To think £2k in rent and bills is “normal”?

[smoosee]

Live in London for work and need to be close to the office. My rent and bills, so water, electricity, council tax, heating, internet, comes to about £2,000 a month. I take home about £5,000 a month , in my mid 20s. Manage to save about £1k a month. AIBU to think this is pretty normal and not exactly living it up for a young professional?

Absolutely normal.

I would say that's cheap, shared house prices rather than a flat on their own. I paid £1200 for a shared house bedroom 10 years ago then with council tax and bills etc it was about 1800. This was zone 4 as well

Yep 2k is normal, what helps is 5k income in your 20s is less normal so you will be feeling it less than others. Still shit though.

£2k rent and bills sounds normal for london. But if you take home £5k a month, £2k on bills and £1k saving what are you doing with the other £2k? You could save a lot more.

Yabu because 5k net a month is a lot in your 20s.
Yanbu about the cost of rent and bills though.

Yes it’s normal rent and bills, especially in London. Luckily you earn much more than normal even in London so will struggle less.

I think the rent and bills are normal, but all you have left after that would be food/clothes/transport/going out. You’ve said you live close to work so not much travel cost. How are you managing to spend £2k a month on that? In your shoes I’d aim to save £2k a month from your take home pay.

do you live alone or in a flat share? in zone 1/2 or further out?

Definitely not normal in my neck of my the woods 😳

Bog standard. If anything, a bit low.

Which bit are you saying is “normal”?

Rent + bills sounds normal to low for decent London accommodation.

£2k pure discretionary spending money is a lot. But it depends what your goals are. If you’re hoping to buy property, you probably need to save more. Are you paying a decent amount (above the minimum) in to a pension on top of saving that £1k?

I agree the bills are normal, to a little low.

The 5k to pay them from is less normal and you should be able to have some fun in the left overs? Meals out, holidays etc which kinda is the high life.

Not normal where I am but then neither is your wage.

Why are you questioning it?

Sounds like normal outgoings to me. Your earnings are quite high though, so that, and saving 1k a month is less common I would say. You presumably are well aware you earn well.

You earn twice what I earn. I keep a family of 4.
Our bills exc rent and food are £700 a month.

Higher than in the north but you also have the higher wage from working in London.

You really should be using that large salary and your age to your advantage to shove quite a lot into a pension. Compound interest is your friend, your young and could give yourself a massive advantage here. It would give you options later so if you earnt less (maternity or part time or stepping back from a high pressure role) you won't be so worried about lowering pension contributions.

I'd say it's low! I've got 3 kids and my outgoings are more like 4k a month 😆

£2k for all bills inc. rent in London is a bargain! House share, I presume?

Where do you live to have such high outgoings, out of curiosity?

Rent and bills sounds low for London.
Spending the same amount, I.e. £2k a month on things other than essentials and still saving £1K sounds quite like the high life to me. You're completely at liberty to do that and enjoy yourself though.

You're doing well in your 20's! Save as much as you can because salaries go up until you have kids...

Mortgage, bills and council tax in the NW comes to about £700 a month for us (two bed terrace with garden, drive and garage). Rent on a similar property would add £150 a month to that.

The 3 dc probably has an impact…

That's a large salary you are very lucky