To wander how is cost of living cheaper outside of London

[where2now]

So I get rent/Mortage and childcare will be cheaper out of London especially further north. But what else is cheaper?? Everyone keeps saying cost of living is much cheaper up north. AIBU not to understand this? I mean supermarkets surely have the same price food all over the country right? And even retails stores ie clothes shopping??
I'm really wondering as we are considering moving out of London due to this but I just can't get my head around it.
Can anyone help and give examples I'll be very grateful? Thanks all

Depending where you go, petrol costs will vary hugely. Never mind London, we notice when travelling between where we live (Norfolk) and where my DPs live (East Mids). Of course the payoff is that you have to drive in many areas - we have no public transport beyond a dial-a-ride bus in our village, there are few local train services, limited timetables and so on. The car becomes much less of a luxury than in London.

Housing-wise, again it depends where you go but often you get more for your money. We have a big plot, nice rural location, not a great house but loads of potential, for well under £200k, and we bought recently. Would never happen in london or the commuter belt.

People talk about London all the time but I think people are far worst off in cities like Cambridge and Oxford. Everything is the same price including housing yet wages are nowhere near London standard size

Just to be clear, it's not quite as simple as London/ out of London
Agree.
If you move to the SouthWest (excluding Cornwall) then house prices are still high, as high as the South East in places.

Parking issues and congestion on commutes are an issue in most cities.

The biggest gains are made if you move midlands or further north, live in a suburb or town that is commutable to larger cities, even then there are pockets of more expensive houses.

We live in a Manchester suburb close to two tram stops and the M60. You can get an off-peak Metro day ticket for around £5 and tram about all day to your heart's content. Similar sort of thing with the buses, depending on the company.

We have bags of free museums, regular events of all kinds, art, culture, concerts, universities etc. The Northern Quarter for hipsters, the Trafford Centre (free parking!) for chains. A few lovely National Trust places dotted about. Admittedly it's been years since I went to London but we don't have the same huge volume of people, commuters and tourists, as down there. And of course Chester, Leeds or York are not far away, or there's the Lake District or North Wales for more rural trips.

Parking - NCPs are NCPs and city centre parking is never cheap. But our village car park is mainly free, for instance. And there's loads of public transport, kids under 5 travel free.

Our nursery costs us £37.50 a day. Cinema is around £8, depending. The last time we went swimming at our local council-run place, which is admittedly crappy, it was about £8 for 2 adults and one kid. Dining out will generally cost between £8 and £12 for a main meal.

I used to work for a national supermarket chain and pricing was done by size of store ('band') rather than location, but that could vary by supermarket and also be very different now! We spend about £70 a week for the 3 of us on food and household at Sainsbo's, but you could go a lot cheaper at e.g. Aldi or Lidl.

Our 4 bed semi cost £250k 6 years ago. Hairdressers - non-chain local ones can be very cheap, like £15-£20 depending, Toni & Guy and that lot are much more expensive. Plumbers roughly similar to yours. Window cleaners are £7 every fortnight.

Where we are, a 20 minute drive takes you into the countryside with local farms and farm shops, tea rooms, country estates, riding and all that jazz.

We like it here :)

Fuel is cheaper (always fill up in south west and avoid putting in a full tank in the south east). Also from mn I've learned nanny's charge/expect less here. When I was paying 8.50 an hour I was told on mn I was tight but it really was what all nannys round here expected at the time.

One of the things I’ve noticed is because everyone has decent family homes (rather than 2 kids in 2 bed flat, which would be worth more than 4 bed house!), we do loads more socialising in our home or others homes. I rarely pay to go out anymore but have an active social life with friends. Same with kids. We don’t need to pay to go to soft play when everyone has a big garden and a trampoline/climbing frame etc.

Madelinemaxwell that's interesting Manchester is quite up north for me and not much difference in prices like you mentioned cinema plumber hairdresser. Looking at this thread it's 50/50 regards to being cheaper elsewhere. Even your food cost isn't much cheaper.

I think all you can take from this thread is that it it is different everywhere! I live in Hampshire atm, houses are expensive, but wages are decent, and there is lots to do.
I used to live in South London, so I know transport was cheaper, but Londone gets more than half the UK's investment in that area, so it's not surprising;
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/20/more-than-half-uk-investment-in-transport-is-in-london-says-study

Some prices;
Rent typical Bovis-type 3 bed house (outstanding schools): £1200 (Rightmove)
Buy house in same street: £325,000
Pub: 2 mains for £14.00
Petrol: £1.24 pl
After school club: £10.00, 3.15pm to 5.30pm
Swimming (sports centre): £4.00
Swimming lesson: £7.00
Parking (town): £1.40 = 3 hrs, and can be claimed back from the supermarkets. Otherwise it's £1 per hr in other car-parks.
Road parking: free, with some PP restrictions
Plumber: £40 to fix toilet ballcock last week.

Saw Star wars Solo yesterday £4.50 child, £5.50 adult, in small indie cinema.

When we retire we are going back to Wales.

Loandbeholdagain
That's really true on the going out thing.

