Reasonable budget for single female (with pets) in/around London?

Hi all,

I am trying to work out a basic budget for living abroad, as I would like to save up a substantial amount (ideally 6 months' worth of these projected expenses) before I move, in case it takes a while to find a job, or I am made redundant, etc.

I will be moving with 1 large dog (male, neutered, housebroken, super friendly) and 1 cat (male, neutered, housebroken, super friendly).  I am open to a flatshare or living alone.  Ideally, I would like to live outside of London itself, both to have some space (I'm more of a suburb/rural fan than a city fan) and to lower cost of living.

With that said, here are my projected income/expenses.

All figures are per month.

INCOME - Assume £30,000/year, salary range for my job seems to be £25k-£40k

£2,500	Gross Pay
-£400	Taxes
-£225	NI
-£50	Pension/retirement
£1,825	Net Take-home

EXPENSES
Fixed

£600	Rent
£90	Council Tax
£10	Renter's Insurance
£20	Electric
£25	Gas
£40	Internet (incl phone if needed for internet)
£20	Water/sewer
£10	Cell phone (PAYG)
£200	Loan payments (US)

Total Fixed: £1,015

Variable

£20	Clothing
£150	Transportation (public)
£200	Groceries
£75	Dining out
£100	Entertainment (movies, books, etc.)
£180	Horse riding
£20	Gifts

Total Variable: £745

Leftover: £65

Do these numbers seem reasonable?  I'm a bit unnerved by only having £65 left over at the end of the month to save (at the moment I'm saving ~$600/mo for various expenses/goals).  Is that normal, and doable?

Also, several flats I've seen seem to include bills in their pcw/pcm fees, but I thought it safer to assume I would pay them...I would rather discover I have plenty of cash at the end of the month than the opposite!  I also don't know if £600/mo is realistic for finding a flat-share or studio in a safe neighborhood with easy access to public transportation, or if transport costs make sense if I'm living outside of London.

Thanks for any advice!

I'm not sure about the rates in London, but I can give you an idea of what I pay in Bristol (I have no pets and I share a 3-bed flat with 2 other people - we split bills 3 ways):

Take-home income: £930 per month

£325	Rent
£42	Council Tax - (£123 a month split 3 ways)
£0	Renter's Insurance - don't think I have renter's insurance
£35	Electric and Gas - estimate, because it varies month to month
£9	Internet, digital TV and phone line (about £27 a month for all 3 services)
£0	Water/sewer - I think we only pay water every 6 months and I have no idea how much it is
£15	Cell phone - SIM only contract
£52	Car insurance

Total Fixed: £478

Variable

£50	Clothing
£50	Transportation (gas for car)
£100	Groceries
£30	Dining out
£20	Entertainment (movies, books, etc.)
£15	Swimming
£100	Credit card payment

Total Variable: £365

Leftover: £87

Generally what we do in our flat is that all the rent and bills come out of one bank account so each month I transfer my rent plus £100 for utilities (£425 in total) to my flatmate's account and then she pays the bills from there. If there are any changes to the amounts each month, then we just put a bit more money in. Generally, I don't think that utilities are included here, but in some cases, landlords do include water/utilities in their rent amount - I think it just depends on the circumstances.

Lately I have ended up spending more money than I wanted to on extra stuff (i.e. credit card, US visa fees, furniture/stuff for my flat etc.), so I've only managed to put a total of £100 into my savings in the last 8 months (and in the meantime I've had to withdraw £450 from my savings account to pay for the deposit on the flat). Ideally I wouldn't use my credit card at all, but extra expenses just seem to keep popping up .

Your budget looks great.  You have been very conservative in your extra estimates, so you should be able to possibly squeeze a little more in some of the expenses like entertainment and eating out, so that you have a bit more for savings.  When I first moved to London 4 years ago, I was able to live in zone 3 in North London in a one bed flat for £700 per month on just under £30K per year.  I didn't have much left over each month, but that was because I wasn't splitting expenses and I also have a bit of a shopping problem.  My US loans are only £100 a month as well. The further you get out of london, you will see rents decrease a bit and I would expect your budget for a flatshare is very generous in Zone 4 and further out.

Some of your expenses are too low: mobile phone (prolly more like 15-20, especially if you use it lots for job-searching), clothes (£20 will buy 1 thing).

Groceries are too high (we're 2 people and spend roughly £160/month) and things like horse riding will vary considerably.  I think the stables I used to volunteer at charged something like £40/lesson - so your estimates probably are pretty good.

For a house share, £40 is too much for internet/TV & £20 is too much for water (we pay this much for a 2 bed flat in total!).  Your share of the council tax will probably be a bit lower, too (£90 is what a one bed flat would pay in total...so a larger house might pay £150 total, split that 3-4 ways for a house share!).

The rent honestly depends on where you live.  For a house share, that number might be a bit high unless you live in a quite central locale or high-spec flat/house.  If you're looking at more 'suburban' like Zone 4+, your share might be more like £450-500.

Some of your expenses are too low: mobile phone (prolly more like 15-20, especially if you use it lots for job-searching), clothes (£20 will buy 1 thing).

Thankfully, I generally only buy about 1 piece of clothing per month.   I have a good supply of nice work clothes, and probably too much of everything else, so I will be thinning out before I move.  Also, I loathe clothes shopping so that makes it a bit easier to avoid spending money.  I'll plan on upping this to £50, just to be safe, though.

