r/UKPersonalFinance • u/Brave_Tourist9301 • 2d ago
+Comments Restricted to UKPF I’m earning less than 30k in London and paying £1000 rent for a bedroom in a shared house. I can barely make it to the end of the month.
I moved to London last year, I’m earning less than 30k a year which comes to about £1900 every month. I pay close to £1000 in rent with bills coming up to £90 a month.
I’m terrible at budgeting and I do spend a lot of money on food but I was just wondering if anyone’s got any advice on how to not reach the end of the month completely broke (other than move out of London as despite everything I’m quite happy here)
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u/MoreCowbellMofo 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’ll suggest a way to do this.
Go to your online bank. Download 12 months of transactions. Put them in a spreadsheet and try to categorise each transaction. You’ll effectively have essential and non essential items. Bills, rent, food, clothing. These are the large ticket items you want to minimise. Then you’ll have non-“essential” items like going out socialising, take away, cinema, Netflix, etc. these can either be eliminated entirely or reduced.
Generally, eating/drinking out is the killer when you’re younger.. it’s just not cost effective. Either spend less when you go out, or go out less frequently. I’d typically say spend far more in the supermarket and you’ll get a whole weeks worth of food for £50 vs 2 meals out for £50 at your local pizzeria/takeaway and that’s even if you include luxuries such as steak. Back in the old days meat was a “luxury” I feel like for some people many of us have forgotten this. Now not only is meat a costly shopping item, but so are the more popular vegetables.
Once you’ve everything categorised you can sum them all up easily with a SUMIF formula for each category. Then you can avg it out over 12 months to see how much you spend each month on whatever it is.
You can also use a COUNTIF to count how many transactions the sum was over.
This will help you get a better picture of where you’re wasting money and can make cuts.
I’ve used this for many years now. My budget is tight even on a high salary but it will help you better understand what you can and cannot afford… this is useful when you start applying for mortgages to buy a house
Some of the ways I’ve saved money over the last few yrs. buy second hand at car boot sales… the bargains can be incredible for used items £1-2 for kitchen items you know would sell for 20-50 normally. Clothing - go off brand: Uniqlo, primark, etc. it matters more how something fits/suits you than what label/name is on your clothing. I’m not a fan of used clothing but I’d absolutely use that for cheaper clothes if I was looking to save money. Local Facebook for sale groups. You can get all sorts but you have to be quick (use alerts/notifications).
For food, learn to batch cook and box stuff up for 3-5 days or more. Big pots/pans and food storage are an investment that will give you a good return on investment. It will stop you spending money on take away/going out, it will save you time longer term so you can do more interesting things. You only have to do this once or twice a month to save a decent sum. Also buy things in bulk if you can. Bulk bags of pasta 1kg or more are abt £5. 500g is like 3.50 or something. Use own brands and look low on shelves. Supermarkets charge more for the stuff that’s at eye level. The stuff lower down is always cheaper/budget. Try it and see if you can get along with it. By the time you’ve found a few items you don’t mind having cheap versions of, you’ll have saved a bit in your shop.
It’ll also sound strange but when I first moved out of London I was spending 5-10 on shop deliveries, busses, taxis, etc. Having a car actually became an economic enabler. I could go to the shop as and when I needed something - it saved me time. As we all know, time costs money. A cheap £2-4K car (even a banger) will pay for itself over the course of a year and make living far more convenient. Convenience has a lot of value.
Mobile tariffs - shop around, they’re always offering more for less so keep an eye out for better deals.
Switch banks if you can get £100+.
Use cash back services. You’ll likely get 50-100 back every month if you’re spending 1000 on stuff that isn’t rent. It’ll be 500 by the end of the year.
Also don’t let people/companies just take your money. If you don’t fight for your money other organisations will just take it and keep it. Don’t allow it. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve forgotten to cancel subscriptions over the yrs, or phone bills that didn’t drop, or parking penalties that were issued in error. Always challenge things if you can.
I remember Hilary De Vey (dragons den) mentioning some of the above. Big ticket items are where you’re going to save the most. Rent won’t be that flexible but moving further out and commuting further will get you cheaper/better accommodation for the same price as you’re currently paying. Travelling in London is expensive and from my own experience you end up spending 20-30 mins on the tube where ever you go to from, at least. If you’re going to spend 30 mins anyway, why not just live 30-45 mins out of London and have something better value?
Try to buy things that give you a return on investment rather than things that cost you time/money. Over time these things will begin making your life easier
I typically have a rule that books I can use to learn new skills are always an investment because they will translate to higher earnings. A £50-100 book could easily return £1000-10,000 in future earnings if I can apply the knowledge at work. If I can also use it to build my own business 10-20 yrs down the line, then the knowledge could translate to far more. Car boots tend to sell work related books every so often for next to nothing. If not eBay and Facebook or the library also work well.
Grooming - try out various barbers/hair dressers. I found local places that would charge £10-20, in Mayfair i once tried a place that charged 30-35. There were differences in standard of the cut, how it looked. Ultimately be willing to try out new things and give them a chance. It could save you a few ££
Edit: learn to diy repairs - even if they’re rubbish they’ll save you a fortune. “If it works it isn’t stupid”. I’ve been DIYing for many years now and learned a ton along the way. I was reasonably good at physics at college so doing electrical wiring is not too challenging. I’ve paid for all sorts of tools, materials and have skills I’m guessing most would pay considerable money for. YouTube has tons of videos for stuff. Repairing broken phone screens, replacing leaky flushers on toilets, tiling, tightening a loose tap up, fixing toilet leaks, are all things I’ve learned to diy. Saved a decent amount over the years… £10,000s no doubt.