Is 2,500 family budget (no mortgage/childcare) per month enough in London????

[zurich09]

Hi,

We are moving from abroad and am trying to figure out our finaces. By the looks of it we will have 2,500 pounds per month once mortgage/childcare has been taken out. Is that enough to live on for a family of three in London? I have no real experience of life in London anymore. Used to live there, but left decades ago and am a bit nervous about coming back. Everyone tells us it's a really really expensive place to live - but now idea whether this is even doable. Any thoughts????

From the 2500 Are you including council tax, water, electric, gas, phones, broadband etc?

Yes I think it’s doable but it depends what lifestyle you want to live and what you need to cover with that - car? Travel costs? Do you eat out a lot? We are a family of three and our disposal income is higher that that but we live quite a low key lifestyle and do manage to save. London can be a drain on finances but it completely depends on your choices - if you’re going out for expensive meals and using taxis etc obviously you’ll need more money.

2500/2700 would include everything else i.e. exc. rent/childcare......so yeah all the bills, travel for two people, food etc......no idea what that means especially now that we have a little one.....

It's only really housing and childcare that's expensive, everything else is similar to the rest of the UK, and seeing as £2500 pm is more than most people earn, you'll be more than fine.

You could of course rinse through it in no time if you shop in Harrods, but stick to a more typical lifestyle and you'll be quite comfortable.

hahaha.....definitely not aiming for Harrods, but hoping that we wont have to count all our pennies either. Just trying to decide how much we can afford to pay for rent/mortgage. Guess that the usual dilemma - nicer house but less money left over versus cheaper housing but more disposable income every month. But really hard to figure it out from abroad and no feel for London prices etc

You'll be fine. Food/bills are no more expensive than anywhere else in the country and london transport is insanely cheap.

The biggest outlay in London is housing so if that’s not in the equation, you’ll be able to live very comfortably on £2500.

ok good to know....moving from abroad so no idea how much the UK costs full stop.....and online budget calculators seem to massively differ in their calculations.

Yes it’s a very good budget - I live in London with less than half that disposable income and consider myself quite lucky.

There's a lot of free children's activities in London, so you don't need to pay for £££ classes.

Depends on what you class as London for living and where you will be working. Living in the suburbs of London with a peak time commute will eat up more money in travel costs than living in a more central travel zone or being able to catch buses/tubes where costs are capped per day, but obviously the house prices reflect that.

How old is your child? Nursery costs are subsidised from 3 and most schools have a reasonably priced breakfast/after school club set up. Hiring a nanny is obviously more expensive than a childminder but you get a different type of care and works better if your working hours are long or unpredictable.

Other incidental charges are things like a parking permit/space if you need it.

As far as going out, eating, things for the kids.... there are so many places to choose from and so much variety. Lots of stuff for free that you would pay through the nose for elsewhere. We were shocked going to Paris and the costs for museums, galleries etc. We are definitely spoilt with the amount of free activities and venues. No need to spend a fortune to have a great lifestyle here.

Having said that, if you choose to live in Chelsea and only eat out at a fancy pants place then no amount of money will last long!

Can you give us a better idea of your total budget and locations?

2500 is plenty if rent and childcare is paid.

I lived in london quite comfortably on about 1000 after mortgage and childcare.

As pp said costs are about the same. Transport much cheaper than elsewhere, no car needed.

You’ll be fine.

That should be plenty but just check you've factored council tax in- this can vary hugely from area to area. We're outside London by a 25 minute commute (Surrey) and council tax is almost £230 pcm!!

Yes double check council tax - I pay £200 per month! It was only £110 a month in my previous home stint does vary. I'm not in London but am 20 mins on the train from finsbury park.

Not including rent, I set aside approx £500 per month for all my bills. I think you'll be absolutely fine on your budget.

If no mortgage or childcare I think you will be absolutely fine on that.

You could buy new clothes every month on that budget!

Have people not read the OP? £2500 spending money AFTER housing and childcare. Ridiculously high budget.

