Cost of living in London

Bench Press

S.M.B. wrote: »

A house share can be a lot more than £600 from what I come across. I'd put that at the bottom end of the spectrum.


I assume they are talking about living and working in some nearby area and then having the opportunity to travel into the centre at weekends. Something along the lines of a Guildford or a Crawley.

Guildford is more expensive than London!

Larry Wildman

To be honest, I think that these figures are too low.

Someone on £30k/€36k in Dublin would have a very nice standard of living.

Someone on £30k in London would have to count their pennies and dare I say it humiliate themselves by shopping in Iceland.

I lived in London for around two years earning multiples of that and still found it expensive.

biZrb

Ive lived in London earning less than 30k and found it manageable, you just have to be clever with your money

theteal

Lads, I don't know how you're burning your money but my first 18 months here I was on a princely £15k-17k. While I obviously wasn't living lavishly, I certainly wasn't counting the pennies, just living smart, even managed a cheap week in the sun that year. Granted there were very few nights out in central London but I'm probably getting a bit old for that lark at this stage. In saying all that, I do live 20 minutes outside London and I can easily get a pint for £2.50 - could get it for less but I wouldn't be too fond of some of those places!

Now that I think of it, I'm still living to pretty much the same budget with all the extra income going towards to the cherished wedding fund!

Grandpa Hassan

biZrb wrote: »

Ive lived in London earning less than 30k and found it manageable, you just have to be clever with your money

I agree. I know entry level teachers who clubbed together to rent a beautiful house near the river in Putney, and they have a good life. They aren't overly extravagant....but that's not necessary

silvervixen84

Nothing humiliating about shopping in Iceland, or Lidl it Aldi. ;-) You can certainly live a good life in London on £30k if you manage it properly.

theteal

silvervixen84 wrote: »

Nothing humiliating about shopping in Iceland, or Lidl it Aldi. ;-) You can certainly live a good life in London on £30k if you manage it properly.

Yeah, I don't get this humiliation of Iceland thing. I don't shop in Iceland because apart from peas and icecream I don't buy/consume frozen food but I'm definitely not averse to a snoop around when killing time in town. Aldi and Lidl on the other hand are savage for fresh fruit and veg. . .and chorizo, lots of chorizo!

ballsymchugh

theteal wrote: »

Yeah, I don't get this humiliation of Iceland thing. I don't shop in Iceland because apart from peas and icecream I don't buy/consume frozen food but I'm definitely not averse to a snoop around when killing time in town. Aldi and Lidl on the other hand are savage for fresh fruit and veg. . .and chorizo, lots of chorizo!

i don't see it as humiliating, it's just unhealthy. aldi and lidl are a world of difference from iceland. but they don't sell purple snacks...

callaway92

Been on a good wage for nearly the last 3 months and have really found it's hard to "save" money. (Not that that was the plan anyway)

You really do end of burning through money if you want to have fun for yourself. I'm going through about £200 at least a week on leisure alone, and that's with travel already paid for me. From food/drink, cinema, sports, theatres, shopping, it's very difficult to not spend hard. Of course all of these are avoidable costs, but the reason you live here is to not just work, but to enjoy everything that's on your doorstep. No point living here if you're just about surviving after bills are paid for.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but I'd never move over here permanently without having a guaranteed well paid job.

Fysh

Larry Wildman wrote: »

To be honest, I think that these figures are too low.

Someone on £30k/€36k in Dublin would have a very nice standard of living.

Someone on £30k in London would have to count their pennies and dare I say it humiliate themselves by shopping in Iceland.

I lived in London for around two years earning multiples of that and still found it expensive.

This may be a lifestyle thing, but when I moved here 7 years ago I was on a hair above £30K and I didn't find it any kind of a struggle to either live comfortably or eat decently.

