Would appreciate any opinions on feasibility of living in 1 bedroom flat in decent, safe area of London and managing to save anything on 60k...main expenditures would be railcard, eat out once a week max, run a car, holidays twice a year plus all the usual. The wife will be studying so need to support her living expenses too.Many thanks

Easy! I started down here 4 years ago on £34k, and have managed life down here in a 2-bed flat in a lovely area (Richmond, and over-looking the river)! Admittedly, I had minimal travel then, but I changed jobs, commuted to the Wharf, and was still more than fine on £55k

Should be enough.If you can learn to live frugally, 60k in london is more than enough.I have a friend working for Amnesty International who only gets paid travel expenses and yet manages to go out at least twice a week and travels the UK. She's been doing so for almost a year now.http://corporatewhore.blog.com

You should have no worries there. that gives you a monthly take home of around £3100. living zone 3 kind of area (maybe chiswick or ealing) a nice one bed would set you back £1100 max. Then about £130 for a rail card, running a car say £300 a month, general expenses £200 a week and bills £200 a month. They are all fairly high estimates and you are left with £500 a month

That's great to hear Helen...I was thinking about Richmond/St Margarets, but worried about the commute to the city and whether anything would be affordable. You've given me hope....

I have always wondered why people consider commuting in london to be so pricey and a major expense. In the salary ranges you are all talking £130 for a zones 1-4 monthly travel card, is nothing

Hold on..! £130 is still a lot of money for many people. I have to run a car as well as buying a travelcard but wish I could do away with the travelcard and just use the car for everything, like they do in cities outside of London. It's almost like £130 for a travelcard is a sort of "London tax" given that I have to run a car in any event. I earn around half the salaries being talked about above however.

I agree it is a lot of money for most people. My point was aimed at those here worrying about how they can cope on £60k a yearI take the other view on london though. i love the fact that i can do without a car and rely on public transport. And £130 a month is a lot less than many peöple spend on petrol just to get to work

"And £130 a month is a lot less than many peöple spend on petrol just to get to work" - and that's before parking costs!I'm based oop north and choose to get the train as it's relatively hassle free, quicker and ultimately cheaper.With those 'hire by the hour' deals on car hire (whizzgo? - sp?!), I know a number of people in London who are flogging their cars.

Can you imagine taking a date somewhere on public transport in London?? Making smalltalk on a pakced out grotty northern line train as some kids and a guy with BO squash up against you? Or doing the groceries shopping?? Or taking an old sofa or garden waste to the dump?? Or taking your kids to the zoo and coming back on the bus/tube a friday evening with all the louts about? Thanks but no thankx!As for the 'hire by the hour' thing, that's fine if you don't mind spending a fortune just to drive around in a smart car for the day and then having to trek halfway across town to take the thing back again

"Can you imagine taking a date somewhere on public transport in London?? Making smalltalk on a pakced out grotty northern line train as some kids and a guy with BO squash up against you?"- When I was there the tube wasn't busy at 'date o'clock' - only in the rush hour. May have changed in the last 2 years. "Or doing the groceries shopping??" - Tesco Direct and local markets are your friends"Or taking an old sofa or garden waste to the dump??"- Get the council to pick it up"Or taking your kids to the zoo and coming back on the bus/tube a friday evening with all the louts about?"- Granted, it's a problem if you have kids. Most people on this thread don't seem to. "Thanks but no thankx! "- Fine. Your choice."As for the 'hire by the hour' thing, that's fine if you don't mind spending a fortune just to drive around in a smart car for the day and then having to trek halfway across town to take the thing back again"- again, if you don't live near the pickup point, it's not viable: Some people do.

anon, you're hilarious. You cretin. Well done, Martin.And to the thread-starter - bit different from RoF, eh? I'm neither a lawyer nor a MC, but this has reassured me which world I'd rather move in.

Richmond is cool - and if you're close to station it's a pretty good commute too, about 15-20 minutes into Waterloo.

The living is fine, and I love my flat (admittedly exceedingly cheap for Richmond at £900/month). However, the commute is another matter, and I am sure that SW Trains and Ken are conspiring against me!

Ocado is best

i live on 20k a year and i live the full life. in under 6 months ive saved over £3k

How sick! someone wondering if he could survive on a 60K..well I earn £200 a month-working for a charity and I have survived for the last 2 years. I shop at sainsbury ( look out for 2 for one deals) Cyle to work- shop for clothes one a year ( stock it up at Harrod's sale) Read leisure books in bookstore and libraries- being a fanstatic cook I don't need to go to restaurants and have wondeful set of friends!stop complaining and start appreciating of what you've got!oh by the way-Only the yearly Harrod's sale and the flat at Belgravia are gifts from daddy.

When you say "the flat in Belgravia" I kind of lost sympathy for you...guess you're just riding out time til daddy dies and the trust fund is yours.

hi 'trust me!'- i can see you are a mean cow!!!!!! i can't help it if the money is old- but can't you at least appreciate my effort of trying to detach from this 'worldly hankering' - trust fund indeed! i was at Oxbridge- and you should know-nothing could open its doors- was into investment banking, but ended up with a charity which at the end of the day makes me a happier person- sorry if this makes you feel like a loser.and ask me what am i doing in this forum?

I grew up in what people describe as &apos;a run down&apos; part of town. One thing I realised while growing up was that living on 30K in London is easy. However if you choose to live in an expensive part of town, eat & drink out all the time, smoke and wear designer clothes then you will struggle. I have learnt to appreciate the things that matter in life; people. They don&apos;t cost you anything - just try speaking to them. <br>As for Posh daddy&apos;s girls who live in Hampstead, Ken and Belgravia.. Well lets just say I have had my fair share. Those type of girls have everything so dont tend to be gold diggers at all. They appreciate <b>real</b> people with life stories who care little about material things but more about living life.<br>We are all trying to leave our mark and change the world in our own way so if working for charity does it for you then that is great.<br>Funnies thing is &apos;trust me&apos; probably wants to get with a girl like &apos;tot&apos; but lacks the confidence to approach a woman like her.<br>&apos;trust me&apos; why not head to boujis and if you get in, walk up to one of the so call posh girls and try your luck. When they ask what you do and where you live, don&apos;t lie and say quants and Kensington! Rather tell her your a plumber from Hackney. Might just work for you!

tot, At £200 a month your charity is paying you about a quarter of the minimum wage. I&apos;d be quiet about it unless you want the state to close it down!

I’ve lived in Richmond for almost 10 years, and have recently moved out to Harpenden (north of the M25). Rental costs are much lower in Harpenden. For £1,000 to £1,200 you could get a really good 2 – 3 bed house, rather than a 1 bed flat in Richmond, and the commute is a whole lot easier, much more frequent, and you get a seat at rush hour. Although we are out in the country here, it’s only 30 minutes direct train to the City. Monthly travel costs are a lot higher though at about £300.I’ve gone back a few times to visit Richmond, which is a place that I will always hold dear, but I don’t miss the congestion and the hurried pace.Harpenden doesn’t have the river or the wild pubs, but it does have rolling countryside, great transport links to the City and to airports, excellent restaraunts, and some top notch state schools. The pace of life is also a little less hurried out here which is nice.The other thing I like is that its less than an hour on the train for friends from Richmond to come and visit us here. It looks like more than one set of them are following us out here !!!Best of luck, wherever you end up settling