You only need spend max £100 a week on groceries if you've one child (think I've understood your post), what on earth are you spending the rest on? Lucky you. So insulting to people living in London on normal incomes to ask this.

Is his genuine? 2500 after childcare and housing?

I'd have to genuinely work hard to spend that.
Am I reading a different post to other people?!

thank you for all your replies....just to explain i dont live in the UK, so have absolutely no idea what things cost in England. Where I currently live my lunch at a student canteen costs 15pounds ..... and everyone keeps telling me how insane london is. So i am not in any way saying that this is too high or too low - just completely at sea. Some people i know in London are of the type that say that anything less than 100k pe year is unlivable, and everyone i knew has basically left london once the've had kids because they were all on public sector salaries and couldnt make ends meet...............so no one to ask really. And yes am panicking because i have a kid and last time i lived in london i basically walked to work one and har hour each way as couldnt afford tube ticket etc and obviously didnt spend any money. But with a family - there's only so much you can cut down on so trying to get more info.

Just seen your username, are you in Zurich? If so, London is definitely cheaper!

OK, well lunch from a high street place won't cost you're than £5/7 including a drink. Even going to a restaurant/cafe for a lunch and soft drink won't cost you £15.

For stuff like that, I would do two things. Firstly, go on to tescos/ocado/sainsburys websites and put together a trolley of your usual sort of weekly shop. Obviously you won't know the best/cheapest brands but it will give you an idea of that basic cost.

There will be small versions of supermarkets within a few mins walk of anywhere central so you can also buy lunches there.

Then look up menus on Pret a Manger, Eat, Wagamama, Starbucks, M&S, Costa, Leon to give you an idea of the sort of lunch food and prices that are on most street corners.

Go to the council websites for any of the areas you are looking to rent/buy in. They will give you the council tax bands.

Go on to rightmove.co.uk and look up places to buy/rent in those areas. The website then gives you a very basic average costs for utilities etc.

At least that way you can have a better idea of a starting budget and expectations.

£15 is very expensive for a student canteen lunch. You can spend a lot of money on eating out in London, but you also have endless good quality affordable options. You could probably get a decent lunch for less than half that, especially in a student canteen.

The people who think less than £100k in London is impossible either have unrealistic expectations, are looking at qualifying for a mortgage, or are spending a lot on childcare so they don't have much disposable income.

Yep i am in zurich and its mad here.....well its ok on a swiss salary but am moving over and basically my income is half what we have here.....have managed to cost accommodation/childcare because thats pretty straightforward for getting figures - its just everything else. thank you all for your feedback. for example hadnt realised that council taxt can vary that much......and will bring lunch in etc......

There are people in London who have very high housing and childcare costs and thus need to bring in a lot to be able to live there. That's usually the explanation in the 100k household income in London but 12p left after bills threads. Housing and childcare tend to be most peoples main expenses anywhere, and they are also the things that are significantly more expensive in London than elsewhere. So yes, you will be absolutely fine for the three of you, provided you don't do your grocery shop in Harrods, eat out every night etc.

You can find out online what your council tax will be and people will be able to give you an idea what they pay for water. Gas and electric should be no more than £150 month unless you have specific health needs or whatever and plenty of people pay much less. You can also research the cost of any commutes online, and your child can use the buses for free if under 18 I think?

It’s more than enough to live really well. Public transport is super cheap, even a commute from the suburbs on the tube is less than £10 a day. Supermarkets are cheap, you can have everything delivered and easily do a weeks shop for 3 on less than £100 a week. Lunches are about £4 for a pret sandwich less for an M&S one and a coffee in a coffee shop is £2.30 or so. We have an abundance of reasonably priced clothes and homeware so much cheaper than Switzerland

Housing and childcare are what makes London expensive, everything else is pretty reasonable and the same as the rest of the Country. In fact it can be even cheaper as there’s so much choice so you aren’t tied to a few places. Museums, galleries and lots of children’s activities are free. If you do your supermarket shopping at Tesco you can collect points to use for activities. You’ll be more than fine