Spill the beans... What are your tips on becoming a Londoner?

shzl400

As mentioned by Minerva-windsong, the South East - Lewisham, Catford, Brockley, New Cross, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Crystal Palace is a great place to look.
- New Overground connections to Canary Wharf.
- 10-15 mins to London Bridge
- Easy access to the South Circular (ok, maybe that's a negative!)
- Loads of beautiful green spaces, woods etc.
- the fantastic Horniman museum
- Loads of great local coffee shops/bars/restaurants esp. in Crystal Palace
- For shopping, avoid the Oxford St. crowds and head straight for Bromley or Croydon

Despite Phil and Kirstie often raving about this part of town, prices are still affordable. I should shut up now!

Augustus_the_Strong

London is a great place for free activities - museums, open-air events, historic buildings, parades, the Royal Parks, window-shopping, etc. Get used to walking around and you'll see a lot more.

Don't use the tube - get a bike and ride it everywhere - you'll keep fit and save lots of money. It's worthwhile investing in some wet-weather gear and getting used to cycling. People are put off because they think it's dangerous but cycling in London is a lot safer than anywhere else in the country as there are so many cyclists and drivers are well-used to them.

If you are looking to live cheaply, DON'T EAT OUT! Learn to cook, buy some nice ingredients, invite your friends round. The most expensive home-cooked meal is likely to be cheaper than the cheapest cafe/restaurant meal, and a lot nicer too.

Beware of Groupon etc discounts - yes, they are cheaper than full price, but I realised everything I'd got on a Groupon deal was something I wouldn't have thought of doing otherwise, so I've unsubscribed.

London's the greatest city in the world, and a fantastic place to live. Enjoy it.

libertino

mvk0016 wrote: »

• Doing big supermarket shops is cheaper than picking up the odd item every day from the corner shop or Tesco Metro. Order online or if you like to choose your vegetables/meat, find a supermarket close by and go once every 10-15 days, and call a taxi to bring you home, you'll pay about £5 for short distances, i.e. max £20 a month which is much cheaper than having a car.

How is that cheaper? Of course buying in bulk is cheaper, but you don't need to do that 2-3 times a month. If you shop more regularly you have less to carry each time and might be able to do it by foot/bike/bus (depending how close you live to a supermarket). I've never understood the "big shop." You either order too much fresh food that it ends up going off before you can use it all, or you run out of fresh food/milk and still have to do a small shop anyway, so you might as well have done two small shops instead of one big shop and one small shop.

[Deleted User]

I can only echo the bike comments. Get a cheap bike, get some reasonable waterproofs and you can go anywhere. The TFL site will help you out with bike friendly routes keeping you off the main roads where possible.

Also if you want to treat yourself for food out, you can get some fantastic meals at the independant places. I live north london and there are some incredibly cheap authentic restaurants around. Go for Turkish at all the Kurdish places up from Dalston, go for incredible curry from south india at the two Rasa's in Stoke Newington, go for super fresh and cheap Vietnamese down shoreditch high street.

Go to galleries, museums, little theatre's, use Top Table (I recommend sticking with your original budget and treating yourself as opposed to using Top Table to save yourself money.).

Sign-up to Time-Out email and read it!! It has all sorts of suggestions you would never hear of.

'Mazing city.... enjoy

SJO_2

Alot of people overlook the City for a night out, however you wouldn't believe the drinks deals you can get! Bearly a day goes past when I am not given a voucher for a free drink in some bar or other!!!!!
There are also alot of places with very good happy hours (albeit chains but beggars can't be choosers!) including ones where you get 50% off everything between 5-8 including Champagne!
Late Night London bars are good one's to try (sorry couldn't post a link) - they are a bit chainy but good deals in the City and the West End. Also the Slug and Lettuce run some very good drinks promotions - again City and West End. I like to drink Champagne so these 50% deals are good for me, however I do find that late night London put their prices up every so slightly so that you aren't getting such a good deal on the 50% off. However a new one I have found which offers very good deals is Balls Brothers. Again 50% off everything but their prices aren't inflated in the first place.

xfive71

When moving anywhere in London, check out the Council tax rates and weigh this in your monthly rental budget. Westminster and Wandsworth are the cheapest. For eg, I worked in Paddington but was living out in Acton. Found accommodation in Central London. Whilst the rent is higher, it was within walking distance from work (saved £100 a month tube fare) plus Council tax was half of that in Acton. All in all, saved some money.

