That's £400 more than I spend!
STOP, THIEF! *blows whistle*
FAO Londoners - salary to live in London (and enjoy yourself)?
- Thread starter TS7
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STOP, THIEF! *blows whistle*
Soldato
You don't have to buy clothes every month to have a monthly cost of buying clothes. If you buy £120 of clothes in one month and none for the next two, you've still spent £40 a month on clothes.
Sounds like stating the obvious, but it's a mistake lots of people make when budgeting to leave out spending that isn't a standard monthly amount. Clothes is such a great example because people think 'oh I'm not a frequent shopper' so forget about it. But it's easy enough to buy 4 shirts for £100, a pair of trainers (£50) and a couple of t shirts (£30) and boom, even if you don't buy anything else for the next 2 months, that's 3 months spending @ £60/month!
Man of Honour
hehe
Ok a slight exaggeration - but I seldom buy many clothes. I'm not fashion conscious. The only clothes I spend a bit of money on is suits and shirts for work. The rest of the time, I wait for things to be threadbare before I consider changing!!
Soldato
pmsl
Define comfortably?
On that sort of salary you'd either need to live with at least one other person, or live in a tiny studio flat.
To live fairly comfortably in or around the London area. You'd need to be earning around £50k or around 3k (take home) per month. Anything less and you could be struggling.
Man of Honour
that's the clincher - it's so subjective.
Some people have more modest tastes/expectations than others.
Soldato
comfortably from my pov.
with 40k I could easily afford to live where I want(and it is not central) and have enough money for all my needs.
"comfortably" as freefaller said is a very vague term, if your idea of comfortable is zone 1, eating out and long friday/saturday parties then yes 40k will not be enough.
Soldato
that's the clincher - it's so subjective.
Some people have more modest tastes/expectations than others.
I guess you're right.
Fact is on a salary of 30-40k I guess you could live comfortably in a 1 bed studio apartment. I personally couldnt/could not that lol.
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that's the clincher - it's so subjective.
Some people have more modest tastes/expectations than others.
quite
another point to add is that there are plenty of students living in London, they manage to get by OK
tis very easy to burn through money when you're earning a good wage but it doesn't take much to save money and still do plenty of things when on a low wage or when you've not got a wage
I'm fortunately in a position now where I've got a lot of savings and mortgage deal that works out cheaper than renting a room but I could easily cut my expenditure while still getting to do plenty of things. Using public transport instead of taxis would save say £80 - £100 a week for example, planning a weekly shop and choosing more carefully where to shop could probably save £40 a week. The bars you go to, clubs you go to... when I first moved to London and was in between jobs I'd meet friends for pre-drinks in a sam smiths pub (less than £3 a pint), I'd go to a free club night in the old tea warehouse in Shoreditch, I'd use night buses and the tube to get around when in central, I'd shop carefully - buy rice, pasta etc.. could still go out 3-4 nights a week even when on no/low income - was on JSA for 4 weeks at one point when between jobs several years ago.
I could easily do that, I reckon I could do 20-25k in a flat share and still socialise a lot.
Soldato
True story.
Living in London vs. commuting in from the Home Counties is the difference between playing with my son for an hour before and after work vs. hardly seeing him at all during the week.
But, yes, the price I pay for that extra time is an extraordinarily large mortgage.
Associate
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- 25 Sep 2016
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"It depends".
It depends on what standard of living you want to achieve, and whether you are solo, or a couple, or a family.
Sure, a solo student can flat share with 4 other randomers and could do so on a very low income, but if you want space and/or privacy you need to up the budget considerably. So, my answer would be a range form £20k to 6 figures.
It depends on what standard of living you want to achieve, and whether you are solo, or a couple, or a family.
Sure, a solo student can flat share with 4 other randomers and could do so on a very low income, but if you want space and/or privacy you need to up the budget considerably. So, my answer would be a range form £20k to 6 figures.
I live in Zone 2, near to canary wharf - large place as flats go. Anyways, my total bill run comes to about 2.5k every month.
