Living in London on a budget

One of the most difficult aspects of living in London is the accommodation. If you’re not prepared to spend at least 400.000 buying a property, you better look for the right rental.

London is the second most expensive city in the world, just losing for Moscow. Believe me, finding a flat, or a room in London is a tough job, and expensive. With what I pay here for a single room, without living room and a tiny kitchen I could have a 3 bedrooms flat in Brazil.

London is divided in zones, if you get a tube map, you’re going to see that there’re 6 zones, the first is the area for all London top attractions. Town centres, museums, Thames, best parks, and usually where the best companies are settled. To live in zone one having a flat for yourself, one bedroom, you’re going to pay an estimate price of 300 a week. To live in Covent Garden, one of the most charming areas of London, you’re going to spend an average of 1400 per month. If these prices are too much for your budget, you can live in London for cheaper, sharing a flat with someone else, a bunch of people from all over the world, or choosing for zones 2, 3, 4 It gets cheaper as far as you’re from the centre.

I moved 9 times in 2 years here. I lived with all kind of nationalities, people from Australia, Malaysia, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Vietnam, Philippines, Portugal, Italy, Africa, France, Lithuania, Switzerland. I lived in Fitzrovia, paying 240 per month and living with 20 people, and in zone 2, having my own room and living with another 2 girls for 500 per month. The options are infinite, and it all depends on the kind of life you want to have.

Here are some tips you’re going to need when deciding where to put your suitcases.

1rst: Live in the reality that your money can pay.

Realize! You’re not going to find a miracle flat, central location, brand new with huge spaces for cheap. The furniture usually is not very new, carpets are all over the place, the colour of the wall is probably not your favorite, flats here are not as bright as in a beach. If it’s a house, the garden is probably very small, and you can easily see your neighbor’s garden (it means: no privacy!). You’re going to find carpet in kitchens, bathrooms without window, bedrooms with very small ones, and the storage area is usually shared with more people than it can support.

2nd: Where to look for:

If you are looking on the Internet you can easily find web sites that provide lists of houses for rent, one of the most famous