Cost of living for your "bog" standard PhD student.

munkifisht

So I got the great news yesterday that I'll be moving to London to take up a PhD in St Thomas'. Absolutely delighted and I can't wait to move to London but I'm starting to do some research to see how far I can stretch my grant (£15,000). After working in Dublin for the last few years (and of course not doing much saving) I'm going to have to drastically change what I spent my hard earned on now.

I'd like to ask people who did/do PhDs in London what you spent their mulla on, basically how did/does your budget break down on socialising, food, clothes, mobile, travel, and any other bits I forgot? How do the prices of things compare to Dublin?

Probably the most important thing, whats the situation with housing? How much did/do you pay, was it hard to find something and where are the best ways to find a good spot?

After all that was there anything left over? Were/are you able to get back to Ireland much and were/are you able to afford the odd splash out (a gig, festival, sport event etc)? Finally are there any tips you can give me to exploit my student existence to its fullest?

5uspect

With that modest level of income you're going to have to house share or perhaps even live on campus. I know some students who live rent free in Halls by working as wardens. (It's a weird system TBH) Letting Agents are the norm over here compared to the much more private market in Ireland. They're subhuman scum for the most part, so be careful with their charges. I would avoid Foxtons like the plague.

Apart from rent, one significant cost is going to be public transport but that should be subsidized for students at least. This should help you figure out your ideal rent/transport costing. With subsidized travel you could afford to live a bit further out.

London isn't cheap but the general cost of living isn't too dissimilar to living in Dublin. Tesco et al. have completely taken over, you'll often be hard pressed to find a decent corner shop than hasn't been turned into a Sainsbury's Express.

For mobile I have a pay as you go SIM which gives me a few hundred free texts and 500MB internet on top of my calling credit. Of course if you're calling/texting home a lot you should look around for a suitable package.

pljudge321

Congrats on the PhD, I'm in the same boat except I'm heading to Imperial. When I was over for my interview I was talking about this with the current postgrads and the impression I got was that as long as you dont mind sharing with other people you'll be fine moneywise.

djpbarry

munkifisht wrote: »

How do the prices of things compare to Dublin?

I'd broadly agree with 5uspect - generally speaking, prices are similar. But, rents are very high and public transport is much more expensive, but students do get a discount.

breadmonkey

£15k really isn't too bad at all (tax free I'm assuming?) - £1250 per month.

I think these are reasonable estimates for a month's living expenses:

£600 on rent (should get you a room in a decent location)
£50 for bills ???
£80 on transport (assuming you live and travel within Zones 1 and 2 only and use a student Oyster with a weekly ticket)
£150 on food ???

That's all the essentials covered with £370 left over. So you won't be too flush but you'll be able to go out a few times a month/get a flight home. At least you won't have to accrue any debt.

That's really not a bad amount of money at all. I only make just over £1250 at my full time job because of tax and while I'm not rolling in it, it's more than manageable. I only got £10,500 for my MA scholarship and managed to live on that.

breadmonkey's estimates sound pretty accurate and you should even be able to get a room for much less than £600 if you're not fussy about location. You won't have to pay council tax as a student either. Transport is expensive but you get student discounts and I find food VERY cheap here compared to Ireland. Sainsburys and Tesco have huge budget ranges and Aldi and Lidl are cheaper over here too. Myself and my boyfriend spend under £20 a week on food between us and eat REALLY well for that.

I think you'll be fine. It doesn't sound like a huge amount of money for someone used to working, but you get loads of discounts and breaks as a student and student bars over here are really well subsidised compared to Ireland. I used to get pints for £1.10 at my London uni!

djpbarry

Bryson CoolS Prism wrote: »

Myself and my boyfriend spend under £20 a week on food between us and eat REALLY well for that.

I find it very hard to believe that someone could eat really well for less than £10 per week.

Fysh

djpbarry wrote: »

I find it very hard to believe that someone could eat really well for less than £10 per week.

I guess if you have a well-stocked spice cupboard, you can put together tasty meals using fairly cheap & basic ingredients. (Not to mention if you look around at local markets you can get a good amount of veg on the cheap).

It's dfficult to guarantee that it's quality nutrition given some of the issues that have arisen in the last few years re: quality of cheap meat cuts and similar, though.

djpbarry

Fysh wrote: »

I guess if you have a well-stocked spice cupboard, you can put together tasty meals using fairly cheap & basic ingredients. (Not to mention if you look around at local markets you can get a good amount of veg on the cheap).

I'm not disputing that it is possible to feed oneself for less than £10 per week. What I am disputing is that one could feed oneself properly on such a budget.

Fysh

djpbarry wrote: »

I'm not disputing that it is possible to feed oneself for less than £10 per week. What I am disputing is that one could feed oneself properly on such a budget.

Well, yeah, that's why I said "It's dfficult to guarantee that it's quality nutrition..." :P

munkifisht

Thanks guys,

Sorry for abandoning this thread, forgot I'd posted it what with everything else

On the up side, after reading everyones great posts (thanks all) I think I'm looking like I might be the luckiest PhD student in London.

A friend knows a guy who's moving out at the end of the month and we've pretty much come to an agreement that I'll move in in his stead (but do have to finalise it). Place is basic but clean and big enough, round the corned from Clapham common, a 50 minute walk from where I'm based and £560 pm. Bills are about 90 but no daily transport charge (but will be getting a bike), so reading breadmonkeys breakdown I'll be happy out on that kind of mullah.

Also gotta say Fysh, really, £10 a week. I'm almost appalled. I really don't want to know what "Cheep cuts" entails (or should the read entrails ). Would really love to say I can eat for less that £150 pw so that would be even more cash in mo poca.

Fysh

munkifisht wrote: »

Also gotta say Fysh, really, £10 a week. I'm almost appalled. I really don't want to know what "Cheep cuts" entails (or should the read entrails ). Would really love to say I can eat for less that £150 pw so that would be even more cash in mo poca.

Heh, I'm not the one doing it, that's Bryson CoolS Prism. I have to say I'm somewhat horrified at the idea. I reckon you could maybe get by on £20 a week if you were careful, mostly got your protein from non-meat sources, and make all your meals from scratch so that you can keep costs down

Myself and the other half spend between £60 and £70 a week on our food shop and we get really nice food. We both enjoy cooking so being able to pick up decent ingredients is worth it - not to mention we were both spending almost as much for our own weekly shop back when we were in Cork as we do now between us (!).

Terrontress

I presume you'd get staff discount in the canteen in St Thomas'. I have eaten in the canteen in there and it was good food, plenty of veg and very reasonably priced. A lovely view of the Houses of Parliament as well!

Worth bearing in mind.

munkifisht

Terrontress wrote: »

I presume you'd get staff discount in the canteen in St Thomas'. I have eaten in the canteen in there and it was good food, plenty of veg and very reasonably priced. A lovely view of the Houses of Parliament as well!

Worth bearing in mind.

Great point.