My spend on 'non' essentials not covered by above is about 1 to 1.2k/month, and I enjoy a fairly decent social life I think, without being silly.
It's all relative isn't it? When I first moved down south I moved to Richmond in Surrey - and was on about 12k a year (was mid-90s). I loved it there, although I do remember money being a struggle.
As a side note, I've seen a lot of my friends move here for a few years to 'experience' London and then move back north. I totally understand it. Now and again when doing the 'HEY! Look what you COULD have!' thing I get the odd twinge, but the thing is now I consider London my home. I love it here. I'm a City kid who likes to walk out of his frond door and everything be there. I like to be able to walk to work when I want or have to (I work from home mostly), and I like to be able to avoid the rush hour crush commute.
As much as people go on about 'how much more *insert whatever it is here*'.... Well, this is my home, and I love living here. The money thing is kinda incidental. Costs/income I mean.
My spend on 'non' essentials not covered by above is about 1 to 1.2k/month, and I enjoy a fairly decent social life I think, without being silly.
It's all relative isn't it? When I first moved down south I moved to Richmond in Surrey - and was on about 12k a year (was mid-90s). I loved it there, although I do remember money being a struggle.
As a side note, I've seen a lot of my friends move here for a few years to 'experience' London and then move back north. I totally understand it. Now and again when doing the 'HEY! Look what you COULD have!' thing I get the odd twinge, but the thing is now I consider London my home. I love it here. I'm a City kid who likes to walk out of his frond door and everything be there. I like to be able to walk to work when I want or have to (I work from home mostly), and I like to be able to avoid the rush hour crush commute.
As much as people go on about 'how much more *insert whatever it is here*'.... Well, this is my home, and I love living here. The money thing is kinda incidental. Costs/income I mean.
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Yep - if you think living solo is expensive in London, wait until you're raising a family
hehe
Ok a slight exaggeration - but I seldom buy many clothes. I'm not fashion conscious. The only clothes I spend a bit of money on is suits and shirts for work. The rest of the time, I wait for things to be threadbare before I consider changing!!
once a year my firend bulk orders stuff from asos for me and we try it all on then i pay her back lol
I think this is probably the case for many people in London. I get the odd urge to pack up and swap my 3 bed flat for a bigger place in the country, but at this stage a lot of it comes down to comfort and convenience. Everything I need is within a 5 minute walk from me, and although there is more noise and bustle I also find it very straight forward to enjoy myself in London. There are pros and cons, and everyone looks for something different in a permanent base.
I lived in Fulham in 2006 on £17k a year and still managed ok, but the opportunities to really develop a career in London are unparalleled in the UK. For instance, two of my friends have recently gone free lance in the respective careers and could both almost triple their previous permanent salary in their first year of doing so.
Associate
I was looking in an estate agents window last weekend when out in Highgate. A half decent 4-bed family home costs ~£1,000 per week to rent or £1,200,000-£1,600,000 to buy. Highgate isn't even that great so would be at the bottom of the list of places I'd want to live if I had to live in London.
Personal experience, I moved to London in 2010 on a £32k salary. That allowed me to live comfortably in Bounds Green (zone 3 in north London) in a one bedroom ground floor apartment with a dining kitchen and a private garden (usual two floors house conversion). Rent back then was £880pcm, the landlord is now asking £950/£1000pcm to the current tenants.
My definition of comfortably means eating out at lunch most days, easily commute to work (tube), the occasional weekly dinner(s) and weekend drinks with friends having internet and owning a car.
It worked for me and I also saved about £250/mo. It's doable if you keep an eye on things but as many others already said, it's very situational and personal.
My definition of comfortably means eating out at lunch most days, easily commute to work (tube), the occasional weekly dinner(s) and weekend drinks with friends having internet and owning a car.
It worked for me and I also saved about £250/mo. It's doable if you keep an eye on things but as many others already said, it's very situational and personal.