Can DD work in central London and live on this salary?

[Memorybear]

DD, 21 has been offered a contract in London, very near to Oxford Circus.

Salary is 29k pa, take home pay around 2k a month. She would need to house share (hopefully within a 30 minute tube commute).

Looking on spareroom it appears that a double room share is £800-£1000 pm all bills included. she’d need a zone 1-3 tube card at just under £200 a month.

Other Outgoings would be mobile phone, food, clothes, socialising, I guess she’d need contents insurance?

She thinks it’s just about doable as long as she was careful and was frugal around food (take own lunch etc) but I’m not so sure, it’s easy for money to run away with you.

We can help her out a bit - rather than her turn the opportunity down as she’d love it. We’d be about 3 hours away by car to visit as much as we could. Does anyone else manage on this kind of salary?

I worry she’ll have a bit of a miserable existence in a shared house if she doesn’t quickly make friends although I guess it’s not a lot of difference in going off to uni.

Any tips please? This is all very new to us and she’s dithering a bit over what to do.

will be tight, very tight

bur if her friends in same boat… doable

if i. much better paid work… will be very tricky

london house share is very different to uni

When you say a contract, do you mean this isn't actually a full-time/permanent position? How long is the contract for? And also, why are you looking at a double room? Surely that will be more expensive than a single one?

If she uses the bus instead of tube that would half the travel budget (you never pay more that £5.25 a day on the bus regardless of zones/routes).

We all used to do this! Contents insurance -no-one had this.

Without being too outing, she already works for this organisation, it’s a contract role in this new location, initially until next March.
She can then apply to come back to her home city or as often happens in this organisation they can extend contracts or from there you can apply for something else.

Double room just to give her a bit of space.

Christ. I was on the same salary as a graduate in 2001.

I'm not sure she can afford the extra bit of space!

Nothing wrong with a single house share surely! She could get somewhere and then put the word out among her new colleagues that she's looking for something nicer/cheaper/more fun/nearer depending on her priorities?

DD lives in Barking, great direct tube to central London. where she works. She shares a fab two bedroom flat and pays £700 pcm; it's £1400 pcm. Look East is my advice.

She can probably get a cheaper room if she'd not too fussy about size of room and location. If this will further her career and improve her earning potential, it could be worth it. Particularly if she's keen to live in London. She won't be able to afford to do too much in London though.

Almost everyone I know started out like this in a houseshare and living frugally.
Loads of ways to save here and there ... taking the bus or cycling instead of tube or living a bit further out and then paying a bit less in rent. Shopping carefully, taking in lunch etc all good to do.

If she gets something that close in she could cycle, but I'd agree that going a bit further out would probably be more enjoyable.

This should be fine. it will be a good experience for her

It’s tight but doable. How full on is the role? I often made extra money doing agency work at the weekend. I worked for a catering company that did weddings. It was generally good fun we saw the inside of a lot of fancy buildings, you’d get a nice lunch. Often the evening buffet was over catered so you could take home enough tiny cakes to feed a small army ( bring Tupperware) Made a massive difference earning an extra £100 on a Saturday rather than out spending it.

I think it's fine for a 21 year old, in fact it sounds pretty typical for a young person starting out in London. I made 16K in my first publishing role in London in 2005! It was hardly a glamorous life but I had tons of fun, went out a lot, still contributed to a pension etc. There is so much to do in London that is free or costs little.

Dd on similar and similar commute. She pays £800/month for a single room in house share.

It's doable. But id say consider what her priorities are. Short commute, location, budget or double room? Unfortunately she won't get everything she wants. Sounds like a great opportunity though. Try a place for 6 months then move if necessary.

What a wonderful opportunity - I'm very envious! Of course she should do it and, as mentioned, there will be cheaper rooms available. Time for the parents to back off and just let this young woman start living her life.

A single room, ensuite, would by under 750pcm on spare room and there are lots in zones 1 -3, most include bills. I'd go for that in a nice area where there's lots to do. Are the company offering a relocation package.

My 24 year old is on £24k and is in a house share paying £800 a month but they are paying for her travel. She's loving life. She is in a job where she has to go in every day so has to make food to take to work (as she can't afford to eat out every day) and treats herself to one lunch a week.

I'd agree about picking up extra Saturday work or one evening a week doing something like events or a bar. I didn't even realise this was an option until I met a couple of Americans in London doing it as a matter of course.

It's fine. She can do it, but if she struggles, that's on her: don't baby her. It's very very normal to be in a house share in a big city in your 20s.

where is she?

is subsidising her a little an option op?