Granted, I knew folks back in Cork who'd manage to blow €400 a month just on boozing, and I've never gone for that lifestyle here (I'd imagine it's easy to spend an awful lot on nights out, depending where you go). But I certainly disagree that London is unaffordable on £30K. As long as you're reasonably copped on about living and renting within your means it's grand. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't spend more than 1/3 of your take home pay on rent - so on 30K as long as you keep yourself to ~£650pcm you should be fine for the rest.

danotroy

callaway92 wrote: »

Been on a good wage for nearly the last 3 months and have really found it's hard to "save" money. (Not that that was the plan anyway)

You really do end of burning through money if you want to have fun for yourself. I'm going through about £200 at least a week on leisure alone, and that's with travel already paid for me. From food/drink, cinema, sports, theatres, shopping, it's very difficult to not spend hard. Of course all of these are avoidable costs, but the reason you live here is to not just work, but to enjoy everything that's on your doorstep. No point living here if you're just about surviving after bills are paid for.

Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but I'd never move over here permanently without having a guaranteed well paid job.

You mention that enjoying what is on your doorstep is essential and you admit that much of your spending is avoidable. I don't think heading to the cinema is something that unique to London. Spending money on theaters museums and the likes is. I went to the cinema with a mate last week to see guardians of the Galaxy and spent £45 in a heart beat and I only paid for my ticket. Travel there and back £6, pint £5, ticket £12, popcorn/drinks £7, pint and pub meal after £15. That's a serious amount of money for a standard Wednesday nights activites. I can tell you I wont be wasting that money again.

theteal

danotroy wrote: »

You mention that enjoying what is on your doorstep is essential and you admit that much of your spending is avoidable. I don't think heading to the cinema is something that unique to London. Spending money on theaters museums and the likes is. I went to the cinema with a mate last week to see guardians of the Galaxy and spent £45 in a heart beat and I only paid for my ticket. Travel there and back £6, pint £5, ticket £12, popcorn/drinks £7, pint and pub meal after £15. That's a serious amount of money for a standard Wednesday nights activites. I can tell you I wont be wasting that money again.

You'll probably want to stab me in the eye for this but my local cinema costs £4 a ticket. Living in the sticks ftw!

seachto7

£200 a week on leisure? How would you break that down? I am assuming you would spend average £50 a week on a night out?

callaway92

seachto7 wrote: »

£200 a week on leisure? How would you break that down? I am assuming you would spend average £50 a week on a night out?

100% yes, if not more

seachto7

Ah well, that's different. I wouldn't be one to go out every week anyhow. I would go for beer once every few months usually. That's just me though.
I would consider spending £50+ on a night out every week a luxury.

S.M.B.

I'd find it hard to spend £200 a week on 'leisure' and I don't really try to limit my weekly spend in any way.

FTA69

danotroy wrote: »

You mention that enjoying what is on your doorstep is essential and you admit that much of your spending is avoidable. I don't think heading to the cinema is something that unique to London. Spending money on theaters museums and the likes is. I went to the cinema with a mate last week to see guardians of the Galaxy and spent £45 in a heart beat and I only paid for my ticket. Travel there and back £6, pint £5, ticket £12, popcorn/drinks £7, pint and pub meal after £15. That's a serious amount of money for a standard Wednesday nights activites. I can tell you I wont be wasting that money again.

If you're dropping fifty bucks on a trip to the cinema you're doing it wrong. That is a lot to be spending and isn't a "typical weekday excursion" for most people in my opinion. I pay a tenner for my ticket and £2.5 for nuts and diet coke which I bring in myself.

Obviously if you're going out for dinner and drinking alcohol as well that's going to put up the price hugely. Personally I think it's the booze that is killer here. On a typical weekend I'd drop £150 on going out but now that I'm back boxing and cutting down hugely on the sauce I'd spend £60 on a weekend out. And that includes going for grub and hanging out in the pub on a Sunday as well.

seachto7

Spending £150 on a night is madness in my opinion, especially if you're watching the pennies after it. Fair enough if you have the money to burn, but I'd be having a serious chat with myself if I was pissing that much up against a wall every weekend.

If I was spending £60 on a night out every week, I'd be having a chat with myself as well, and weighing up what else I could spend £240 a month on and have some return. A simple solution would be to not go out every week if you're worrying about spend.

I'm probably old and cranky though. But, I could see, in a place like London, how easy it would be to burn £60 on a night out. Is it a case of having to be strategic about where you go?

