Unhappy due to lack of money...

Associate
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that all depends on what you think you are entitled to.

its expensive to run a country, perhaps you need to lower your idea of comfortable?
 
Associate
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Yeah i know the feeling, I pay 1100ish on rent a month, that would be a huge amount for a mortgage if I had the deposit but I like spending money too much so no savings :)
 
Associate
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I know what you mean, I'm struggling to put aside a decent amount of money each month to get a deposit, frankly its depressing too see how long I'm going to have to work to get one. Though I've only ever been bitter about the amount of rent I'm paying, at least with the tax I can understand why i'm paying as much as I am.
 
Soldato
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Renting in London can go from simple to ridiculous very easily. In 2006 I lived in a decent Parsons Green flatshare for £400 + bills - a very good deal in my opinion. Did this for a couple of years before moving into my own 1 bed place in Old Street in 2009 for many multiples of that amount.

Had to save up a relatively significant amount of money for a deposit in order to buy a place with a friend. Without sharing the deposit with someone it would have been a nightmare, and also would have seen us likely buy in a worse area than Whitechapel (which isn't exactly diserable to begin with!).
 
Soldato
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1100 a month on rent lolll

After my monthly expenses, not including rent, im left with under half of what your rent costs.

You are god.
My girlfriend is from Leeds and she has problems with a lot of her Leeds-based friends thinking we're loaded because we live in London. And they can probably guess what we pay in rent (er, it's more than 1,100!). To be honest last I looked you can't rent a 1-2 bed flat for less than 1000pcm unless you go to really horrible area!
Meanwhile her friends in Leeds bought their 30k houses years ago, can't pay more than 300pcm on the mortgage (if anything) and still complain they have no money. How on earth I don't know...
 
Soldato
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Find the Kiwis and Aussies. They always have a huge house share in shepherds bush or clapham. It is cheap as chips and an absolute blast. Granted the place is a dump but these guys are all professionals and struggling to make ends meet like yourself but by working together they have large rooms, a great atmosphere and lots of fun.

They live very well but cheaply. You will make friends for life and enjoy the best bits of London.

These folk are always moving back home so places crop up all the time; I work with a bunch of them and they are awesome to a man!

That should help you enjoy life more whilst cutting costs. London can be a lonely place and having people to come home with and have a yarn is not to be underestimated.
 
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Caporegime
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2 hours from boro to London? It's a straight line to Kings Cross etc, takes 50 mins max. Where in London do you work?

Last time I checked a monthly ticket was around £250. Have you even looked into it?

When did you last check? 10 years ago?!:p It's actually over £500 a month without the 1-6 travel card...

Brighton is indeed around an hour away on the train (to Victoria/Blackfriars/London Bridge) but from having a few mates who live there I don't think it's all that much cheaper. I know there's lots of people who commute to Brighton but the prices are why it's sometimes known as London by the sea.

For the original post - I suppose my first thought would be that if this is a good job which offers good prospects then how long is it until you'll see the benefit of them? It tends to be a lot easier to put up with a less than ideal situation if you're aware that it's for a limited time and you can focus on when it will get better.

True, but then you can live next to the sea and near the countryside and still pay around the same or less than somewhere in an out of the way part of London. That's the reason it is a lot more expensive than it "should" be. People realise that living out of London is nicer (in many ways) and takes the same amount of time to commute daily.

I think the costs are starting to get factored in to some of these commuter belt towns so a lot of places that are right next to a mainline station giving 45min or less to central London will be carrying a bit of a premium. Some people might prefer to be in London anyway i.e. a 1hr commute with London on the doorstep might be preferable to living in, I dunno, Basingstoke or something.

Another advantage of London is a good direct train service to most of the UK, a train of say 2h15 or less gets you to Manchester, Bristol, Exeter, Brighton, Norwich, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool (heck even Paris) etc etc. Depends how quick you can get to the NR station but in broad terms it puts you very 'central'.

I'd agree however that "London" is a very big scope and you'd need to choose carefully in terms of location dependent on were you want to get to ('getting across' London is something that not everyone factors in to their initial thoughts).

I agree, my town is probably more expensive than somewhere not on the mainline, however it is 20 minutes to central London and I can get there in half an hour at 1am which is not going to happen if you live in many parts of zone 3-4...

I agree with the next point as well, however it's all about getting to the London station you want again. Unless you live in central London you're going to be having to go into the circle line area and back out again. For example a direct conversation today with a friend: They lives in the outskirts of West London, Ruislip. It takes them an hour and a half to get to Heathrow (by train)... I live 30 miles north of Central London, it takes me the same... Any of the major rail lines/central London as a whole are a similar situation. Unfortunately the tube isn't the be all and end all. It's not much different in most parts of zone 4-6 either IME.
 
Caporegime
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I also live in Eltham (have done since I was 10 - except for 6 years for Uni and just after) and it takes me 10 minutes to walk to the train station and then 20 minutes on the train to get to London Bridge (add another 5 for Charing Cross), so commuting from there is perfectly okay and as I work 10 mins from London Bridge my travel costs would be about £100 a month (I say would as I don't train it very often because I usually drive in).

Again the North South (of the river) divide! Too far for someone like me working north of the river!
 
Caporegime
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I work as an electrical engineer in oil & gas in London.

The grad scheme pay rises will quickly get to a very nice figure, but the starting salary is definitely not 40k here! Where I currently am the opportunities to travel come after a few years. That should be good.

Engineers may get paid a little more but I agree, Average is around £35k for Schlumburger. Unless of course he has lots of experience.

Remember as well the Oil industry is a very good payer, the vast majority of people don't get anywhere near the same amount, doesn't matter how good you are.


He was including the income tax allowance then rounding up.

The figure is £8105 + £34370 = £42475. If you put a pound over that in a tax calculator that breakdown will shows 40p in the upper rate.

Personally I don't think it's too much, when you're earning that much you should be comfortable, with an aging population and tones of government debt less tax isn't going to fix anything, even if no one likes it.

Not really. It is a bit gauling that some people around the country will have a much better standard of living and pay 20% tax compared to those that have to work in london (due to the industry they are in) and pay 40%. Live in worse conditions, subsidise their transport (trains and other public transport) and pay more tax... The south east really is being taken for a ride by the rest of the country! ;)

Ok, I don't have to work in london in my industry, however I'm not too keen on working in Aberdeen (and the jobs aren't really there for what I do), however I'm quite happy to leave the UK, live somewhere warmer, nicer and with better pay, and may well do in a couple of years, like many of my friends. Brain drain anyone? ;)
 
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