To ask opinions on a reasonable budget for a single woman in London?

[LookForSnowdrops]

Background: I desperately want to live in a flat on my own, post-Covid. I’m 30, and have had a really bad year. I am craving a space on my own.

I’m worried about finances, though - and it makes me so annoyed that living on your own is so difficult if you’re single in London.

Here’s my proposed budget. Has anyone else done something similar on this?

Rent - one bed flats in the area I need to live (I say ‘need’ as I walk to work in normal times, so am saving on commuting costs anyway) : £1250 per month

Bills: gas, electricity, water, council tax, internet (I think that’s everything?) guessing: £250 per month max

Fixed extra costs: phone, Netflix, Spotify, standing order to a charity: £60 per month

So - £1560 total per month on rent, bills and fixed costs. That will leave me with approx £890 per month left for everything else. I get free lunch and gym membership through work.

That’s £890 per month for entertainment, food, going out, general fun travel around London. Savings, holidays. Gifts. Lots of friends are getting married next year, so all the costs their weddings (abroad! Gifts! Hotel costs for one. Argh!)

Pre-covid, I used to go out 3-4 times per week: meals out, drinks out, theatre and cinema trips, exhibitions and lots of trips abroad. But I’m finding it impossible to estimate what all that costs now - it seems so far away.

So, anyone else who has been in this situation: what do you think? Is it possible to still have a fairly good standard of living in London with £890 left over per month for food, fun money, some travel and savings as a single woman?

Living on my own has been a dream of mine for so long. It seems so depressing that despite having worked my arse off since graduating it’s still potentially not really feasible.

So...words of wisdom or advice really appreciated. Thank you so much!

As a single person, make sure you get the council tax discount! 25%. So you should really be paying £90-100 depending where you live.

I live in a studio, rend about £400 cheaper, I agree with your estimation on bills but my money still seems to fly away! It's on groceries/spending though. I do a lot of takeaways at the weekend and wine to be fair, and like to by nice things when I grocery shop. And I can't seem to go a week with making money through amazon/eBay 🙈

But it's totally doable!

Op don’t you realise this is mumsnet
You’re not allowed to have FUN money that you spend RECKLESSLY

Have you found somewhere decent to rent for that pice?
Had a look inside it and at the area?

sounds perfectly do able, I wouldn't worry too much about saving for a while, you have an ISA. have fun for a couple of years.

shared ownership is a con

I’ve read through all of these again and just want to say thank you so much! I really appreciate how much help people have given with tips, listing our budget items etc.

Thank you!