FTA69

Sixty pounds on a proper night on the tear is nothing to be honest. I spent £140 at the Pogues there a couple of months ago. On a proper session you're looking at £90 really. The trick is not to have those nights very often. Or at all really.

seachto7

Now you said it.

LadyMayBelle

Youve got to be smart. Things like having membership at cinemas saves you money in the long run if youre a regular, keeping an eye on twitter/facebook for free tickets or discounted tickets, using night buses on your oyster Im not a big drinker, barely even a drinker so £60 on a night out for me is nuts, it had better include dinner and dessert at that rate!

No humilation of Iceland; they sometimes do good offers on cereals and Innocent juices, and good quorn offers. Have a LIDL beside where I live, no shame at all in going there and getting fresh fruit and veg every other day.

BrokenArrows

How much you spend on a night out really depends on the individual person and where you go.
Grabs a bag of cans and heads to Primrose Hill!!:D

FTA69

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

Youve got to be smart. Things like having membership at cinemas saves you money in the long run if youre a regular, keeping an eye on twitter/facebook for free tickets or discounted tickets, using night buses on your oyster Im not a big drinker, barely even a drinker so £60 on a night out for me is nuts, it had better include dinner and dessert at that rate!

No humilation of Iceland; they sometimes do good offers on cereals and Innocent juices, and good quorn offers. Have a LIDL beside where I live, no shame at all in going there and getting fresh fruit and veg every other day.

In fairness, it's easy to have a cheap night out if you're not drinking; at the end of the day you're not buying anything are you?

Glad someone else shops in Iceland, I'm on a good wage and I'm in there every week. £1.60 for 20 large eggs? £2 for 400g of cheese? £3 for 500g of lean beef mince? Jackpot as far as I'm concerned. That coupled with the veg bowls in Watney market and the Halal butchers keep me well fed for f*ck all.

Harps

£200 a week sounds crazy to me for leisure, from Monday to Friday my leisure spend is basically zero and even at weekends I'd struggle to spend more than £50 unless I had a night out.

I have a company vehicle with a fuel card so naturally that saves me a fortune on travel but even with travel I reckon I could live comfortably on 25k

SarahBeep!

danotroy wrote: »

You mention that enjoying what is on your doorstep is essential and you admit that much of your spending is avoidable. I don't think heading to the cinema is something that unique to London. Spending money on theaters museums and the likes is. I went to the cinema with a mate last week to see guardians of the Galaxy and spent £45 in a heart beat and I only paid for my ticket. Travel there and back £6, pint £5, ticket £12, popcorn/drinks £7, pint and pub meal after £15. That's a serious amount of money for a standard Wednesday nights activites. I can tell you I wont be wasting that money again.

That's madness, I pay Cineworld £16 a month for unlimited movies and it's really helping save cash while being able to go out and do something social.

I'm an entry level teacher so after tax I'm on less than £20k and I find it very hard to save money. Looking for a new place to rent and the pickings are slimmer and more expensive than this time 12 months ago.

FTA69

£5 for two sirloin steaks in Iceland?? Greatest morning of my life so far.

danotroy

FTA69 wrote: »

If you're dropping fifty bucks on a trip to the cinema you're doing it wrong. That is a lot to be spending and isn't a "typical weekday excursion" for most people in my opinion. I pay a tenner for my ticket and £2.5 for nuts and diet coke which I bring in myself.

Obviously if you're going out for dinner and drinking alcohol as well that's going to put up the price hugely. Personally I think it's the booze that is killer here. On a typical weekend I'd drop £150 on going out but now that I'm back boxing and cutting down hugely on the sauce I'd spend £60 on a weekend out. And that includes going for grub and hanging out in the pub on a Sunday as well.

I totally agree. What I was trying to convey was that simple things can get very out of hand here if you let it. I don't go for after work drinks with anyone from work as I see it as an expensive endeavor. The Pub my colleagues go to has no pints for under £5. If i went for an hour id easily drop £20. I am savvy with my money but when I let my hair down this city is like a hoover in my pocket nothing is cheap.