What I spend In a Month as a 23yr old in london | my rent, transport & savings
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video, the creator provides a detailed breakdown of living expenses in London for individuals in their 20s during 2023. As a self-employed content creator, they share their monthly costs, including rent, bills, groceries, and discretionary spending. The video offers a practical perspective on budgeting using the 50/30/20 rule, highlighting the high cost of living in central London and personal finance strategies such as utilizing a 16-25 Railcard for savings. The creator's experience offers valuable insights for those considering moving to or living in the city.
Takeaways
- 📚 The video is an updated breakdown of the cost of living in London for someone in their 20s in 2023, focusing on the creator's personal expenses over 30 days.
- 💼 The creator is self-employed as a full-time content creator for various platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
- 💡 Skillshare is highlighted as a resource that helped the creator improve skills for content creation and secure freelance work, which contributed to their full-time job after graduation.
- 🏠 The creator lives in a one-bedroom flat in central London, Zone 1, with a monthly rent share of £1,300, which is considered high but aligns with London's median rent.
- 💸 The creator's monthly bills include gas and electric at £46.15, Wi-Fi at £8.50 (expected to rise to £17 after a welcome offer), water at £108, and phone at £16.
- 🛒 Groceries are purchased both online for heavy items and from local, more expensive stores, with a total monthly spend of £21.57.
- 🚶♂️ Living centrally saves on transport costs, with the creator using public transport and bikes, spending £57 on transport in total for the month.
- ☕ The creator enjoys coffee and bakery items, but has reduced spending in this area to £52.20 per month.
- 🍽 The creator spends an average of £50.40 on dining out, enjoying the variety of restaurants in London without overspending.
- 🏋️♀️ A ClassPass gym membership at £65 per month is part of the creator's regular expenses for fitness.
- 💳 The creator's variable expenses, excluding savings and investments, total £838, while total expenses including savings and investments come to £2,588.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of the video?
-The main purpose of the video is to break down the cost of living in London in one's 20s in 2023, based on the creator's personal expenses over the past 30 days.
How does the content creator make money?
-The content creator is self-employed and makes money through creating content for various platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and newsletters.
What is Skillshare and how did it help the content creator?
-Skillshare is a platform that offers classes taught by world-class creatives. It helped the content creator improve their editing, SEO, and thumbnail skills, which contributed to their success as a full-time content creator after graduation.
What is the 50/30/20 budgeting rule mentioned in the script?
-The 50/30/20 budgeting rule allocates 50% of income for needs (bills, rent, utilities, groceries), 30% for wants (shopping, eating out, entertainment), and 20% for future savings and investments.
How much does the content creator spend on rent per month?
-The content creator spends £1,300 per month on rent, which is shared with their partner.
What is the average percentage of income spent on rent by an average Londoner?
-The average Londoner spends 43.2% of their income on rent.
What is the significance of the 1625 rail card for the content creator?
-The 1625 rail card helps the content creator save approximately 33% on every off-peak tube ride, saving them between £20 to £50 each month.
How much does the content creator spend on groceries in a month?
-The content creator spent £21.57 on groceries in the past month.
What is the total amount spent on set expenses or needs by the content creator in the past month?
-The total amount spent on set expenses or needs is £1,750.
What is the content creator's approach to saving money on eating out?
-The content creator saves money on eating out by choosing reasonably priced restaurants, not drinking alcohol, and being a small eater.
What is the total amount spent by the content creator in the past month, excluding savings and investments?
-The total amount spent on needs and wants in the past month is £2,588.
Outlines
🏙️ London Living Expenses in Your 20s
The script begins with an introduction to a personal finance breakdown of living expenses in London for someone in their 20s in 2023. The narrator, a self-employed content creator, provides an updated view of costs since they are no longer a university student. The video aims to be informative for those planning to move to London or are curious about post-graduation expenses. The narrator discusses their income sources, including a partnership with Skillshare, an online learning platform, and how it contributed to their ability to turn passion into profit. The video will cover expenses based on the 50/30/20 budget rule, which allocates 50% of income to needs, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings and investments.
