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.

I remember living in London with bugger all money at that age. I had another part time job ( usher in a theatre) where I met so many people and developed a great , cheap social life. You have so much energy at that age you can manage an extra job. I can't imagine doing it now!

Some contracts don't allow second jobs (or need to give permission) but if that is an option, that was going to be my suggestion too. Also gets her out seeing more of the city, and meeting new people as well as not spending money on the nights she's working. Some london offices need night secretaries/desktop publishing staff so doesn't even necessarily need to be a job on her feet.

I worked in central London on 21500 ten years ago - rent in a house share was 650 so 800 a month sounds about right. Will be cheaper if she gets the bus where she can rather than the tube.
she will be fine - it’s called paying your dues!

Thanks all, very reassuring. Her job is pretty full on (depending on the role content she could be starting very early or working very late) I’m not sure she’ll have the energy to pick up another job.

There wouldn’t be a relocation package but the opportunity would be amazing so it’s not something she should turn down.

We could help her a bit with a couple of hundred a month. I’m just thinking of my baby being lonely in a new place. 😢 She’s very innocent and trusting. I won’t show her this though 😂😂. The type of place and job attracts younger people and DD is funny, kind and friendly - she wouldn’t take long to make friends.

Of course it's fine for a basic, starter job standard of living.
Hopefully she'll work hard and her salary will increase.

Yes definitely encourage her to do it. This is what I and all my friends did. If I were her I'd look for somewhere fun and young - Clapham, Brixton, Deptford, East London etc. And try and prioritise finding a houseshare with like minded people the same age, rather than somewhere necessarily more fancy. I lived in some hilariously bad flats but made mates for life and that was an instant social life. I just loved it.

I did this although admittedly 10 years ago on £25k. My rent the first year was a lot because I was new to London and didn’t know better (£900 pcm 😳). I subsidised by working for an events company and it worked well as usually did a Sat evening which left Fridays eve to go out with work colleagues and Sundays to socialise. There were always left overs too.

The best thing my parents did, if you want to consider helping, was order me a food shop every month or so as a way to help. I was quite central so surrounded by small shops with less variety and my mum would always put a few treats in as well as some bulky heavy items. It was a very much appreciated to this day. The job opened up a lot of opportunities to me at the time, I was very grateful for their support.

Will she need to go in every day? That may reduce fares a good bit.

Definitely doable. I think sometimes MN is too cautious about this stuff as people think about their expectations of normal and of course a 21yo starting out will have different expectations. She should run the numbers through something like the MSE budget planner to check she’s thought of everything.

She can do it until March and then reassess if she could get a job back with the same organisation in her home town. Also she could get promoted at some point.

Yes it's what most young people do, and a pretty standard salary for a new grad. You won't need to subsidise her - that's infantilising her. Send her the odd coffee voucher, Lidl voucher though. My dd and a friend met with two others they met on spare room for lunch - they all got on so looked for a house share together. That could be a way to go - check out potential house mates first.

Might be worth putting the word out on her organisation grapevine to see if anyone, or their friends has a space in a flat share.

I agree that somewhere commutable by bus will save money if possible.

I wouldn't aim to have a 30 minute commute on that salary. Anything under an hour would be typical. She may be able to live close to some friends and cut rent? Also means socialising/gym/groceries will be cheaper further out.

If she can find something more on the 800 end rather than 1000 then it's definitely doable imo and hopefully the salary would increase with potential promotions etc too

Yes she'll be fine, its just the first step and she's on her way OP how exciting!!

As others have said, if you can chip in every now and then, that is going to help.
But it is good for her to learn to manage on her own and it might make her hungry to climb that ladder!

Does she have a student loan that has to be paid back and counted in outgoings too?

That should be 30 quid a month.

No student loan, she joined her workplace on an apprenticeship straight from A Levels

I second using Spareroom.com to find accomodation. There are parents on there whose dcs have left home and want to rent out a room often with en-suite for £150-200pw inc bills depending on location. If she’s brave she can also think about cycling to work to save money. Lots of cycle superhighways into central London so you’re not on the road competing with traffic for much of the journey. I’ve found it can be quicker to travel in than use public transport. Of course she can bus/train or tube it if the weather is bad. Those I think are the 2 most expensive things about living in London. Loads of cool cheap entertainment and eats abound.

Oxford Circus tube station has three lines - Bakerloo, Central and Victoria so that opens up a wide area where she could look for accommodation.

I did it in 1994 on £12k and paying £400 a month for my accommodation (v central so no commuting costs, though). Everyone is in the same boat, and it’s incredibly exciting and fun when you’re starting out and living in London for the first time. She will quickly learn budgeting skills that will last a lifetime. Buy her the occasional grocery shop, or some luxuries that she might not be able to afford for herself, but she will manage and thrive!

I think she would be ok, as long as she’s ok not doing a ton out. I think that’s what I was earning about 15 years ago in London but was only paying £600/month including bills and didn’t have any transportation costs. It would probably be best if she can find something on the £800 end rather than £1000. If I were you, I wouldn’t offer £ up front but would put it aside for her in case of emergency. Better she expect she needs to manage within her budget. She could also look at getting an eBike and cycle commuting (or a regular bike). You can usually get one through cycle to work scheme.

@tomketchup she's in a house share in Clapham. She has a small room but she's very happy!

She might be entitled to universal credit

And the Elizabeth line. The Bond Street stop is basically Oxford Circus. She can go east or west then. Lots of cheaper places.