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?

£95k salary is good, especially for someone in their mid 20’s although I would argue that you’re probably not even in the top 25% of earners for London but top 2% nationally. I earn similar but 2 hours from London and I doubt I could comfortably live off that salary AND save if I lived in central (ish) London.

That said, £2k a month all in for living costs is very reasonable.

6 years ago, we were paying 2k a month rent in London (only a damp, 2 and a half bed dump), and about £400 a month in bills, so I would say that’s very normal.

It makes me feel sick now, we moved somewhere a lot cheaper and our mortgage is £500 a month!

Your outgoings are normal but your earnings are considerably above normal. But you know this don't you. So are you gloating and cruelly taking the piss out of people who will never earn that much at the end of their career let alone at the beginning? Or have you just made up it up because you think its funny? Either way, you should probably get a life.

When I was in my 20s 20 years ago I remember thinking it was £1k for rent and bills in the south but not in London. These days it's £2k but our mortgage is high. £2k for London sounds quite good.

I think saving onky £1k from £3k means you must be blowing money, especially if you’re not running a car.

Another humble brag post.

Enjoying the delights of being a successful 20 something in London I hope.

My DD and her BF are literally moving into their first house tomorrow. Rented.
I actually told them that they'd need at least £2000 a month just for bills.

I mean, I live in Yorkshire and have a mortgage. All in all I pay around £700 less in comparison. But, you are obviously doing really well for your age to be earning that money, and considering it's London I'd say that's very good. If you combine most rents and bills anywhere I don't think the difference would be much bar a few hundred maybe.

I think you're misdirection attention here. £2k a month on rent and bills seems normal, but spending £2k definitely isn't. However, it's your money, so up to you what you do with it.

so, in OP's own words, "Living it up?"

This is what needs clarifying. The £2k is probably a fairly normal outgoing for rent and bills for someone in their mid 20s in London, and for a good swathe of the rest of the country (albeit you might be getting quite a lot more for your £2k, e.g. 2 bed flat vs studio apt).

Earning at least £88k (£96k if also paying back a student loan - and I assume someone earning that much in their mid 20s probably does have a degree) - which is how much you'd need to 'take home' £5k a month IS very very unusual for someone in their mid 20s, even in London.

So is OP asking whether her salary is average, her lifestyle, the amount she pays on rent and bills or her discretionary spending? What is she being accused of 'living it up' i.e. spending lavishly on?

My mortgage and council tax alone are over £2k

Ours comes to £3k, so £1.5k each. (Mortgage, not rent; plus bills.) My income is a lot less than yours, and I’m a lot older than you 😫
But yes, £2k is very normal.

It’s the salary you’re lucky with, rent and bills doesn’t sound overly high for London. But a 85-90k salary is going to go a lot further than 50k isn’t it.

What do people mean when they say people are “lucky” to have a salary of X?

Ahhh.... That's the true purpose of this thread then. 🙄

Ours is that much and not even in London or the South. And we don’t earn anywhere near the OP’s wage.

Go and sit in a quiet room

and think about other people , who earn far less than you - take a nurse and a care worker as your first example - and ask yourself - do they work as hard as you? Or harder Could you do their job ? Or would it be a struggle ?

then the “what if” - what if I had to spend my childhood caring for mum rather than going to school? Would I be where I am now with no exams or education? With ill health brought on by the stress and dancing conditions of my childhood?

or even what if I had a bad cold or had just split from my boyfriend the day before my interview

or what if - you ended up losing both jobs to people who were prettier than you , what if you had a rough accent or a darker skin color ?

"Lucky" in that, with a household after tax income of £1112 per week approx, you have a higher income than around 94% of the UK population.

🙄

Lord help some people.

I guess a good income doesn't mean you have to have any basic common sense.

ODFOD

This.
Well done on your salary. I have one mid 20s they are still living at home on minimum wage and try so hard to save. They love their job but are thinking of retraining just to earn a higher wage.

Well you surely understand that being able to save over 20k per annum is good and not typical of an average eaner? I'm not sure if this is a stealth brag or you're just totally detached from most people's reality

It’s a normal proportion of your wage and quite reasonable. When I lived in London, 25 years ago, it was the time when rent was supposed to be a quarter to a third of your income. That must be much harder to achieve now so I’d say you’re doing very well. That’s a very high salary too!

It’s a normal amount for bills. I’m on similar wage but paying mortgage instead of rent for my 1st house in Kent. Total a month £2100 and that covers every bill including small subscriptions like Amazon etc. Keep saving while you can and you will be in a good position to buy a property if you wish later in life.