📈 Detailed Monthly Expense Breakdown
This paragraph delves into the narrator's monthly expenses, starting with housing costs, which are the most significant at £1,300 per month for a one-bedroom flat in central London. The narrator acknowledges that this is higher than the median rent for Londoners, which is £1,250 per month, but justifies the cost due to the importance of the space for their job. Other expenses include utilities, Wi-Fi, water, and phone bills, which total around £81.45 per month. The narrator also discusses grocery shopping habits, transport costs, council tax, and insurance, highlighting ways to save money, such as using a 16-25 rail card for public transport and living close to friends to reduce Uber expenses.
🛍️ Wants, Subscriptions, and Lifestyle Choices
The narrator moves on to discuss 'wants,' which include subscriptions, coffee and bakery expenses, dining out, experiences, and shopping. They mention being on family entertainment accounts, which reduces personal subscription costs to £58.10. Despite living in central London, the narrator has managed to cut down on coffee and bakery spending to £52.20 and dining out to £54.40. They also talk about the importance of experiencing London's restaurant scene and how they keep costs down by choosing reasonably priced options. The paragraph also covers gym memberships, shopping habits, and beauty expenses, with the total variable expenses amounting to £838.
💰 Savings, Investments, and Financial Planning
The final paragraph focuses on the 'future' part of the 50/30/20 budget rule, which includes savings and investments. The narrator discusses their student loan repayments, various savings accounts for different purposes such as holiday savings and a rainy day fund, and investments in an ISA with index funds. They emphasize the importance of financial planning and provide insight into their personal approach to managing money. The total expenses for needs and wants are calculated to be £2,588, with the narrator noting that this is not a standard for all young adults in London, as their rent and bills are on the higher side.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Self-employed
💡Skillshare
💡50/30/20 Budget
💡Rent
💡Bills
💡Groceries
💡Transport
💡Council Tax
💡Subscriptions
💡Restaurants
💡Investments
Highlights
The video provides an updated look at the cost of living in London for individuals in their 20s in 2023.
The creator is self-employed as a full-time content creator across various platforms.
During university, the creator relied on scholarships, part-time jobs, and a side hustle in digital marketing.
Skillshare is recommended as a platform to learn skills that can turn passion into income.
Skillshare offers thousands of classes taught by industry professionals to help with side hustles.
The creator uses the 50/30/20 budgeting rule to categorize expenses.
Housing costs are the most significant expense, with the creator paying £1,300 per month for rent in central London.
The median monthly rent for Londoners is reported to be £1,250, with an average of 43.2% of income spent on rent.
Bills, including gas, electric, Wi-Fi, water, and phone, are direct debited monthly.
Grocery shopping habits and costs are discussed, with a monthly spend of £21.57.
Transportation costs are kept low by utilizing public transport and living centrally.
Council tax and insurance costs are shared with the creator's boyfriend.
Subscriptions are minimal due to sharing accounts with family.
The creator spends on average £300 per month on shopping, varying with the season.
Beauty and hair care costs average £150 per month, with highlights done every 2-3 months.
The creator discusses savings and investments, including student loan repayments and various savings accounts.
Total expenses for needs and wants amount to £2,588, not including ad hoc costs or savings.
The video concludes by emphasizing that the presented figures are not standard and vary greatly among individuals.
