Is living in London feasible on ~£55K for 2 people?

johnolocher

Here's rhe situation, myself and the wife are moving to England, our dream was London, but we looked elsewhere because of the rent etc. but now she's been offered a job on the edge of London (Ruislip Middlesex way) and the dreams back on. We are married and want to start a family the next few years. We will be earning about £55k a year between us, this will be rising to about £65k in the next couple of years.

We keep comparing it to the euro and rents we pay here and quality of life, it all seems much more expensive, but do you get used to it once your integrated into the economy, do higher wages / opportunities balance it all out at the end of the day?

Jobs mean we can't stay in Ireland, but would be be better off in another city? Taking into account the sheer amount of jobs culture and history in London which is a strong pull for me.

Alessandra

I think you have a lot to consider when moving to London.
The good thing is that Ruislip is on the outskirts so I imagine you will get your money to stretch a lot further in the renting market than somewhere more central. The other factor to consider is whether you will need to use public transport to get to work? Those costs can significantly add to your monthly outgoings. Monthly tickets are more economical but depending on the zones you can pay £80 or more each month...
Council tax depends on the borough that your house will be in so that is another expense each month. You should probably make a budget of your potential monthly outgoings and compare that against your (potential earnings) to see if you can make it work.
I'm sure there are lots of people who have moved here and made it work with a lower starting off salary. People on here can offer really great advise too. Best of luck.

Fysh

It's worth noting that an awful lot of people end up moving to Greater London (ie the suburban bits and orbital towns around the outskirts) once they want to settle down and have kids, because the expenses involved make it almost impossible unless you're very well off financially.

Ruislip's far enough out that you may be able to make it work, but you need to do a fair bit of work to ensure you'll be able to live within your means, which means lots of research on expected costs.

Good luck

Edited to add:

Mod Note: Changed subject line to be less ambiguous.

silvervixen84

I lived in Ruislip for a year when I moved over (nearly 3 years ago). It's a lovely area. Very clean and chilled and would be a nice place to start a family. It used to take me an hour on the Tube to get to Victoria and you have the Piccadilly or Metropolitan lines to choose from, or the Central line from West Ruislip. Back then, my weekly ticket was £50 a week (Zone 6).

Uxbridge is only a few stops away and has a couple of large shopping centres and a big cinema, and Harrow on the Hill is a few stops in the other direction, which again has shops and a cinema.

We were in a really nice flat so our rent was probably a bit higher than the average for the area, but like anywhere, if you shop around you'll find something to fit your budget.

The only thing about Ruislip is that there is no night bus out there :eek: If you miss the last tube, you're a bit screwed! The furthest you can get is Harrow and then get a cab from there. That only really matters if you don't have a car or plan on going out in London often.

If your dream is London, go for it! Worst case scenario - if you find it too expensive to live here, move on to another city. I'm not on a fantastic wage and am always whinging about being broke, but I love it here and wouldn't change a thing!

Finally - Ruislip has the best Chinese restaurant ever - delicious all you can eat buffet (weirdly served at your table!) and a Chinese Elvis!

LadyMayBelle

A chinese Elvis?! Why am I living in Hackney??

Hey OP; I think you can on that amount between you; I live with my OH and on thereabouts the same; granted savings are feck all, but in London so you wnat to be a hermit and stay in all the time or go out an enjoy it? That's us in Hackney, but you should be able to save a lot more in Rusilip.

harney

I've been working in Harrow now for a few weeks and it does seem like there are a fair amount of shops for a small area. I am not sure I would live here though, although I have been told it is quite posh in areas.

silvervixen84 wrote: »

Finally - Ruislip has the best Chinese restaurant ever - delicious all you can eat buffet (weirdly served at your table!) and a Chinese Elvis!

Pfff, everybody knows that something isn't true on the internet unless the word FACT! is added after it.


Em, FACT! :cool:

tibor

If you're planning on starting a family and can get the same wage elsewhere, I'd take that option.
Living in London is great if you're young and single and willing to sacrifice some creature comforts in exchange for a buoyant social life.
Not so much for couples looking for their own place, and especially not those looking to raise kids - unless you have megabucks.

Living out somewhere in zone 6 or further out in some random town on a mainline train-line and commuting you're not really getting to take full advantage of being in London. If the highlight of the area you'll be in is a few shops and a cinema, is that really worth the trade off of paying the London accommodation premium? This is a trade off plenty are happy though with and just looking around work now, 17.20, I can see several people preparing to dash off to make their trains.

Would you be as well served locating elsewhere and take a day-trip into London-proper when the mood takes you?
Personally doing a bigger trip once at the weekend sounds a lot more appealing than an hour or more each way everyday on a packed commuter train into London.

Horses for courses though. In the end it's going to be a very personal decision for you and your other half, just make sure you do you due diligence on the full extent of London costs before making the jump.

dd972

Hayes is a good spot OP, you should give it serious consideration, solidly middle class, clean, good schools, Gastropubs and Deli's abound, it's a magnet for aspirational, young urban professionals.

djpbarry

johnolocher wrote: »

Jobs mean we can't stay in Ireland, but would be be better off in another city?

In my opinion, based on the kind of salaries you're quoting, I think you'd be better off looking elsewhere to start a family. As others have said, you're going to be forced pretty far away from Central London to find somewhere affordable, which means potentially long and expensive commutes - you're unlikely to have a great quality of life. I know a few couples in London with kids and bar one or two exceptions, they live in rather isolated parts of the city and have virtually no social life as they don't have the time and/or money.

dd972

dd972 wrote: »

Hayes is a good spot OP, you should give it serious consideration, solidly middle class, clean, good schools, Gastropubs and Deli's abound, it's a magnet for aspirational, young urban professionals.

Btw, I was joking, I wouldn't want anybody ending up in Hayes on my conscience.

FTA69

dd972 wrote: »

Btw, I was joking, I wouldn't want anybody ending up in Hayes on my conscience.

Was thinking you were patently batsh*t crazy alright.

jay1988

FTA69 wrote: »

Was thinking you were patently batsh*t crazy alright.

Me too I lived in hayes for the summer of 2007 first thing I seen as I entered hayes was someone being carjacked! Definitely avoid hayes if possible its a ****hole with alot of crackheads.