Budgeting for a year in London

philip1427

Hi all,

I am a medical student studying in Belfast from Northern Ireland.

In a year's time a have the opportunity to spend a year at Kings College London to study for an intercalated bachelors degree in Imagining Science.
As you can imagine, living costs will be enormous in comparison to living in NI.

How much will I need to budget a month to live in London???

Here is a breakdown of how I am thinking of financing my year:

- JOB

I work as a dispenser in Boots which I can transfer to a London branch. I would get 9.75 an hour and would like to work 15 hours a week. So this would bring in around £630 a month.

- PARENTS

I am really blessed that my parents saved when I was young in order to pay for my university fees. In NI that's about £3900 a year so my parents would still be willing to contribute this amount to the £9000 english fees.

- Investments

I won't go into too much detail here but I make around £8000 a year from a small business and investments from the money I made from it. So that's around £650 a month.

- NHS

Currently the NHS (in NI at least) pays for medical school tuition after your fourth year. So in essence I won't have to pay another year of £3900 when I get home.
However I have to make up the difference of the £9000 for studying for a year in London which is around £6000.

- Savings

I work hard over the summer so I have been saving for this opportunity for awhile. So I have about £3000 saved.

In summary

Job: 630
Investment: 650
Parents: 433 (divided by the nine months of studying)
Savings:£330 (divided by the nine months of studying)

I've estimated that iI would need around £20,000 to live in London. With around £1200 a month to live and £9000 for uni fees. Is this estimation right?

If my estimations are right I am short around £200 a month....

Candyapple

Whereabouts in London would you be living?

How much will your monthly rent be?

Have you calculated the cost of travel / food / bills / social life into your monthly budget?

EachPenny

It is really difficult to say much about living costs without knowing more about your lifestyle and what you plan to do while you are in London.

What kind of living arrangements are you considering? Where you live and who you live with will affect not only the cost of rent and bills, but also the cost of travel.

Will you be living in 'survival mode' - rarely going out and eating basic food, or will you be eating out/takeaways and enjoying the nightlife?

philip1427

At the moment I am unsure as to where I will be living.
It seems university accommodation will be around £200 a week which would leave me £400 month to live on!
In terms of living style, I am not an extravagant person but at the same time I don't want to eating supernoddles overnight! I won't be doing takeaways but I would like to do I decent shop buying meat and fruits/veggies.

philip1427

The uni halls are 10 min walk away from classes so travel costs won't be too much

Candyapple

You could live quite frugally on £400pm especially if it's just you.

Have you tried making a budget?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

EachPenny

philip1427 wrote: »

At the moment I am unsure as to where I will be living.
It seems university accommodation will be around £200 a week which would leave me £400 month to live on!
In terms of living style, I am not an extravagant person but at the same time I don't want to eating supernoddles overnight! I won't be doing takeaways but I would like to do I decent shop buying meat and fruits/veggies.

If you can manage to get a place then university accommodation is usually a good idea, especially if you've not lived away from home before. It may sound expensive, but if it includes all bills it gives you a relatively fixed cost to be able to budget for. You'll also find it easier to meet people and socialise - but that may not be such a good thing if you are on a budget

You might find cheaper in private rentals, but the costs are often less predictable and you might have to travel some distance to find somewhere cheaper. A friend's medical student son found 'affordable' housing in Hackney, but faced an hour's journey each way on the bus to get to and from his placement. It isn't much fun doing that at 1am!

If you intend to buy and cook your own food then supermarket prices will be similar to any other part of the country. However, getting to a supermarket may be a problem. In central areas people are more likely to use 'metro' sized shops in which the range is more limited and prices are higher.

I'm assuming you aren't planning on having a car and driving

philip1427

EachPenny wrote: »

If you can manage to get a place then university accommodation is usually a good idea, especially if you've not lived away from home before. It may sound expensive, but if it includes all bills it gives you a relatively fixed cost to be able to budget for. You'll also find it easier to meet people and socialise - but that may not be such a good thing if you are on a budget

You might find cheaper in private rentals, but the costs are often less predictable and you might have to travel some distance to find somewhere cheaper. A friend's medical student son found 'affordable' housing in Hackney, but faced an hour's journey each way on the bus to get to and from his placement. It isn't much fun doing that at 1am!

If you intend to buy and cook your own food then supermarket prices will be similar to any other part of the country. However, getting to a supermarket may be a problem. In central areas people are more likely to use 'metro' sized shops in which the range is more limited and prices are higher.

I'm assuming you aren't planning on having a car and driving

Thanks for your advice. I do have a car but I think I'll be leaving it at home for the year.

EachPenny

philip1427 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice. I do have a car but I think I'll be leaving it at home for the year.

Yes, the car is unlikely to be an option. I don't know the exact situation with the locations you might be looking at for university accommodation, but it is almost certainly restricted on-street parking. Even if you are eligible to apply for a resident permit the cost is exceptionally high! There is also the congestion charge to think about, plus your insurance premiums would be higher (probably) living in London.

Luckily public transport is pretty good and relatively cheap so long as you don't pay cash for fares - get an Oyster card as soon as you can and learn about the discounts available as well as 'peak' travel times, and 'capping'.

The TfL website has good maps, especially those showing walking and cycling. Before making a journey by tube always look at whether it is feasible to do it by bus or walking instead. Tube travel in Zone 1 is best avoided if you can - travelling a single stop in Zone 1 and paying cash would cost you £4.90. Bear this in mind if you have friends and family coming to visit - warn them in advance to pay using a contactless debit card, or else maybe have spare Oyster card(s) the family keep and use for any visits.

badger09

Have a look at kcl.ac.uk also links to KCL students union website. Both have advice on estimated costs, budgeting etc.