The Cost of Living in London / Financial Diary (II)

Well, it's that time again, dear readers.  I last completed a financial diary over a year ago, and my expenses have changed quite a bit since then.  My largest expenditure - rent - is more than it had been due to changed circumstances and this has caused me to totally rethink how I spend my remaining income.  I burned through all of my savings (and then some) when I moved into my new place and I'm now really trying making it a priority to build up a bit of a nest egg again, so that's been an adjustment, too.

I'm going to make this post an amalgamation of the two I published last January, and so we'll have an overview plus a week's financial diary here.  (Yes, this is a long one!  Gird your loins.) Transparency is always good, I think, where these nuts-and-bolts issues are concerned.  I do hope these posts help all those who are researching a possible/impending move to London and perhaps even those who live here and are examining their own living expenses!

via

RENT & BILLS: £650/month
Again, I think that I've hit the jackpot with my current rental situation.  My monthly bank transfer to my landlords covers not only my monthly rent, but also all bills including utilities, internet, TV license, and council tax.  This figure was £100 higher when I first moved in, but after a few months we worked out a deal by which I give three evenings of babysitting a month in exchange for a comparable reduction on my rent.  (If you assume that it costs £9/hour to hire a childminder and that an "evening" of babysitting averages out at 4 hours per session, you'll conclude that this is an equitable deal for all.)

TRANSPORTATION: £112/month
Because I live at the end of zone 2, I have a monthly travelcard for zones 1-2.  Jon lives in zone 4, so to get to his house I either take the bus from work, take the tube to the end of zone 2 and the bus the rest of the way, or add some pay-as-you-go money to my Oyster to take the tube directly to his house.  (Bus rides, no matter where you start and/or end and regardless of how long your trip is, always count as falling within zones 1-2.)

MOBILE PHONE: £43.93 in January
As mentioned before, my 02/Blackberry contract is for £30/month, but, as always, I've gone over because of the amount of time I spend on international calls.  (Last month was significantly more because of the situation with my grandmother.)  I'm not sure I can switch to anything cheaper without sacrificing the number of minutes and texts I get domestically - it's worth looking into, certainly, and if anyone has any suggestions...

I cannot stress enough that, the above sorts of outgoings aside, your expenditures will absolutely depend on the quality of life that you choose to lead.  It's entirely possible to limit yourself to the bare minimum for food and entertainment, but I promise that you won't have much fun on a budget like that.  Plus, you have to account for occasional but necessary purchases; for instance, you don't have to buy new shampoo often but when the need strikes you must act!

Last week, just to see what could be done and what sacrifices I could make, I tried to spend as little as possible.  I kept my food costs down by ransacking my freezer and pantry, bringing lunch to work almost every day, and rarely eating out.  I also skipped the little bagatelles of life like Grazia and Starbucks, for the most part.  Watching my budget made me choose my activities more carefully; I only went out when I really wanted to see the people organizing the gathering, and guarding my wallet made it even easier to stick to my teetotal phase (except on Thursday).  I was also lucky in that I had already penciled plans into the diary that didn't involve spending too much, like two nights of theatre and a houseparty.  Below, I put my week's outgoings into a bit of context by noting each day and/or night's activities so that you can gain a bit more insight.

SUNDAY
[brunch at home with Jon and a friend - Jon bought the ingredients for that - and errands/to-do]
£24.78 - weekly grocery shop at Sainsbury's

MONDAY
[complimentary theatre tickets in the evening]
£3.58 - dinner from Subway

TUESDAY
[work event in the evening]

WEDNESDAY
[date night chez moi]

THURSDAY
[drinks with friends in the evening]
£6.48 - international shipping to post a small package through Royal Mail
£4.15 - lunch from M&S Simply Food
£30 - cocktails and nibbles at the Mews of Mayfair

FRIDAY
[quiet night at home]
£1.89 - salad from the café at work

SATURDAY
[about town in the morning, babysitting in the afternoon, houseparty in the evening]
£4.70 - coffee and a cupcake from Bea's of Bloomsbury

TOTAL : £75.58

via

Again, I do want to say that, despite my deep misgivings about the Occupy Wall Street global protests, these are unquestionably difficult financial times for millions of people around the world, and so I was initially uncomfortable with publishing all of this given the economic hardship that others are facing.  But then I realized that we all navigate our own issues and there's no shame in having first world problems.  As a commenter on one of my favorite food blogs wrote, "I'm getting so tired of the 'first world problems' line being thrown on everything to make it seem silly.  We live in the first world.  We have small problems that we can trade advice on how to solve.  That doesn't mean we have no substance or character."  Amen.