Commuting to London for work

[serious_saver]

I have a second interview next week for a job in London and I live in South Wales.

It's a great job and an amazing opportunity but it doesn't have a massive salary so I'm really unsure if I would take it.

Initially it is only a six-month contract and my OH will still be working in South Wales so I would want to travel back on the Weekends whilst finding somewhere to lodge during the week.

Does anyone have experience of doing a similar routine or any tips on keeping the costs down?

BTW the job would be based in Camden.

[browneyedbazzi]

I've done lodging in the week for work and it worked out well for me - London can be be a really difficult place to find lodging though because it's a really competitive marketplace (made worse at the moment by lots of landlords capitalising on the influx of people for the Olympics).

If the job is with a big-ish company it might be worth asking them if they have a staff notice board or similar where you could advertise looking for a spare room. There may be other employees with a spare room that would like a bit of extra cash but never really got around to advertising etc. That way you avoid the situation of having to interview for lots of places or having to pay open-market rent - a friend of mine found lodging this way and it worked out really well.

[cazziebo]

I do that now, commuting from Scotland.

The lovely people on the properties board pointed me towards www.mondaytofriday.com and www.spareroom.co.uk ; These are websites mainly for Monday to Friday lets. There's a government scheme which enables householders to let out a room in their house during the week and as long as rent is below a certain threshold, they don't have to declare the rental income.

I pay £400 pcm for a self contained studio and this includes all bills and fortnightly cleaning. It's lovely, really nice area, and very handy for travel to work (SE1)

I've loved it. The journey is a bit tiresome but apart from that London is a great place to be. It's much harder for the OH being left at home (although he wouldn't move in a million years)

[serious_saver]

Thank you both, that's wonderful advice! I'm feeling a lot better about the whole idea now

[cashbackproblems]

So really you are not asking about "commuting to london for work"!!

[getmore4less]

Cost out the travel carefully.

Consider the OH coming to london some weekends and be tourists.

it shares the travel load but also give you a sense of "holiday time".

if you find the right accomodation it will be a cheap way to "do" London

Try to assess if the job might end up with any weekend working,

[DKLS]

I have done the London commute for about a year now, the biggest variable costs is the trains, even with booking in advance the prices can vary enormously. I would love to meet the person who wrote the pricing algorithm!
Spareroom is great for finding mon-fri places.

Also get yourself a Camden Wedge card, which can give you up 20% savings and food, drink and haircuts.

[westv]

Originally Posted by cazziebo

I pay £400 pcm for a self contained studio and this includes all bills and fortnightly cleaning. It's lovely, really nice area, and very handy for travel to work (SE1)

If you're still around do you mind saying how far you are from central London? I've been looking for a M-F flatshare within a mile of EC3 but can't see anything below about £600.