How To Move To London On A Budget [From Personal Experience]

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London is the thirteenth most expensive city in the world to live in, so you wouldn’t be wrong to ask how to move there on a budget!

After getting an infected foot hiking in Indonesia, I had to make a hard decision to leave my backpacking trip in Asia and move to England a month before I planned with no money in my purse.

The amount of money I would spend in Thailand in a week, could get used up in a day in London, so I knew that I had to make some changes in order to live frugally in this costly capital.

But, ever the grafter, I managed it, and I’m here to impart some of my wisdom to you here.

These are my top tips on how you can move to London on a budget!

Pick the right accommodation

I’m going to open with accommodation because this will be the vast majority of your expenses and will eat into your budget.

If you plan far enough in advance, you can get sub-lets on Spare Room for an affordable price, or find a house share option.

This will be a lot cheaper than booking an Airbnb or Hotel, and even a hostel which for some reason is ridiculously expensive in London and most hostels are not that nice.

Spare Room is the most used website for finding flat shares and sub lets (when you rent someone’s room while they are on holiday). You can post an advert on there as a tenant and promote yourself, or you can contact people directly.

Another great place to look is Gumtree, which is usually where you can contact private landlords and property management companies. Spare Room is usually where you speak with other housemates or people giving up their rooms.

Thing to consider when looking for accommodation:

• Does the rent price include utility bills? Gas, electric, WiFi, council tax – it all adds up.
  • Sometimes you can split utilities with the other tenants, so check how many other tenants there are to see how much the cost is being divided by.
• Consider the location. The most affordable neighborhoods are usually outside the city center in Zone 3-6. Consider staying in Leytonstone or by Stratford (East London), or Edmonton (North London). In South London, Croydon is cheap and reasonably safe. Hackney and Brixton are cheap, but have a dodgy reputation. Bethnal Green is popular for young professionals. Clapham is busy but it’s super central and easy…