realistically do you think you are able to live decently-ish off one wage on London?

[scrunchiemount]

We are ttc baby no 1 at the moment. Original plan had been to move out of London due to crazy house prices but I have lived here all my life and am really struggling with the idea of leaving. We are renting at the moment but will buy when our lease ends next April. Not quite sure what our budget will end up being but it is likely to be somewhere around the 350-400k mark (400k would be absolute max). I am open to different areas but quite like Forest Hill/Brockley/Cystal Palace where I am confident we could get a 2 bedroom flat for our money.

My DH is on about 80k plus decent annual bonus and we expect his wage to go up in the next couple of years. I am on less than half that amount and it was always my intention to be a SAHM at least while kids are young (although I know I may well end up changing my mind!). My question to you is do you think this is doable in London? We are not particularly extravagant; we usually go on one big foreign holiday a year interspersed with cheaper and smaller breaks in the UK, I cook at home most days although we do eat out probably once a week on average, we don't own a car and if we stay in London we probably won't get one at all. We live a comfortable life at the moment and I am currently doing a Master's degree which takes a big chunk of my salary so actually we mainly live off DH's wages already. However my parents were always really financially stretched growing up and now my DM really struggles on her own (divorced about 10 years ago). I don't want to be in the same position. Not asking to live mega comfortably or anything, just don't want to have to worry about money every month.

Really grateful for any advice or insight you might have. London is my home and I'm very reluctant to leave it and move elsewhere where I have no existing friends or family, however I will not put that over financial security when it comes down to it.

Thank you!

The cost of having another child isn't going to be much different whether that is in London or outside. It sounds as if it all depends on how much difference your new mortgage will cost you but more crucially, how happy four of you will be in a two bed flat. IME it is this issue - space - that pushes people to leave London with growing DC's, not the day to day costs so much. London has so much to offer to families and plenty of it is free or reasonably priced but property prices are the real killer - feeling cramped at home and not having private outside space is usually the deal breaker....

sleepwhenidie thank you for your advice! sorry should have been more clear, no baby at all yet, just DH and me (and two cats!). But hopefully baby in next year so just planning ahead.

totally get you on the space thing, grew up in a three bedroom house with four siblings though so am quite used to being a bit cramped.

suspect we will prob be forced to move away eventually but think I just want to be near my family and friends when we are just starting out as parents...

I think you'd be fine on that income. Plenty of Londoners on less combined, with childcare costs on top & you won't have those.

thanks MavisG, you're right, my mum raised the five of us on less than 40k in this city (although of course house prices were cheaper then) - it's just I have had open mouthed looks of disgust from others when I have floated the idea of buying in London - saying you can't live here on less than 100k or whatever...

thanks notonly, yes v open to Hither Green and Catford, grew up in East London so don't know these areas very well but I know there are plenty of families round there. The most important two things for DH besides money are length of his commute (he works in Oxford circus) and a non-dodgy area (less of a big deal for me as grew up in v rough area with no issues but would be nice to be around more young families)

I grew up in London too and we were on similar money to you when DS was young, I'm a sahm and we manage fine. We have a 2 bed flat which is fine for DH, DS and me. I personally wouldn't want to squeeze any more into it so that's going to be it for us, but I grew up in a 3 bed with 4 siblings as well and never liked sharing a room! But of course many families do. We have never had a car and are lucky to have had a big enough deposit (from saving up earnings, not inheritance or a parental gift!) to get us a very central location, where transport options are great.

We have a good quality of life, DS has a place in an excellent state school, lots of everyday luxuries like eating out, sports and enjoying London theatre and nice holidays. If we had more dc we'd have to cut back more, but I think you'll certainly be fine with one child.

Feel free not to share, but what is your DH monthly take home? I think with his salary and you as a SAHM then it should be doable as you will have no child care costs.

I echo what others have said about stretching to a 3-bed if possible, as your mortgage offer will be slashed once you have a child and quit work so you may find it very difficult to upsize if you are hoping to have more DC.
Also consider where you will store (and thespare room may be the only storage) for all the baby paraphernalia you will need to keep between baby #1 and #2. Thinking way ahead but this could be you in 2-3y!
You can always downsize if your plan doesn't work out but hope it does - good luck!

P.s Forest Hill and Crystal Palace are very nice - great parks and lovely cafés close by so brilliant pre and post kids. Brocket i know less well up apparently up and coming and well connected, too.

DH takes home 4200 a month roughly at the moment. Yes I totally get what you're all saying about space as I definitely want more than one dc (may stop at two, but will want a sibling for the first one for sure). Need to think about this further. I shared a room growing up and it was fine but ideally would need 3 bedrooms. A tall order for our budget I feel!

Thanks notonly, will take a look. Will be a good year or so before we move but really torn between being in the area I love (London) and in a house that gives us more for our money.

I live in greater london but not central london and think that i get better value for my money here than living in zone 2 as i used to. Not only i have a larger place but there is a more family friendly enviroment. And my commute is just 10 mins longer than before.

May i ask what is it that you love about your area op?

Hi Nolim, may I ask where you live? Well I live in Islington at the moment which I love (so many nice places and lots going on) but we could never afford anything round here. I like the forest hill area as there are lots of young families, nice cafes and restaurants and a lovely community feeling while at the same time it's still quite Central. Mind you I have differed with some people on what central is - I was brought up in the Stratford area and some people consider that the 'outskirts' even though you can be in Oxford circus in 20 mins!

Sutton, zone five. Almost surrey but technically london.

We live in South London. Not as close in as you but combined income of £3000. We have one Dd, mortgage, can afford over payments and savings and nursery fees for 2 days a week. we are very stingy but have a comfortable life.
Very very doable on your income.

I think DH's view is that if we're living in London we ought to be relatively central, as if we move to the outskirts like Sutton, Watford etc, we might as well move out further and get even more for our money.

Have to say no offence to you whatsoever but I also have been to Sutton and I don't think it's my cup of tea.

wetsnow that's great to hear!

Oh and we have a 3 bed house.

No offense taken op.

But you didnt answer my question: what do you love about your area, or rather what is your criteria for choosing a new area.

Sorry thought I answered in previous post! Lots of green space, decent transport links, young families, nice choice of cafes and restaurants, lots of decent local shops within walking distance. I actually live in Islington at the moment which would be way too expensive for us to buy in, but I do love forest hill for the same reasons.

We live in Chislehurst /new Eltham.

Has all of the above.

Thanks wet snow, will take a look. V open to new areas.

Do you have deposit? A mortgage of £400k would set you about approx £1900/month with interest rate of 3% over 25y. I presume you have a deposit, so monthly payments will be lower than this plus you can fix for for a few years. With a take home of £4200 (and rising) and no childcare costs then this would give £2300 for food, bills etc. If you are savvy about the the things you buy then babies are not expensive.

This all said with the usual caveat of interest rises and that babies grow into children who consume £££! Equally don't over think things!

Yes deposit wise we have 50k at the moment plus what we save over the next year. Really I would prefer to spend about 350k but that gets you a shoebox in London. Really sad that so many of us who grew up here are being priced out of our home city, especially when I consider DH and I earn relatively good money compared to others I know of the same age (we are 26 and 30). I don't know who these people are who can afford 800,000 flats in Islington - when I walk past these houses I sometimes have the impulse to knock on the door and ask them what they do for a living :)

OP, I grew up near Stratford. I now live in zone 4.

We can get to Central London in about 1/2 hour, but to be honest, when you have children, you probably won't want to go very often. Central London is noisy, congested and can you imagine trying to navigate the tube or bus with a pram!!

We have parks, museums, libraries and theatres locally which my children love.