Groceries are too high (we're 2 people and spend roughly £160/month)

Good to know, thanks!  I spend ~$150/mo on groceries now, but wasn't sure if food was generally more or less expensive there.

things like horse riding will vary considerably.  I think the stables I used to volunteer at charged something like £40/lesson - so your estimates probably are pretty good.

My current instructor charges $45/lesson, and stables I've looked at online seem to charge £40-50/lesson, so this assumes one lesson/week.

For a house share, £40 is too much for internet/TV & £20 is too much for water (we pay this much for a 2 bed flat in total!).  Your share of the council tax will probably be a bit lower, too (£90 is what a one bed flat would pay in total...so a larger house might pay £150 total, split that 3-4 ways for a house share!).

Awesome.  Financially, I'd prefer a house share.  However, I'm currently renting out a room in my house to a girl I have grown to despise, so the concept of living alone is growing on me!  I also wasn't sure how much extra pets would factor in...here, you'd need to pay a hefty fee to move in, and then usually $10-20 extra per month per pet.  Does anyone know if there is a similar setup there for pets?

The rent honestly depends on where you live.  For a house share, that number might be a bit high unless you live in a quite central locale or high-spec flat/house.  If you're looking at more 'suburban' like Zone 4+, your share might be more like £450-500.

Also good to know.   I've been looking at various websites with apartment listings, but it's hard to tell what places are actually nice (not falling apart) in decent neighborhoods.

I also wasn't sure how much extra pets would factor in...here, you'd need to pay a hefty fee to move in, and then usually $10-20 extra per month per pet.  Does anyone know if there is a similar setup there for pets?

I know what you mean, and no, I haven't found it to be similar here in London, mainly because there are far fewer corporate-y managed apartment complexes (think Avalon and Milestone and all of those that are seemingly all over the place in the burbs back home) and pet policies are up to the individual flat/house owner.  We paid an extra 2 weeks of deposit for our 2 cats, but otherwise, there are no extra pet fees or montly surcharges.  Most of my friends with pets didn't even pay an extra deposit.

We rented a flat with all hardwood floors, so there wasn't a chance of cat barf on the wall-to-wall (aka fitted) carpet, which could jeopardize our deposit. 

We paid an extra 2 weeks of deposit for our 2 cats, but otherwise, there are no extra pet fees or montly surcharges.  Most of my friends with pets didn't even pay an extra deposit.

Was your extra 2 week deposit non-refundable or is it pending the cats not damaging the place somehow?

We rented a flat with all hardwood floors, so there wasn't a chance of cat barf on the wall-to-wall (aka fitted) carpet, which could jeopardize our deposit. 

That sounds exactly like what I'd like...my dog sheds a lot, and it's so much easier/quicker to sweep it up off hardwood floors.

Was it hard to find an owner willing to consider pets?  I have yet to find a listing that says pets are OK - either it says nothing (I assume in that case it's probably no, but may be negotiable), or it says no pets.

It's a bit hit-or-miss to find one that accepts pets.  You honestly just have to keep looking until you find one - but it's not impossible!  Expect most to ask for an extra deposit, though, like 0phinky said.

Also, with your grocery bill I didn't think to factor in dog food, but our ~£160/month is with 1 cat! :p

For start-up, you will need to pay a landlord 6 weeks' deposit (normal...so maybe 8 weeks' with pets) plus one month's rent in advance.  Weirdly, rent is sometimes worked out in months but other things in weeks!  Easiest way to convert a monthly rent into weekly is to monthly x 12, then divided by 52.  Some private landlords might only require 1 month's rent as deposit, but 6 weeks is the norm.  That's quite a lot of money up-front, so you need to factor that into your savings.  Also things like soft furnishings (sheets, pillows, towels, etc.) and food are a large initial start-up money spender.

Thanks for that advice.  My current budget includes $150/mo for pets, but I will not be taking 2 cats with me, so will just have the 1 dog/cat...still need to factor them into my budget, though.  Hopefully £200/mo will adequately cover food for me, food for them, and annual vet care.

My plan is to have 6 months' of expenses saved up before I go (though that'll take a depressingly long time to save), so that should cover paying 3+ months up-front in deposits/advanced rent.  I'm planning on bringing linens with me, but will plan on a double-sized grocery bill the first month or 2 until I have staples stocked up.

Was your extra 2 week deposit non-refundable or is it pending the cats not damaging the place somehow?

That sounds exactly like what I'd like...my dog sheds a lot, and it's so much easier/quicker to sweep it up off hardwood floors.

Was it hard to find an owner willing to consider pets?  I have yet to find a listing that says pets are OK - either it says nothing (I assume in that case it's probably no, but may be negotiable), or it says no pets.

Our extra deposit is refundable.  I think we could have pushed back and not paid it, but we liked the place and the timing/location was perfect so we just went with it.  We rented a sparsely furnished apartment, so there's not much that isn't ours that the cats could wreck.  We did have to provide a pet reference from our last landlord.  That was pretty funny.   

We used estate agents, so we told them up front about our cats (well, we condensed them into one cat for purposes of flat-hunting  ) and they only showed us places that had confirmed that cats were okay.  I don't think I ever saw places (other than on craigslist/gumtree) that explicitly talked about pets in the flat listing, so I wouldn't be too discouraged.  It's definitely a challenge, but far from an impossibility. 

We brought linens, too.  Huge moneysaver!