40K Salary In London - Does It Get You Far

Joey122

Hi All,

Can anyone help me out here?

Imagine you earn 40K a year as salary in London and after student loan and tax your take home pay is £2100.

Can anyone help me understand what my budget would be living an average life ?

How much should I set aside for accommodation and food and travel and so on?

If anyone has first hand experience that would be most appreciated

ad44downey

You might get a cardboard box down on the embankment for that sort of dough but not much more.

brazilianwax

Well, I have staff that manage in London on half that. They live in shared flats and bring their own food to work, but manage to socialise and save for holidays, etc

40k should enable you to rent a 1 bed flat somewhere not too grotty, get to and from work (its £100 per month for a 2 zone travelcard) and eat.

Depends entirely on your lifestyle. If you live on beans on toast it'll cost a lot less than smoked salmon and caviar!

brazilianwax

Hang on a sec

You already live in London????

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=10496477#post10496477

what's this thread for then?

terafarma

It's going to be one hell of a hard life mate. A decent accommodation alone will take a fair chunk of your salary, trust me. However, with that type of salary you wouldn't have to struggle too much though with the bare necessities of life if you cut your coat according to your size. Hard to work out a budget in this uncertain time, as the price of everyting is sky-rocketting. Petrol, fags, booze, groceries, etc. Name it, its gone up.

Joey122

What I d like to know is how a single male in the mid 20s would budget on that salary?

What would be accommodation reasonably ? 1 K a month?
Food? 250?
Travel?100
What else do I need to budget for and how do I work out what should be used for this?

tinkerbell84

Joey122 wrote: »

What I d like to know is how a single male in the mid 20s would budget on that salary?

What would be accommodation reasonably ? 1 K a month?
Food? 250?
Travel?100
What else do I need to budget for and how do I work out what should be used for this?

Still not found the thanks then, Joey? The button or the word? :rolleyes:

brazilianwax

How long's a piece of string??

Depends on so many things (as already stated). What kind of accommodation do you want? How much electricity do you use? Do you go out a lot? (socialising is expensive) Do you feast on steaks or cheese sarnies? Where do you want to live?

Where do you live now?

System

Joey122 wrote: »

Hi All,

Can anyone help me out here?

Imagine you earn 40K a year as salary in London and after student loan and tax your take home pay is £2100.

Can anyone help me understand what my budget would be living an average life ?

How much should I set aside for accommodation and food and travel and so on?

If anyone has first hand experience that would be most appreciated

Hello Joey,

I earn just over 40k and live in London.

I share a converted Victorian garden flat with a work colleague in a good area (Finchley) and pay £575 rent and £70 council tax p/m.

Gas / Elec comes in at £29.50 p/m (dual fuel & direct debit) , Water £65 every six months.

Landline and Broadband just under £10 p/m.

I spend between £140 - £160 p/m on grocery shopping (ie. food, toiletries, household stuff).

Luckily I get free travel from my employer so can't comment on that.

I like to socialise alot (pub / eating out) and do so comfortably.

I hope this is of some help and gives you an idea of basic costs. Obviously figures will vary person to person and you have to hunt around for the best deals on your services and utilities.

And of course all my figures shown above are half of the full cost (except shopping) because I share.

I couldn't possibly afford to buy in Finchley, I'd have to move to the home counties for that!!

Good luck mate

UNDERGROUND

KiKi

UNDERGROUND wrote: »

Hello Joey,
Luckily I get free travel from my employer so can't comment on that.

UNDERGROUND

I suspect you and I have the same employer...!


Joey - yes, of course you can manage on £40K, just don't live somewhere that costs £1800 a month in rent.

£2100 a month is extremely live-able. My total bills are £1300 a month, with a high mortgage. You can save a fortune on that salary if you budget well.

KiKi

System

KiKi wrote: »

I suspect you and I have the same employer...!

Damn, did my user name give it away!?!

UNDERGROUND