Badger_Lady

I just moved to London a few months ago (from South Wales) so I'm learning fast! Although I have to confess I still go home at weekends, so this is really a worker's take on things:

Accommodation

I can't praise these guys enough - if you're an open-minded person who can live light and is willing to try out alternative accommodation, apply to live in one of their buildings: http://uk.cameloteurope.com/508/0/available-now-for-live-in-guardians/adventurous-living-and-working-as-a-live-in-guardian.html

It's by far the cheapest way to live in London and you get some bang for your buck as well as fantastic neighbours. I pay £90 a week including all bills to live in a huge loft in Zone 1. In theory I could be given 2 weeks notice to move on, but if that happens I'll get priority on any of their other buildings.

Nights out

Love the Audience Club: https://www.theaudienceclub.com
Also television audiences: https://www.applausestore.com
... and always keep an eye on other free stuff going on: http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/whats-on.php?show=FREE

Eating and Drinking

Well I love to mystery shop. Fully expenses paid meals at restaurants, drinks at nightclubs... it does take a bit of work to get into though and I know there's a separate thread on that in the forums. But since moving to London I've found it easy to eat for free using:
https://www.retaileyes.co.uk and
https://www.mysterydining.co.uk

I'm afraid I do ascribe to the system of shopping little and frequently... but in the reduced sections every evening at Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer. I've come to the conclusion that most Londoners round here must be snobs, 'cos there are tremendous bargains there every day! I just pick up an M&S ready meal here, a luxury Sainsbury's dessert there... the only risk is getting fat :eek:

Transport

But I can eat all that fatty food because I walk everywhere! When you visit London, you assume that every tube station is miles apart. Actually, once you get used to the centre, most things are walkable. I now walk from Paddington to Great Portland Street (30 mins) every day, then take a detour down to Oxford Street, past Buckingham Palace and back up to Paddington again. Or take a long walk through the beautiful Regent's Park. Everything here's flat so walking and cycling are easy-peasy!

liz545

Get a cheap bike - or a £45/yr Boris Bike key - and cycle everywhere. It's honestly not as dangerous as everyone makes out, and it'll save you a fortune in fares. Check whether your local council offers free/cheap bike training and cycle maintenance classes; it's usually open to people living or working in a borough, so you can do it twice ;-)

Get yourself a wheely bag and get down your nearest street market, for bargain fruit & veg. Last week I got 10 peppers for £1, Asda can't beat that!

Join a group - London can be really lonely, and there's a lot more to life than just going for drinks. There are sports, social and cultural activities happening all over the city, often they don't cost much, they're a great way to meet new people, and it'll keep you out of the shops/pub. So Google rowing/fencing/W.I/glee clubs in (your area) and find some like-minded people!

Use Londonist.com, Timeout.com and local forums to find out about cool new events. Book launches, opening nights, and private viewings are fun, usually free, and there may even be a glass of wine in it for you!

Bishopsgate Institute, City of London library, the Guildhall, and all the universities often have free/cheap lectures, events and courses running.

SailorSam

I'm not a Londoner but something i've seen advertised a lot that we never have here in Liverpool are free nights out to go and watch some of these Tv shows getting recorded.

Biggles

mollyeyre wrote: »

That should be BORACIC as in boracic LINT .... SKINT!!!!! Huh! call yerself a londoner???

She'd heard someone say it once but didn't know how to spell it.
;-)