How long can you survive in a small flat?

[erkeline]

I was brought up in the countryside. Big house and lots of open space. Dogs & market towns vibe.

Now I live in London for work. DP and I are saving hard for a deposit. We rent a one bedroom flat together, 40 sqm close to work so to save on commuting costs. It's a glorified bedsit.

We have done one year here already. Despite earning a good income, for London it doesn't go far. (We make about 120k combined). Appreciate some people have no choice, but by late 20s we thought we would be able to afford a slightly better lifestyle than this.

How long can you survive in a tiny flat?

Bleurgh. To auto correct typos

Similar salaries to you OP. We lived in a two bed 850sqm flat with two DC for 4 years and I was pulling my hair out by the end of our time there. When we moved last year, we didn't know what to do with all the extra space (even though our terrace house is not much bigger than the flat) - especially the garden!!! In hindsight, we'd have moved from the flat before having DC. I feel like living in a flat with little children really affected my mental health. Save and move somewhere bigger.

People are mentioning the cleaning - I remember my central London flat that took 40 mins to clean. To clean to the same standard now with kids and animals would take 40 hours. Stick it as long as you're enjoying London and what it has to offer.

you could afford a slightly better lifestyle.....by moving somewhere else. So what is the point of this post?

You also don't mention children, yet the majority of people replying will have children so need more space/have far less disposable income than you so I a) don't actually understand the point of this self pitying post or b) understand why you chose this forum to post on

Errrr since when is mumsnet only for those already with children? @LT1982

DH and I earn the same as you but live in a 4 bedroom house in a nice area of the NE. We both have jobs with a good work life balance. I'd not choose to compromise space to the extent that you have (I grew up in a rambling farmhouse in Scotland, space is very important to me).

I mean for context I spent most of my twenties flat sharing in London so my only private space was a bedroom, and it wasn't naice central locations either - more like Camberwell and New Cross.

Many of my younger colleagues these days flat sbare as couples to save even more money - eg a two bed flat with a couple in each room.

There are many many young people living in London on a lot less and managing to save money.