I moved to London back in ’98 when I was on a low wage (£13,500) and lived in a shared house in Ealing.

Absolutely HATED it!!! 👿 I ended up driving back up north to Sheffield and Leeds every weekend to be with my mates and go biking in the Peaks and Dales.

The upside was that I learnt what I wanted from life and that was that I didn’t want to be in London, living in the rat race, just for my career. My job pays for me to have the lifestyle I really want for me and my family and living in a grey, noisy, dirty, miserable part of the world (like west London) certainly doesn’t give me that!

Ever since then I’ve been determined to live and work in the North so that I can enjoy an outdoor lifestyle in an area near my friends and family and so far it’s worked out really well :-). However, I do have to work away from home fairly regularly, but that’s a price well worth paying for me.

Me and my best mate used to buy a few tins or a bottle of vodka and two plastic cups and sit in central London watching the world go by. After we were merry we’d then hit the pubs. Eeee the days of still living like a student whilst being in fulltime work 8)

You’d have to double my wages to get me to move to London <shudder>

Before anyone points it out, on my last post I forgot to take tax off so 26,000 a year would only make you better off than 67% of the population. The point still stands though.

grum – Member

Describing £26,000 as a low wage does display a lack of awareness about lots of people’s situations, and is borderline insulting to those who earn a lot less.

Exactly. Fancy having to manage. At the bottom. On 26k. For a whole year.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHo2pXO_XAI[/video]

Before the flame war goes into overdrive, the OP did say 26K in London. I was under the impression that it was generally recognised that it costs a fair bit more to live there (though god knows why…), so the 26K probably isn’t that much…

Confused from Manchester here. Apart from the rent I don’t understand what you’all think makes London that much more?

The OP isn’t going to be shopping at Fortnum & Mason for his food and wont be buying his clothes in Selfridges.

Yes beer is more however it aint exactly cheap up here and how many folk on 26k in the north drink out every night and go coke-crazy at the weekend?

If you have no commitments or dependents, a 26k salary in London is not going to condemn you to a hand-to-mouth existence, especially if you’re not planning on staying there long-term.

There must be several million people in London getting by on that kind of money, or less, who are in no hurry to move anywhere else.

Hora in his younger metropolitan heyday

Assuming say 10% pension contribution, 26k equates to what, £1700 a month net? From this deduct rent,council tax, food, utilities, travel/transport, debt servicing, phone/internet, clothing, insurance policies, savings….

It might be ok if you’re young free and single I suppose but there won’t be much left in the pot. Certainly not enough if you have dependents I shouldn’t think, unless you qualify for benefits.

Bike to work, will save you £112 a month minimum.

Like a few others have said. if it’s just you you’ll be fine on that. if it’s you and a partner (on similar wage) then you’ll certainly be fine!

I saw some research that suggests London is about 23% more expensive than Manchester.

I’m not saying £26,000 is loads, but it’s not a low wage either. In fact it’s almost exactly the median uk wage (much more useful stat than the average).

My brother is a groundskeeper at a school, works really hard and gets around half that. What do you call that if 26,000 is low and at the ‘bottom’?

i think it’s known as a subsistence wage

No it’s called a low wage and is the reality for lots of people in this country. Not asking anyone to feel sorry for him, he does fine – I’m just suggesting people should have a teensy bit of perspective.

The median uk salary is not a low wage.

I saw some research that suggests London is about 23% more expensive than Manchester.

I’m not saying £26,000 is loads, but it’s not a low wage either. In fact it’s almost exactly the median uk wage (much more useful stat than the average).

So what would be more helpful would be a stat showing the median wage of someone living in London. That way you’d be comparing apples with apples, as opposed to apples and oranges…

My brother is a groundskeeper at a school, works really hard and gets around half that.

Genuinely interested to know how he can survive on that, 13k is about £950 a month after NI and tax. Free accommodation? Living off savings?

I don’t know about his finances TBH but he seems to do ok. If you are sharing rent/mortgage/bills/food and have no kids why would you not be able to live on £950 a month? He doesn’t have a fancy MTB to pay for/maintain either I suppose.

Again, this is the ordinary reality for much of the population – its not easy but neither is everyone living in misery. Someone needs to do jobs like that – I think we should pay them more and those at the top end less, but I guess that’s just the kind of crazy commie I am.

I saw some research that suggests London is about 23% more expensive than Manchester

In real terms (excluding rent/property) I doubt that very much.

How is excluding rent ‘real terms’?

binners on a Fri or Sat night we used to sit on the canal wall in Camden drinking (to lessen going out costs) and had soo many ‘unusual’ conversations with alcoholics/drug users and dope sellers 😆

…then there was the time we sat on the tube drinking from a bottle of vodka whilst nubile girls glanced at us in disgust

Ive always said try London once in your life.

