Living in London, Expenses Questions:

[sharonregina]

Hi There-

I'm considering moving to London need some basic living expenses questions answered:

-- How much does a decent apartment run, something in a neighborhood I'm not scared to walk in during all hours. (I'll get to location once it's official!)

-- What about utilities?

-- What kind of a salary should I be looking for? Again, something decent, I know this goes by job and all, but what can I live comfortable: rent a space, party, possibly go to University. All I know about pounds is that 1 of 'em equals 1.46 of our dollars .

Much obliged,

Sharon

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"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." -voltaire

[dreamtemple]

To live in London is damn expensive! My flat (appartment to you) costs £800 a month and it's not even a nice area. My advice to you would be to live slightly outside of London as friends of mine do: they are 20 mins away by train and it's a lot cheaper. Plus it's quiet when they need it to be.

A decent salary? Anything at all, really does depend on what you get up to at nighttime. Everybody I know lives okay on roughly £12 - £13 thousand a year. But once again that's outside of London.

It's VERY expensive here and it's generally not a nice neighbourhood too, unless you get to South Kensington!

good luck! And petrol (gas) is damn expensive here, although I don't know how much cause I can't drive.... hang on, I'll go ask my brother... he says about 76p for a litre.

hope this helps

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Stay Twisted

[sharonregina]

i figured i would have to live in suburbs you pretty much covered my questions!

Thanx!

Originally posted by dreamtemple:

To live in London is damn expensive!

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"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." -voltaire

[zzitchyzz]

I would like to add my two pence worth. I relocated here to London last December from San Francisco. The dood above is right, live outside of London. I am like 20 minutes away from London, in Hayes, Middlesex. The hood I am in is quiet...have had no incidents at night. In fact, I am the only one making noise with my DJing , no one has complained, guess they like dance and northern soul. Anyway, rule of thumb with pounds between dollars, pounds may seem less but u are really paying double the dollar value. LONDON IS EXPENSIVE. Better to buy records online or just get the records that are hard to find in the states, cuz records here are double what u pay in states. My advice is take the TUBE and also the bus, driving here can be a chore, esp. when everyone drives on the left hand side of road. I am renting a flat for 300 pounds a month, which is pretty good compared to the doods 800 above. I have no problems getting into London, however. It is only like 20 minute TUBE ride. Electric...I hardly pay any. I leave it to my neighbors downstairs, I pitch in every now and then, it is pay as you go...u can put in any amount towards electric depending how far u want to go...if u want more...u pay more...just enough...u pay what u can. GAS, yes it is hella expensive, thought the bay area was bad enough. I have even noticed the TUBE rates triple the BART trains fare. But, when u gotta go...u gotta go to LONDON. Hope I have given u extra heads-up. Cheers Mate!

[kate100]

I think i would give slightly different advice re: where to live - if i were you i wouldn't go too far outside london, especially if you plan to go out at night a lot. I used to live out in the suburbs and it was very difficult to get home at night and took a long time, as well as costing more for trains and so on during the day. i would try to get somewhere within zone 2/3 on the tube network - i don't think it is necessarily true that rents get higher the further you go into the centre of London, although the very centre is obviously sky high so are a lot of the nice places further out. it is often possible to get a shared zone 2 flat for £3-400 per month.

I don't know what kind of work you are looking for but if it was temp work you can get anything from £7 to £15 per hour, depending on your qualifications etc. I know London is more expensive than a lot of cities, but i think that you do get paid a higer rate - correct me if i'm wrong...

This advice is all from my point of view because i like going out a lot and don't care too much about noise etc. if you would rather somewhere quieter, you would probably be better off following the advice of the people above and going to the suburbs.