Living in London and Saving Money

You'd think that living in London and saving money was impossible. It can be done, it takes a bit of effort and focus, it can be a challenge, but it is very satisfying achieving it.

My boyfriend and I travelled between 2002 and 2008 and we were based in London. We would work for about six months, save like crazy and then do a trip for a few months

These are the Places we Visited.

• Europe for three months including eastern Europe, twice (different route)
• Canada for one year while working
• Cuba
• US
• Iceland
• Russia, China and India
• Africa

When ever we came back from our trips we would find accommodation on the gumtree website. Where the advertisements are placed free of charge.

There are many shared households in London with people doing a similar thing to ourselves. It was good sharing with other travelers as we’d have lots in common.

The bills and rent were split and even though London is a very expensive city it is possible to live economically.

Food is actually quite cheap in London. £50 worth of groceries would feed two of us for nearly a week. We would by lots of fresh vegetables mostly from the supermarket but you can also find plenty of markets and they are even cheaper. Meat was super cheap in the supermarket, but not of high quality.

We would buy mince and whole chickens mostly and make big meals like lasagna that would feed us for two days.

We would also have BBQ’s at home and invite friends over; this kept our spending down as takeaway alcohol is much cheaper than going to a pub, bar or club and we still had a good time.

There are many things to do in London for free so we would search for approaching events on the internet. In London all the museums have free entry, there are markets that are vibrant with many interesting things for sale, free concerts in the parks, festivals and too many things to mention here - you don’t need to spend much money on keeping yourself entertained.

Couchsurfing also has lots of free activities listed of the groups forums and we met up with people that way also.

We were really careful and learnt to spend very little all the time but also worked out how to have fun and explore the city. If there was a concert we wanted to go to we would budget for it.

We went to Glastonbury twice and it was awesome. So we didn’t deprive ourself of discovering London while we lived there, we just learnt how to do both, saving and having a great time.

Alex

Backpacking around the world HOME page