Being ‘invaded’ with a cucumber is higher on my to-do list.

– I think we should pay them more and those at the top end less

Genuine question; why?

With the exception of those born into money, everyone* get’s the same opertunity to do GCSE’s, then if they’ve shown some aplitude for learning A-levels, then a degree if it suits them and their plans. So at some point allong the line everyone through judgement or luck** has made a set of decisions which landed them where they are today.

* yes going to Eaton means more GCSE’s, but plenty of comp kids get all A*
** good or bad

DBW well I wouldn’t say you should try Halifax at least once! 😆

Its like the Paris of the north Hora 😉

I stand by my cucumber comment though. I was in London for a week just before Christmas with work – hated it.

Genuine question; why?

This is just getting into a basic left vs right argument, but essentially….

Because nobody needs to be rich and society would be a better place if there wasn’t such massive disparity between rich and poor.

There are plenty of jobs that are necessary and they should pay a decent living wage. And as a society we could easily afford it if the people at the top weren’t intent on hoarding ever increasing amounts for themselves.

A new index of pay, based on 500 companies across key sectors, shows that even in industries hard-hit by the recession, including construction and manufacturing, middle managers saw their salaries increase by as much as 11pc in the year to March 31.

At the same time, The Daily Telegraph & Croner Pay Index, published today, finds that junior workers based in office jobs or on the shop floor have put up with modest rises or pay cuts over the past year.

There are plenty of jobs that are necessary

And plenty of people capable of doing them. There are also plenty of more technical/taxing/harder jobs, and less people capable of doing them, thus they pay better.

and they should pay a decent living wage. And as a society we could easily afford it if the people at the top weren’t intent on hoarding ever increasing amounts for themselves.

But then there’d be no incentive to get to the top. Why would I bother flogging myslef through A-levels and 4 years of uni if the job at the end of it didn’t pay significantly more than the school caretaker?

Why would I bother flogging myslef through A-levels and 4 years of uni if the job at the end of it didn’t pay significantly more than the school caretaker?

A question lots of recent graduates will be asking themselves probably.

I don’t have a problem with some jobs paying more than others, it’s just that the balance is massively skewed, and getting worse at a rapid rate. More equal societies are better societies – healthier, happier, less crime etc etc – there’s lots of research that shows this very clearly.

What grum said.

Unless you have family and kids and want to run a Land Rover or something then £26k is plenty. Get a room in a houseshare (will help find where the good places are in the area too) and you’ll be fine. I moved to that London after uni for work (originally from Yorkshire, uni in Edinburgh) (can’t be too picky about location when getting your first job in my industry) in 2005 and started on £20k, only got to more than £26k in 2009 and managed to survive while having a pretty good time.

With the exception of those born into money, everyone* get’s the same opertunity to do GCSE’s, then if they’ve shown some aplitude for learning A-levels, then a degree if it suits them and their plans. So at some point allong the line everyone through judgement or luck** has made a set of decisions which landed them where they are today.

Problem is people don’t have the same chances in life, if your born into an environment where you are expected to do well and are pushed you have far more chance than someone born into a different environment.

In the current climate with ever increasing us of interns, being born wealthy and living in london places you at a huge advantage over those born to northern working class parents. If you want a career at the bar try funding it without money, why are so many doctors children of doctors?

I am not saying you can’t make it but anyone who thinks background is a minor detail is very naive.

There are loads of people from working class backgrounds where I work, some even come from the NE! I suppose I come from a privileged background so I must have failed somewhere really.

I struggle with long sentences, but I think you can live on that in London. We pay our grads £30k a year and they seem to manage to live in nice areas.

Other than accommodation, most stuff isn’t really much more expensive then elsewhere.

I think this is wrong. Eating/ drinking out, transport, entertainment, hospitality, services, manual labour, call-outs, car hire, etc. all cost more in London.

I think this is wrong. Eating/ drinking out, transport, entertainment, hospitality, services, manual labour, call-outs, car hire, etc. all cost more in London.

Who do you think you are, coming on here, spouting well reasoned arguments 🙄

Thanks Guys, sorry I didn’t reply sooner (been flat out in current job).

I was a bit worried, been on a better wage and my own place for ages since Uni.

I’m going into a different field, starting from the bottom, no family to drag with me.

Looks like I will be flat sharing or a lodger.

Have not confirmed, but job hopefully confirmed starting from July.

Shop at Next and Tesco for food. Drinking days are long gone for me except for red bull.

I love visiting London.

Thanks for your inputs – I’m not so terrified and it sounds like you all had fun there.