Catch 22 situation with new job

Bossyboots

On the face of it, I can't actually see why you want to take up this job. I agree with ts_aly2000 it needs to be a cracker of a job with numerous perks to compare to your current situation. If it does have all those perks, then I would be surprised if it doesn't include season ticket loan which is quite usual with London job offers.

Living in London is expensive. My son is living in Kensington in a small flat which costs him and his partner nearly £800 per month. He can walk to Uni so is saving on fares. He lives in a reasonably nice area but they are getting very little floor space for their rent. Their managing agent is pretty good though which is a novel experience for him and problems that have arisen have been dealt with swiftly.

That said, I agree that London really is not a wonderful city. I don't know Manchester, but I wouldn't move to London from that end of the country unles it was for megabucks. £8k more does not seem like a big enough incentive to me and most of that is going to be swallowed in a higher cost of living and/or commuting. You might do yourself a favour by going into London on a working day in both rush hours and see whether you could bear to become a sardine twice a day for the small amount of extra money in your pocket.

david_hellier

Unless they offer you in excess of £35k it's not worth moving to London. You can't afford it.

eamon

I agree with all the other posters. If your salary doesn't double then you cant afford it. About 5 years I considered moving to London and I worked out that I would need to double my salary just to stand still. The travelling takes forever and at busy times is horrendous. If you are not already there and or your ideal job is only available in London then don't go.

Eamon

pozalina

Hi,

Firstly, congrats on getting a job offer!

Now, I've lived in both london and up north (leeds, nottingham), and as peeps on here have already said you need to earn a LOT more to live as well down there. It's not just the high rents and travel costs, everything else is expensive too. Pub prices, sandwiches etc. If you forget to take water with you on the tube you'll have to buy some (don't even remind me how hot it gets down there in the summer...!!!) , and a small bottle can be £1 in some central kiosk places.

Money aside, however, and it's a question of quality of life. If you do as most people end up doing and live quite far out of town (I was in zone 3/4) you'll have a long, unenjoyable, stressful commute every day, and will have less free time cos you'll have to leave early in the morning (VERY early if you want to get a seat on the tube) and won't get home til late at night. Personally, I found that London is a great place if you're young and don't have any responsibilities (ie big debts) but the cons outweighed the pros for me by the time I was facing 30 and I couldn't wait to leave after 8 yrs of being there.

I'm not trying to put you off, it's just important that you know what you're letting yourself in for. Do as one poster suggested and spend time travelling round on tubes in both rush hours - AND try and set yourself a time so you can feel the time pressure of being in a rush to get somewhere. Look around at prices of different rentals, costs of travelcards and time you'll spend travelling.

Good luck with whatever you decide - exciting times!

lynzpower

i completely disagree here with whats being said about london being expensive.

i earn not a great deal more than OP earns now, and I pay off at least 400pcm, if not more like 500.

I eat out fairly regularly, we go out for drinks ( not often, but we do do it) and we go to galleries, free festivals, museums, loads of freebies here. It can be expensive like anywhere, if you dont shop around. Im from manchester and I pay the same there for a pint or a bag of chips as I do here. I also know there isnt a great deal in it when looking at houseshares too, I know people paying 650 a month in manchester inc.
Living costs dont have to be high, we are looking at rents, and we have seen LOADS of flats on the internet, 2 beds for 600 pcm, so im sure OP can find something cheap, possibly even cheaper that what he has right now.

PLus he wont need to run a car, that seems to me to cost at least 50pcm from reading SOAs on here .

I do agree with clapton, Im not sure why you are only paying off 100pcm.

climbgirl

I agree with Lynzpower, seems like a lot of non-Londoners posting to me! Yeah things probably are more expensive here, but the salaries are significantly higher. Push for a cheeky salary, as someone said it's easy to negotiate down, not up. Your company will help you with the tube fares, most will do a loan (interest free) so you can buy an annual pass lump sum and it comes off your pay monthly. You'd buy a monthly tube pass anyway, so it saves you a lot in the long run.

It's quite possible to get a nice place to rent for a decent price here, you need to look around so I'd advocate getting a short-term place until you find your feet. Whoever posted the example of rent in Kensington, well, what do you expect?! It's Kensington for crying out loud, of course it's not going to be cheap! There are plenty of places (that aren't complete dives!) that won't cost you a fortune, you just need to spend some time looking. Your company may put you up somewhere for a few weeks if you ask - I doubt you'll get a month though, I got two weeks and I was moving here from NZ!

And there are so, so many things to do in this city that are cheap/free. I can't think of a better place to be in the UK in terms of cheap/free entertainment. It's brilliant. ]

In the end of course, it's your decision. But £30K is more than enough to live very comfortably on in London.

[Deleted User]

I feel pretty well qualified to answer having living in manchester for 18 years and london for over a year now. I've experienced the crush on both the metrolink and the underground.

I moved from a job on 22k in Cardiff to one on 26k in London. I found somewhere to live before moving, but if i hadn't my firm was going to put me up for 2 weeks in a hotel. I also received a grand to assist moving costs. You get your last paycheque at the end of your notice period with your current job.. if you start your new job immediatly then you haven't got a gap in income.

If you live inside zone 3, you won't really need a car. The tube costs about 100 quid a month for zone 1-3 and this also includes the use of buses. How does that compare to the Metrolink, bet there's not much difference. There's a chain of pubs by the brewer Samuel Smith if you miss reasonable priced beers (better than Joseph Holts pubs in manchester).

If you're in your 20s, 30k is gonna be plenty. I eat out a lot (you've gotta try the Gormet Burger Kitchen chain) but there's so much competition eating out isn't expensive. I was scared of the costs, but adjusted fairly quickly.

I like manchester, but there's so much more to do in London

Mirtos

I live in London, and love it. I earn £15000 and that's easily enough to live on - I choose to work a 2nd job, so I can pay my debts off faster, and have so far been paying off £1000 a month. I live in a newly renovated 2 bed flat with my partner in Herne Hill/Dulwich in South London, which is a very affluent (read overpriced!) area, and lovely to live in. Really, it's just a question of budgeting. Most employers will offer you an interest free season ticket loan for the tube/bus, or you can cycle or walk quite easily. I'd say ask for at least 10% more than you would need and negotiate from there. I've lived in Manchester and London, and I much prefer London! Hope that helps. feel free to pm me if you need anything else.
EDIT: Forgot to say that you don't have to use the tube either - I live near a british rrail overland station, and it takes me 15 mins to get in and out of central London! All included in the cost of a standard season ticket that includes tube, bus, tram and river boat as well! Like Lynz I eat out regularly, go to the theatre, cinema, concerts and galleries. I don't live like a pauper. I think London is what you make of it - you have to explore and find the cool things to do and places to go. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else! (I'm from Birmingham originally and prices are much the same there!)

[Deleted User]

Erm, Mirtos, according to the salary calculator on i-resign.com, a 15K salary means £988.07 monthly after tax. Unless you are getting some handout from somewhere and have free rent, how do you pay £1000 a month off your debt?

Mirtos

erm ringo - read the post. I also have a second job - just so I can overpay on my debt. And I sell on amazon and ebay.