Cost to live in London

I'm an offer holder at LSE and I am completing the cost of attendance spreadsheet now. I did have a question about living in London. My assumptions about living in London are lower than the assumptions made by LSE, that appear to be an overestimate. Do you think my assumptions are realistic? They make a huge difference over the two years and I am trying to determine how much debt I will be in when I graduate.

My best guess as to the minimum possible expenses for the costs for 1 year (in pounds): Housing/rent: 230/week or 12000/year Books: One time expense of 500 pounds Transport: 32/week or 1664/year (this is the same as below, is this too much?) Everything else: 200/week or 10400/year

LSE’s assumptions (in pounds): Housing/rent: 270/week or 14040/year Books/copying: 30/week or 1560/year Food/power: 90/week or 4680/year Transport: 32/week or 1664/year Personal: 80/week or 4160/year
How cheaply canyou live in London? What is the minimum amount necessary to survive and live ata level where you can still meet all your basic needs and do well in school?

@YulianaRus, Starbucks will be about £3 a drink, I'd suggest only buying coffee occasionally and making it yourself more often to save a lot of money.

@arctickenai, rent will be your biggest expense but you forgo a lot of travel costs if you live in LSE accommodation as they are generally close to the School. I lived in a Unite hall this year which was £150 a week and it was still a student hall so you don't miss out on the 'halls experience' by not necessarily living in LSE accommodation and it was a lot cheaper.

I don't think you'll really need to spend £500 on books, a lot of them are available from the library or are scanned in online. Depending on your course, you could get away with hardly buying any and just using the ones available in the library, but think about this after you've been there for a few weeks and know what your reading list is like. If you do buy books, look on eBay and in the used bookshop on campus for cheaper alternatives than buying them new. In my first year, I probably spent about £200 on books in total (Accounting & Finance). I definitely didn't read them all.

Transport seems a bit steep at £32 a week, assuming you'll live in LSE halls. I think most halls are within walking distance and I'd encourage you to walk where you can. Try to get buses if you need to use public transport as this is cheaper than the tube and if you have a 16-25 railcard, attach this to your Oyster as you receive 1/3 off off-peak fares too. If you aren't in halls and live further out, you'll be spending more on transport and might want to look into a student Oyster card with a travel card instead of paying a single fare each time, if this works out to be cheaper once you know your schedule.

Where food is concerned, like squeakysquirrel said, try to shop at Aldi or Morrisons as these tend to be the cheapest options. Having said that, I definitely don't see them as often as I see Tesco and Sainsbury's. Make sure you get supermarket loyalty cards and shop around for the best deals if you can (hotukdeals.com is great!) If you're in catered halls, they (they did in Rosebery, where I stayed) provide an evening meal where you get access to a salad bar, fruit, yogurt etc. I used to eat the hot food for dinner as there was more than enough and then take fruit and yogurt up to my room for breakfast, so I only needed to buy lunch/snacks. (You could take the salad up for lunch but I don't like salad so... haha)

For other expenses, it will depend on you as a person. If you go out a lot, you'll spend a lot more. If you buy new things all the time, you'll spend more, etc. You'll need to assess your own spending habits. I think you just need to be smart about your money and know where it's going and when you need to pay for things and make sure you'll be able to make those commitments.

Sorry if this got a bit off topic, got a bit carried away with things.