Cost of living

I realize that this can vary tremendously if you are near London or if you need a car because you are out in a more remote area, but I'm wondering, what does it take for an average family of three to live comfortably in the UK?  That's such a hard question to even quantify, I realize, but I'm wondering what we should try to shoot for when it comes time to move back there - probably about three years after Simon is here in the States. 

Everything is so expensive there (in the UK) I just don't want to get there and realize we will have to live like paupers, when we will have it pretty good here on my salary.  It really worries me actually.

~Liza

yikes this will vary not only on area but on how you want your life to be 'comfortable'.

if i throw out what i want to be comfortable i'll get attacked!  i'm a bit of a snob about a lot of stuff.  but i accept that 

in my opinion for the cost of living in London sallaries are quite low across the board.  (it seems much harder to find jobs that pay over 100K lets say here in the UK than in the major cities in the US).

Cost of goods is quite high, some more than others.

Car is tough, awfully expensive to run here....

i dunno lizanne, i can PM you if you like.

in my opinion for the cost of living in London salaries are quite low across the board.  (it seems much harder to find jobs that pay over 100K lets say here in the UK than in the major cities in the US).

100K, £ or $?

if i throw out what i want to be comfortable i'll get attacked!  i'm a bit of a snob about a lot of stuff.  but i accept that 

I probably would too - so we won't go there. 

I know this is a really difficult question to answer as everyone has their own ideas of what is a decent standard of living.  I even had a hard time wording the OP - just hoping to get some idea of what it takes to live, and not have to worry about running the heat or buying groceries, you know - the basics to live I suppose.  Being that close to the edge would even be very uncomfortable for me, but at least it's a starting place.

~Liza

I dunno. At the moment it's just Jon and I. We rent but we have a few more luxuries like Sky TV and two computers and stuff like that.

Anyways, we live in Leeds, we live near the city centre so we don't have to drive. I'm a legal secretary, he works at the University (which doesn't pay as well as if he worked in a regular company) and we still manage to put a substantial amount away in savings. We both get our own weekly personal budget  to play around with and I think we live quite happily. I suppose it's a bit easier for us because we don't have to deal with the expense of having a car but we also spend £475 every month on rent of a two bedroom house (which is actually quite cheap).

I don't think I've really answered your question but just wanted to say that neither Jon or I make a large amount of money yet we can still afford little luxuries and have enough to put away for a new house. Just to give you an idea of how much we're putting away, it's only taking us 6 months to save for a deposit.  Of course West Yorkshire is much different than London but it is possible to live comfortably in the UK. 

Ashley - that really is very helpful!!  That's really the sort of thing I'm interested in hearing.  It's very difficult to equate "here" with "there" - but this does give some idea.  We would probably move to the Yorkshire area as well.

Thanks!!

~Liza

It's easy enough to find out the basics - rent, phone, other utilities, etc and get a monthly figure. Obviously your BF will have some idea as well. But I dare say that living in Yorkshire will be far easier on your purse than London.

Neither my DH or I make great money but it's not bad. If we didn't have our huge student loans (me from the US, him from the UK), we'd be in pretty good shape.

100K, £ or $?

well it was a bit, ok, quite a bit generalization.  but i felt like i saw more job opprotunitues to make $100K than 100K sterling.  If you think that one dollar=one sterling that is.

i know they are out there, i know plenty who make it...but they are...well..much much less experienced than the ones who make that and more here.  that's all i'm saying!!!!

all i can say is lizanne, if i moved here with a child I would totally live in the country.  f london!

amiloo, I am with you.

I live in California which has a very high cost of living too. The proposed social work salary in the UK has been touted as very good at roughly £25-30k. I'd expect at least that much here with excellent benefits in addition. Very good as opposed to what exactly is what I thought.

UK and US expectations are quite different so in the long run you do trade some things for others. There is no real conversion when it comes to values and way of life. You just have to be open minded.

UK and US expectations are quite different so in the long run you do trade some things for others. There is no real conversion when it comes to values and way of life. You just have to be open minded.

And I really am ready to be open minded.  I am setting my expectations at zero - realizing that life there will be nothing like life here, and if I expect it to be I will only be frustrated and disapointed.  But from a comfort level stand point, it's really helpful to have some idea of it will be like.  I make pretty good money here for a single woman (but I'm not wealthy by ANY means!!), and I know I could do well in England if I can transfer with my company.  I guess it just comes down to taking the free fall of just doing it and knowing it's all ok in the end - because it always is. 

~Liza

sorry, I hope you realize I intended the "you" in a general sense.

your thoughts are right on. in the end you may even start to appreciate how much is the same rather than different... and that's always nice 

Before I moved I had a good look at letting agents - the cost of renting a 2 up 2 down is a pretty good indication of how expensive the are is -  at least that is what I found. We couldn't get a 2 up 2 down for anything less than 600 pounds a month - but if we lived further away from a big city, that cost went down.

I think housing prices are the biggest shocker, and the main thing I have to stop thinking that I'm comparing oranges and oranges - I know I'm not!  I pay just under $900/month for a three bedroom, 1,100/sq ft house with a full basement and garage.  But I'm in Michigan - not England.  And it's hard to not have that knee jerk reaction of OMG - I PAY LESS THAN THAT FOR AN ENTIRE HOUSE!!   Because I know it's not the same.  But makes it very difficult to get a grip on what our standard of living will be since I have nothing to base it on.

sorry, I hope you realize I intended the "you" in a general sense.

No - that's ok - I got it.    But it still applies to me directly as well. 

~Liza

I know that I have not yet left the US, but I just cannot see how the cost of living in the UK is that much higher than in the US. I sure hope it is not going to slap me in the face once I get there. Maybe our expenses here in the US are just really high in comparison to others' Us expenses. I have found that it will be easy to rent a 3 bedroom house for 800 pounds a month, which would roughly convert to $1500. This is pretty much what a 3 bedroom house would rent for where we live in Maine. Then there is the cost of health insurance. Food is not cheap here, unless you are willing to eat cheap food. You really do get what you pay for in that respect. I have researched the cost to purchase furniture and household things, like dishes, sheets, baskets, etc. I can't find anything that is over the top outrageous. I, of course, have not looked into any high end designer pieces. Buying a car doesn't seem to be too bad. Car insurance seems to be reasonable . . . So what am I missing? Is eating out really expensive? Are bus or train fairs ridiculously high? I have done many hours of research into wages. It also does not seem that people are paid peanuts in comparison to the same job here in the states. I can't help, but wonder if it is just that people continue reverting everything back to $.

It all depends where you live in the US and where you will be living in the UK.
If you move today from southern california to the yorkshire yuo will find that life might actually be cheaper.  Except for stuff like CD or DVD's.   Some brand names clothes are more expensive  but if you don't care for brands you might just find reasonable prizes for clothing.