I met a friend for a walk and coffee and we were arranging to have people round for food soon. When everyone has 3-4 bed houses with gardens in their late 20s/early 30s, socialising at home is much more doable. Last time we had about 6 couples over, drinks, food and a fraction of the cost of going for a meal.

SuitedAndbooted yes you're right everywhere seems quite different I'll have to do my research

cousin just bought a 3 bed semi fixer upper near Harrow for 380k while brother bought a 3 bed semi fixer upper for 330k in an equally nice area of Nottinghamshire). Food and clothing is definitely more expensive as there is less choice in Nottingham and Leicester compared to London. Alcohol might be cheaper if you drink in bars, but there are more shops to buy alcohol in London & therefore shopbought stuff is a lot cheaper.

You'd be going right to the top end to find a three bed over £300K in Nottinghamshire! There are plenty available for less than £200K that need nothing doing to them.

There's no less choice in shops in Nottingham and Leicester than there is in London.

There are plenty of shops and supermarkets to buy alcohol from in Nottingham and the surrounding towns.

What a bizarre post.

my gym membership would be over half price in Newcastle rather than my one in london. petrol always around 3-5p cheaper . Pints around 50p cheaper in bars. Restaurants 3-5 pounds cheaper on meals out.

On house prices, there are 174 in Nottinghamshire over £300K. There are 1700 below £300K, and 1300 of them are below £200K.

We're definitely not as expensive (or as isolated!) as some seem to think.

• three bed houses, not in total!

and 30 quid for hairdressers when its 50-60 at any around locally to me in London.

But you can also get your hair but for a tenner in London. There is far more choice

Op I live in S Wales:
Childminder £3.50 ph
Cinema £7.50pp
Swimming - lessons? £4.50 per session/week
After school club £9 pc 3-6pm
Holiday club - lots of options. The recent football camp my two oldest went to was £7pc 10-3. Very cheap options available.
Parking at shopping centre £2.40 0-2 hours
Parking on Rd Cheapest 50p for 30 mins
Hairdresser cheapest £22 wash cut blow dry. But I have a DIY, £15 with no blow dry.
Plumber - same ish.

If you want cheaper cost of living you'll have to go north of the Home Counties.

Be very aware that cheaper does NOT mean lesser. Cities like Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle etc are packed with things to do, but because they don't have the sprawl of London it's much more possible to live slightly out but within short commute for a lot less money.

I live in Lincolnshire in a big town 40 minutes drive from three cities.

Childminder is £4 per hour.
A large 4 bed detached house with conservatory, garden, garage, driveway in the catchment area (and walking distance) of an outstanding nursery school and separate primary school with its own nursery will cost anything from £220k to £260k.
Petrol is 10p a litre cheaper.
Cinema £7 per person.
Soft play £3 per child, adults free.
Swimming lessons £15 for 45 min lesson - max group 5.
After school club £5 until 6pm including snacks.
Breakfast club £1 including breakfast.
Holiday club £18 per day.
Secondary schools are predominantly Good or Outstanding, there are also private and grammar options.
The local college is in the top 20 in the country.
Car parking £1.50 up to 2 hours, £3 up to 4 hours.
20 minutes drive and we're in the middle of the Lincolnshire Wolds. 20 minutes in the other direction and we're at the coast.
There is a large playing field, wood and park the other side of my back gate too.

Oh and parking on the road is free...

I find London living is as cheap/cheaper than my home area up north. My mother agrees.
Obviously, big difference is housing cost and childcare costs. Now I am old, paid off mortgage, retirement in London is very appealing.
No need to run a car.
I will get free travel at 60.
Good markets and Lidl in walking distance.
Hair cut, colour, blow dry is £52
I live in NE London which is bargainacious, I know.

To PP who thinks the tube is expensive try using public transport in Bristol.

@where2now I moved from Edmonton to Margate.

I think it's to do with shops etc having to cover increased costs in London. A typical pint in a nice, independent pub with beer garden would be £3 - £3.50 here. I think it's a lot more in London. Public transport not necessarily cheaper here, but less congestion makes car travel easier. Stuff like plumbing and home improvements are definitely less expensive here, but people simply don't have the salaries to pay £100k on a loft conversion - or the need to, when you can move to a home with an extra bedroom and extra downstairs space for an extra £50k.

Depends where in London too, I bet. Here, two people can have a Chinese takeaway for £15 (two mains, two sides, prawn crackers). We can eat out in a cheap chain pub for £25 for all the family. There simply aren't Hungry Horse pubs in the middle of London but similar deals are probably available further out. Similarly we live in a city and would travel to the cheaper places as we know it well; the town centre is more expensive, as are the pretty villages around us.

All of the issues about driving / parking in London are the same for instance in Manchester. It would take me about 1.5hrs to drive the 8 miles to the city centre and parking is v expensive (hence why I get the tram

25 minutes on a Saturday morning and I park (parking bay or single yellow line) near Baker Street station and walk 10minutes to Oxford street. Parking is free all day.

On a Sunday parking is free in the congestion zone as well.

Where I live in the suburbs I can walk to city centre in 40 minutes, or drive in 5-10 minutes and park for a £1 an hour. Parking is handy if you are buying lots of stuff.