Moving to zone 1 in London, is this enough money?

Edi81

Sounds like you need to start living as though you were in uni now.
You should have more savings and if you do this for the next 3 months

Edi81

Oops! You should be able to save a few extra grand.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Sorry for being thick, but I don't understand why evening study in Zone 1 means you now have to live in Zone 1.

I live in Zone 4, commute into Zone 1 every day; then one day per week trek over to Zone 6 for an Adult Education evening commitment, and a further evening per week have a volunteering commitment that is an hour's travel further out from where I live in Zone 4.

Surely you can get a train back to the suburbs whenever the Birkbeck course finishes at 21.30/22.00?

If you're rubbish with money, moving to the most expensive part of one of the UK's most expensive city and taking on a student loan does not sound sensible.

McCloud1

For everyone asking why I need to live in zone 1...

Due to the nature of my work setup some days I have to work at home, and until around 17:30, meaning I need to be able to reliably get to university from my home door-to-door within 30 minutes, during rush hour, 3 times a week, every week, for 4 years. In any event it's better for me to work at home on uni days because I work with commercial litigators who will try to keep me at the office beyond 17:30 because they work until 22:00, I can't just say "shhhh" and walk out of the door as these people out-rank me.

I appreciate there are some places in zone 2/3 where the journey might be just about doable, but given what I'm taking on here (I'm doing a BSC in computing, so not exactly an easy degree) in addition to an already mentally draining job, it's just not tenable for me to live in a place where I'm making it by the skin of my teeth each time. This is a hard, long road to take and I need to give myself every chance to succeed, otherwise I may as well just go rent a cheap place in the country, work from home full-time, and save to buy property or something. I can't afford to waste these years and fail over something as silly as an extra 15 minutes on the train.

It's not practical for me to work at a cafe or something because I need two large screens to do my job with any degree of efficiency, and in any event I am often on conference calls these days which means I need to be in a quite place, but one where I can be loud.

Believe me when I say I have considered other possibilities, and that I really don't want to live in zone 1, I just see no other way of making this happen short of quitting work and become a full-time student, and I have no idea how I would make that work given I've always had my own income since I was 16.

I appreciate all of the responses, I did not expect to get so many great replies, thanks to all of you for commenting. I will post an updated SoA later based on London-living.

Soundgirlrocks

McCloud1 wrote: »

I don't eat ready meals, but I do eat extremely well as cooking is one of my hobbies, my average Monday-night dinner could be served in a high-end restaurant.

If cooking is your passion then you need to approach cooking the way they would in a restaurant, waste kept to a minimum and get creative, with an eye on the costs.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but the example of your typical meal plan is lazy cooking. Simple high quality ingredients that are relative easy to cook without mucking up. Try new recipes using cheaper cuts that require you to hone your skills. Try learning how to balance spices for the perfect dhal, or perfecting a mushroom risotto, and then learn what the Italians do with the left over risotto (Arancini). You can easily be a foodie on a budget.

westernpromise

TamsinC wrote: »

Blimey - I spend £80 - £100 a week on family of 5! You can do better - cook from scratch, meal plan and buy non brand products! My daughter went to uni in London - £25 a week for food.

He won't have time to cook from scratch and in a studio probably won't have space either.

PasturesNew

If you were on the dole you'd get about £300/month after rent/council tax were paid and BEFORE bills are paid.

So £800/month, AFTER bills have also been paid, would appear to be a King's ransom.

The trouble you'll have is not living on £800/month, but "preventing yourself from overspending".... which is the same issue if you've £800 or £8000.

You need to learn the art of being tight and to question yourself every time you want to spend money and be honest with yourself whether you can spend that money, or if it'll push you over your spending limit. Separate yourself and your life from what you think everybody else is doing.... e.g. "everybody" isn't lunching from Pret every day, e.g. "everybody" isn't going out every Friday night to expensive restaurants, buying booze and getting a taxi home. Once you realise that it's not "everybody" doing these things all the time, but only 1-2 people .... then you'll realise that you don't need to do these things either.

McCloud1

I'm researching various areas in zone 1 for my SoA, and the more I look at it the more I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and get a room mate. There are some beautiful, spacious 2-beds in zone 1 where my share of the rent/bills would be £1,200ish. An extra £500 spare a month should make things a lot more comfortable, and I wouldn't be stuck in a room. My own place in my home town would only be a few hundred cheaper.

I have a former friend (we haven't hung out in a year for no reason other than the fact we share no interests) who works bang in the center of the City and wants to move into zone 1 with me, I've been fobbing him off because he's loud and bit obnoxious, he's a commodities trader and is the personification of the stereotype.

Everyone keeps telling me I'm an idiot if I move in with this guy given my goals and need for focus, but at least I can set some ground-rules with him and I've known him long enough that I feel comfortable telling him when he's being a !!!!.

phwmua

By the sounds of it you've got a good plan.
It's great that youre financially secure but still have interests in studying to further your career (assuming theyre related in subjects).
You seem responsible enough to manage your money, even if it doesn't go to plan.
Start reducing your outgoing now.
Before you commence your degree, why not try introducing a new way of spending to get used to.
Also you mention credit card bills; could you afford to pay a lump sum off before you have less money to play with?
If you're working from home, you'll have to ensure your new place is suitable. Nobody likes staring at four walls all day, especially if its small and shoe-box like. Think about that too.
In terms of entertainment, look local for things you're interested in. Does your new area have any facilites that might be of interest as an alternative to returning to your old area which cuts costs again. Do more at home.
It sounds easy to me, but I don't live in London.
Personally I live from around £800 after bills pm in a busy UK city and manage just fine to afford to drive, live, holiday and fund further education. It'd do-able.
Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Why not delay uni by a year, with that 1800 in spare income a month pay all debts off and save for a year. You could easily pay your debts of in 5 months or less, and then for 7 months be saving a good £2k a month - that would give you £14k in savings (plus bonuses etc).

Are their other options for learning you could do?

I self-study for a lot of my training, I have done courses for SANS, GDPR, TOGAF etc to further my IT skills, and this has helped me massively progress. Will the degree get you a job on that much money without the experience?