Living situation - London - options

moomin82

Hello Fellow Debtbusters,
Hope you have all had a Merry Christmas? I am currently reassessing my living situation. I moved back in with my parents a year ago to focus on busting my credit card debt. I now have the last £500 to go, and have started looking at moving into shared accommodation. The other option is to try to stick it out with the parents for a bit longer to build a deposit for my first home. I still pay my parents rent and bills but it is a bit less than what I would pay if I moved out. I get on OK-ish with them yet missing my independence and Christmas exacerbated the feeling that I need to be more distant from my family. I got a new job recently and am earning roughly £1,700 a month after deductions. I don't mind the renting experience, I do long for my own pad! I live in Zone 4 London. Is anyone in a similar boat? Anyone moved back home to save money? How did you find it? I am a single 34 year old.

another_casualty

Congratulations on almost clearing the card:)
The trouble with finding a deposit is , that you need to save a lot.
That will take time . I would imagine you would need £25k + just to find somewhere decent .There are legal fees and stamp duty to consider also.
Very hard, if you are single . If you're not, then split it in half I guess.

You're in zone 4? Zone one tends to be the hub of everything , so fares can be an issue .
If you get on with your parents, then you could relax for a while and not rush into anything until you feel ready.
I assume you have pension deducted from your salary. Maybe, you could have your season ticket deducted from that as well, when you are employed by the company long enough.
Clear the card , and enjoy having no debts in the meantime.
Hope it works out

moomin82

I think I am going to set a new savings target for 2017, like 10K in 10 months. I could only do this if I live with my parents 1-2 years longer. I feel like a loser but need to make some sacrifices!

[Deleted User]

You have a new job, it would be advisable to get at least 3-6 months savings behind you, and then perhaps save around 6 months rent, many 30 somethings are still living at home, it has its downside but its cheap.

moomin82

Thank you, that sounds manageable. There was a point I thought paying off credit card debt would never end, and now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I feel late in life for only starting to think of my longer term plans now but I have had an unsteady job history and the previous debts. I have dipped again recently and used my overdraft to tide me over when I first started the job (this is after feeling stuck in temp jobs and a short period of unemployment), however as long as I avoid frivolous short-term spending I think I will be ok.

sourcrates

Serious question from a Yorkshireman who hadn't been to London for over ten years.

What the hell is zone 4 ?

sentientpoet

It does take a bit of a change in mindset to break previous habits, but having cleared your credit card debt (well done for that!) you have already proven to yourself that you have the discipline. All you need to do now is transfer that same discipline to building up the emergency fund and savings.

The one advantage of staying with your parents for a little longer, aside from perhaps having a little more money each month to put in the savings jar, is that it might act as a great motivator to resist the frivolous spending and hit the next goal quicker

Edited to add: I rent in zone 4 as it is convenient for my work - moving home to my parents would have made huge sense in my own debt-clearing journey from a cost-savings point of view, but it was unworkable from a location point of view otherwise I would have done it!

zippygeorgeandben

Hello moomin82 - First of all, huge congratulations on nearly busting the debt!
When you say zone 4, is that east or west London? I live in zone 4 (Snaresbrook - central line). A desirable area where 1 bedroom flats go for £350k upwards. Rental prices for one bedrooms are roughly £1300 pcm (anyone who lives out of London will be wincing at this!) If I had the option to live with my parents to save money, regardless for a deposit or not I wouldn't think twice about it. London is an absolute bubble for property and totally different to anything outside the M25. Property prices are absolutely ridiculous in the capital for a variety of reasons which, quite frankly, I'm not going into as this isn't the forum for that.
Me and my partner are renting in a desirable area, we can afford our monthly repayments, we ignore anyone who says it's 'money down the drain' (normally comments from people who were lucky enough for a helping hand from their parents when younger) and we enjoy where we are.
If we want to own our own property, that will mean us leaving London which we don't want to do and live somewhere with less job prospects for one of us.
Good luck in your decision and I agree you should set yourself a target!

another_casualty

sourcrates wrote: »

Serious question from a Yorkshireman who hadn't been to London for over ten years.

What the hell is zone 4 ?

Back in the early '80s , when the glc was still active ,ken livingstone designed a system where tube fares became cheaper by making'zones' . For example , zone 1 goes from west end / central London ( say Piccadilly / Oxford Circus/strand / Holborn etc ) ,to say
Elephant &castle /borough etc.
Then zone 2 would probably be camden / Kentish Town etc.
Clapham would probably be zone 2 .
Then when ken was mayor of London , he designed the Oyster card which includes buses and trains .
The Oyster card is an excellent pass . If you travelled for one stop on the tube without one ,and back again it would cost a fortune .
With the Oyster card , you can go within the zone anytime you want with no extra charge . If you go into another zone , say zone one - 3 then you must buy a ticket before you travel to cover that.
One annoying thing though: All of the ticket offices are being closed on the underground . The railway is trying to do the same .
Also ,on buses :you have to have either a valid pass or a contactless card. Cash is not allowed anymore.
Hope that helps . I stand to be corrrected etc

Forgot to mention: being in twickenham , I was in zone 5 .
Working in central London is zone 1 . This is very expensive for my poorish salary
at the time when I was working .

abby1234519

another_casualty wrote: »

Back in the early '80s , when the glc was still active ,ken livingstone designed a system where tube fares became cheaper by making'zones' . For example , zone 1 goes from west end / central London ( say Piccadilly / Oxford Circus/strand / Holborn etc ) ,to say
Elephant &castle /borough etc.
Then zone 2 would probably be camden / Kentish Town etc.
Clapham would probably be zone 2 .
Then when ken was mayor of London , he designed the Oyster card which includes buses and trains .
The Oyster card is an excellent pass . If you travelled for one stop on the tube without one ,and back again it would cost a fortune .
With the Oyster card , you can go within the zone anytime you want with no extra charge . If you go into another zone , say zone one - 3 then you must buy a ticket before you travel to cover that.
One annoying thing though: All of the ticket offices are being closed on the underground . The railway is trying to do the same .
Also ,on buses :you have to have either a valid pass or a contactless card. Cash is not allowed anymore.
Hope that helps . I stand to be corrrected etc

Forgot to mention: being in twickenham , I was in zone 5 .
Working in central London is zone 1 . This is very expensive for my poorish salary
at the time when I was working .

I used to live in London, moved to Suffolk where you could get a child ticket up to 16. Visited a friend in London and was horrified at being charged an adult ticket at 14. Had a heated discussion with the conductor who told me it wasn't his fault that the only public transport in Suffolk was a tractor....

another_casualty

That's changed now. I believe kids get free travel now on the buses so they can smash things up at will.:)