The Student Room Group

Can i survive in London with a apprenticeship wage of £640pcm ?

Hello

Due to my untenable situation at home and being told that i will be expected to have left home by my 21st birthday later this year.

I have never lived on my own before hence why my question is :

Can i survive in London with a apprenticeship wage of £640pcm ?

I do live in greater London however it costs me £158pm for a travel card from zone 6 to 1 but i have decided that i should move somewhere within a good walking distance of work to greatly reduce the cost of a monthly oyster travelcard including rent and food bills would easily exceed my monthly income.

But i will still need to travel outside work and to get to my apprenticeship training provider.

Flatsharing is inevitable but i have strongly ruled out going into a hostel as it is not a permanent solution.

Any help is greatly appreciated and do feel free to DM if you want to
That doesn't sound like a lot of money at all.

Do you really need a monthly travelcard? Or would pay as you go be cheaper?
Reply 2
Using a pay as you go oyster is very expensive. Because I am an apprentice I get 30% off fares anyway.
Original post by Polka_Specs
Hello

Due to my untenable situation at home and being told that i will be expected to have left home by my 21st birthday later this year.

I have never lived on my own before hence why my question is :

Can i survive in London with a apprenticeship wage of £640pcm ?

I do live in greater London however it costs me £158pm for a travel card from zone 6 to 1 but i have decided that i should move somewhere within a good walking distance of work to greatly reduce the cost of a monthly oyster travelcard including rent and food bills would easily exceed my monthly income.

But i will still need to travel outside work and to get to my apprenticeship training provider.

Flatsharing is inevitable but i have strongly ruled out going into a hostel as it is not a permanent solution.

Any help is greatly appreciated and do feel free to DM if you want to


Not with that money alone, just for a room its typically a minimum of £600-700pcm in zone 2/3 and thats without bills and extra costs. Have a look on spare room to see what people are asking for rooms in different parts of London
http://www.spareroom.co.uk/

You would be eligible to apply for housing benefit as far as I can see, however not all landlords take on people with housing benefit.
Reply 4
Original post by jelly1000
Not with that money alone, just for a room its typically a minimum of £600-700pcm in zone 2/3 and thats without bills and extra costs. Have a look on spare room to see what people are asking for rooms in different parts of London
http://www.spareroom.co.uk/

You would be eligible to apply for housing benefit as far as I can see, however not all landlords take on people with housing benefit.


There are plenty of rooms available for around the 300-400pcm bracket but those require me to share rooms and live in households of at least 6 people. That's effectively overcrowding , although beggars cant be choosers.
Reply 5
I don't know what neighborhoods you are looking at (living or working) but would the £158 be better spent on a bike?
Reply 6
I reside in Hillingdon but work in Kensington & Chelsea. The provision for cycling isn't that great for us outer londoners.

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Reply 7
I was thinking that if you were looking for different housing away from central London. Perhaps there's one neighborhood with a more direct route into Chelsea.
Reply 8
Original post by Camilli
I was thinking that if you were looking for different housing away from central London. Perhaps there's one neighborhood with a more direct route into Chelsea.


I am currently searching for flatshares in North Kensington/W10 but to have a limit of no more than £430. The idea was that if i can move closer to work i can reduce the time and cost associated with commuting , but that is not the motivating factor behind me moving.

Thankfully i do not work in Zone 1 so there's plenty availability of walk to work rentals.
Reply 9
Original post by Polka_Specs
Hello

Due to my untenable situation at home and being told that i will be expected to have left home by my 21st birthday later this year.

I have never lived on my own before hence why my question is :

Can i survive in London with a apprenticeship wage of £640pcm ?

I do live in greater London however it costs me £158pm for a travel card from zone 6 to 1 but i have decided that i should move somewhere within a good walking distance of work to greatly reduce the cost of a monthly oyster travelcard including rent and food bills would easily exceed my monthly income.

But i will still need to travel outside work and to get to my apprenticeship training provider.

Flatsharing is inevitable but i have strongly ruled out going into a hostel as it is not a permanent solution.

Any help is greatly appreciated and do feel free to DM if you want to


You can definitely not live in London only making 640pcm. Rent for a room in London starts from like 400pcm. You would have barely any money left over.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 10
Original post by Polka_Specs
I am currently searching for flatshares in North Kensington/W10 but to have a limit of no more than £430. The idea was that if i can move closer to work i can reduce the time and cost associated with commuting , but that is not the motivating factor behind me moving.

Thankfully i do not work in Zone 1 so there's plenty availability of walk to work rentals.


North kensington lol?....Kensington is one of the most expensive boroughs in london to live.

You are VERY unlikely to find something for less than 430pcm in Kensington. If you can, then you truly are some sort of wizard
I am assuming you've never been there before.

There is a massive disparity between south and the north of Rbkc.

Generally the south is very very wealthy and Is sterilised

Whereas the north Is much more diverse and social deprivation is rampant.
Could probably do it in the north of England at a squeeze but I'm struggling to see it being possible in London.

Some of the older generation have unrealistic expectations of us twenty somethings.
For me the need to move out is not driven by me needing my own space and to be independent.

The situation at home is brutal I have no one I feel like I can talk to and every waking hour is just another opportunity for my family to demotivate and insult me. Perhaps it's why confidence is a rock bottom and have adopted a defeatist mind set.
A friend of mine is staying in an old building in Zone 3 for about 150 pounds p/m.

Google Live In Guardians.

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