40K Salary In London - Does It Get You Far

rathga

Agree with the above posts. £2100 should be fairly comfortable.

For me, I'd estimate roughtly:

Rent: £600
Council tax: £60
Bills: £50
Travel: £100
Food/coffee at work: £100-£150

Leaving you something like £1,100 a month to split between food, savings, pension, and going out.

freddy08

I work in London and earn £40k aswell but I live in West Sussex.

Have you thought about commuting? Rental and house prices will be considerably cheaper, it will more than make up for the travel costs.

chuckley

very very easy! greater london would enable you to save money as its cheaper than central.

morg_monster

I earn 25k. I'm paying off a student loan too.

I rent a flat with my bf in Balham, we each pay half the rent (total £953 pm). We put an additional £125 a month in a joint account which covers elec, gas, water, council tax, all food shopping, broadband, BT, tv licence, contents insurance... basically everything (no sky though, and not car expense), and once a month a meal or cinema out. That leaves me with about £750 a month. about £80 of that goes towards travel (interest-free season ticket from work, zone 1-2). I save £250, £46 goes on something similar but more fun than the gym, and the rest is enough for me to enjoy life. I don't go out a huge amount I have to admit, never to clubs but pubs once a week maybe, we eat out or get a takeaway about once a week. I have a car and pay for insurance, tax, MOT and service for that myself, OH and I split any repairs needed. I probably spend over the course of a year £70 a month on clothes. We usually have a couple of european short breaks a year, plus either a couple of weeks somewhere hot/interesting, often out of Europe.

So £40k, you will be more than fine, unless you are a SERIOUS partier or have a big drug habit to fund. Or want to live in a house all by yourself maybe. If you are young and single or like to go out a lot, I would recommend being within a half hour tube journey of central, lots going on there, although for going out there are other areas out a bit which are more fun IMO and cheaper (EG clapham). Being on a good night bus route home is invaluable, tubes stop about 1ish now, will save you a fortune on taxis. If you are going to be in central london quite a bit, then living out in greater london is a false economy with all the time and money you will spend on travel.

Although, if Boris Johnson wins the Mayoral election today, I wouldn't bother coming here at all, he's going to turn us into such a laughingstock. :-(

londonuk2008

Although, if Boris Johnson wins the Mayoral election today, I wouldn't bother coming here at all, he's going to turn us into such a laughingstock. :-([/quote]

Could'nt agree more!!!

ejh18

All those previous posters who don't think its possible to live on 40k either don't know what they're talking about (i.e. don't live in London so just assume its astronomically expensive), or do but have incredibly expensive life styles. I live in a nice part of SW london which while certainly not cheap, is not central so not ridiculous. These are rough monthly expenses for one person sharing a two bed flat:
Rent - £650
Council tax - £25 (tip - wandsworth's cheapest in the country)
Train season ticket - £45 (tip - try to travel to work by train rather than tube and get a season ticket through the train company rather than a Travelcard, althought that doesn't include travel in zone 1 so check this out)
Tube travel - £25.00
Gas/Elec - £22
Water - £7.50 (get a meter)
TV license - £6
Food shopping- £90
Lunch/snacks - £25
Phone/Broadband - £15
Mobile - £20
Gym - £50
Socialising - £180
Insurance - £5
This is not really a "scrimping and saving" budget but quite a comfortable life style. However, London can actually be quite reasonable on a budget - I have actually quoted my boyfs outgoings as I'm a student so can't spend as much on socialising/lunch/gym etc. I get by on about £1000 a month. I find there's loads of free things to do that keep me occupied. Also, if you have friends in London try to live close by to avoid the need to meet up in the centre. When you do venture into the west end, you will soon weed out the best value places to eat and drink, there's no need to fall into the "tourist trap".

If you want to live on your own, one bed flats in my area are around £1000 a month, and bills would obviously be double. I don't really think you'll be able to buy anywhere on your own though, unless your wages rise. Good luck - I think London's a great place to live!

rathga

ejh18 wrote: »

Council tax - £25 (tip - wandsworth's cheapest in the country)

... and conservative controlled since 1978. Odd that

Hope all you moneysavers voted for boris yesterday!

Riq

My friend lives in a shared house and she earns £19,000 and has a fantastic time.

You wont be living the highlife, but you will survive.


London is no more expensive than Manchester or Leeds, the only difference is accomodation.
Actually living is the same no matter where you are.

ejh18

rathga wrote: »

... and conservative controlled since 1978. Odd that

Hope all you moneysavers voted for boris yesterday!

And I think they're doing a very good job considering what they charge. Streets and parks seem clean, recycling is easy peasy, although they're apparently not so hot on affordable housing. I'm sure it will stay tory.

I'm not sure how I feel about Boris getting the job, I think Ken's done OK, and Boris's policies seem to lack substance. Saying that Ken's a bit of a hypocrite - all those far-flung "business trips". I'm a greenie so I'm not really a natural labour or tory voter. It would be a shame if Boris scrapped the proposed changes to the congestion charge. The number of Chelsea Tractors round my way is appauling. You live right by a tube AND a train station people! Although something does need to be done about the northern line before 9am.
It will be interesting to see what happens tonight.

morg_monster

I voted tory for our assembly member - yes Wandsworth council is great and tory-run.
I WOULD have voted tory for mayor too, just NOT for Boris! His policies are flimsy (A no-strike deal on the tube?! Bob Crow must have wet himself!), and I think he is very out of touch with how most londoners live (his plan for affordable housing - households must earn 60k to qualify - how does that work?! that eliminates 80% of londoners!). Plus don't even get me started on the Routemaster thing!

I'm not particularly pro-Ken, or anti-tory, just anti-Boris!