide living there long time.

 

[Energize]

What's with all the house sharing, i couldn't think of anything worse than sharing with other people apart from my Mrs.

Not everyone wants to live alone, and shock horror you can actually be great friends with your house mates.

 

[Richdog]

HMM that explains it then.

Are you telling us you don't know what inflation is?

 

[dowie]

Not everyone wants to live alone, and shock horror you can actually be great friends with your house mates.

Spook187 doesn't exactly strike me as a social person though

 

[A2Z]

£31k in West London allows me to do everything I want. In a few months when I get my promotion and am on £45k will be able to start saving

 

[Spook187]

Spook187 doesn't exactly strike me as a social person though

lol what makes you think that

I have friends round to my house all the time, i dine out with friends, i go away on trips with my friends, but at the end of the day i like to close the door on all of it and have some spook time