Transcripts
today we're breaking down how much it
actually cost to live in London in your
20s in 2023 and we're doing that through
looking at everything I spent my money
on in the past 30 days exciting now I've
done a fair few of these videos in the
past but I thought it'd be interesting
to do an updated version as I'm no
longer in uni and have actually been
working for a full year hopefully this
video will be useful for you if you're
planning a mooving to London maybe
you're actually going to move or maybe
you're just in University and you're
curious about what the costs are after
your graduate I know I was so without
further Ado let's get into it firstly I
want to talk a little bit about how I
actually make my money because when I
was in university and even before I
moved to London that was definitely
something I was quite curious about so
I'm self-employed I'm a full-time
content creator meaning I create content
for YouTube Tik Tok Instagram
newsletters Etc that was not always the
case though when I was at University I
was relying on my scholarship as well as
my part-time job in digital marketing to
afford to love in London and I also had
my little side hustle of doing YouTube
videos and this leads me to the very
fitting partner of this video which is
skillshare skillshare has everything you
need to turn your passion into paycheck
or seure side hustle throughout
University at the same time that I was
doing you know my part-time job and
actually studying I would also spend
hours and hours every single week
learning how to improve my editing
improve my SEO and improve my thumbnails
just so I could make sure that every
video I put out was better than the
previous one and the skills that I
learned in that process not only helped
me get a lot of freelance work for
Brands doing like user generated videos
and that kind of stuff but it also is
the sole reason that I was able to do my
decid hustle full-time as a job after I
graduated from University and skillshare
literally has thousands of engaging CL
class is taught by world class creatives
who successfully launched their
lucrative side incomes one of my
favorite classes is this one by Ali
abdal where he literally teaches you
everything you need to know about how to
create a good YouTube video and oi has
literally grown his channel to 4.9
million followers the fact that you get
to learn how he thinks about things like
passes b-roll timing with music is
simply just incredible if you want help
to improve your own videos but if that's
not your thing skill showare has classes
L by pros from a variety of Industries
we walk the walk and have an active
community of members ready to tear you
on whatever your side also is the first
500 people to click the link in the
description box below get a one month
free trial of skillshare so definitely
check it out give it a go and let me
know how you get on and now I'm going to
get my computer and actually get into
the cost from the past month so I got my
computer and for reference the way I'm
organizing this is going to be based off
the 50 3020 budget I explained it
briefly in my last video All About
savings and Investments you can watch
that there or there but essentially it
means that 50% of your income goes
towards your needs such as you know
bills rent utilities groceries
all that 30% goes towards your WS such
as shopping eating out takeaway
restaurants coffee Bakery all that and
the final 20% goes towards your future
which is like saving and investing
however it does have a little limitation
in regards to needs which we'll get into
because rent is just so expensive if you
live in a big city like London like New
York like Paris but we'll talk more
about that when we talk about my rent
later so first things first let's talk
about my set expenses or needs the first
need I have is also the most expensive
one it is my housing welcome to my
humble
abod this is our one bed I think 55 me
flat in central London we're in zone one
we actually rented it at on a frish
basis so all the things you see in this
flat are pretty much ours also this flat
is actually not just a flat it's a
amonet as it's called so we have two
stories if you come on up we have the
bedroom and the
bathroom this is the bathroom this is
the hallway and then that is the bedroom
and I won't be doing a full flat tour
yet because we still have some things to
sort out in regards to furniture in
regards to like decorations that kind of
stuff but let's see the bedroom out of
all the flights I liveed in in London
this is definitely the biggest bedroom
out of all of them I think it's like 17
18 square meters it's absolutely massive
and I love it cuz we're two people we
get the split the rent which is very
convenient and my share of the rent is
£1,300 per month if you're not from
London or a big city like New York or
Paris or Tokyo or something like that
you may think that 1,300 is just an
absurd amount to spend on rent and I
totally understand that I was the same
before I moved here as well however
according to the um evening standard
median monthly rents for londoners
that's what they pay is
£1,250 every single month and the
average Londoner spends 43.2% of their
income on rent I will say though
although that is the median um average
rent in London most of my friends who
are the same age went went uni together
don't spend 1,250 on rent it's likely a
little bit less being a ple honest the
reason I like voluntarily choose to
spend more money on my rent is because
my apartment is so important for my job
it needs to be a space where I can film
that has good sunlight that has enough
space to put my camera my equipment all
that stuff I also have a lot of bills
every single month that you know just
get direct debited out of my account so
for gas and electric my share is £46 15p
for Wi-Fi every month my share is £8 50p
although we are in a welcome offer so I
think the price will be £17 for me after
that welcome offer is over my water bill
every month is £108 and my phone bill
every month is £16 although the these
bills are technically set expenses I do
know for sure that our gas and electric
is definitely going to go up you know
throughout the winter months we Tred to
not heat our house to above 19° but it
is still costing us a little bit more
and I think probably my gas and electric
will be closer to like 70 a month
throughout the winter months but yeah
that being said I currently now spend
£81 45p a month on bills now next up we
have groceries and we have a few
different ways that we get our groceries
probably not the smartest way to do it
and probably not the most economical way
to do it but I'll run you through how
that works because we do live in central
London and we don't have like a massive
cheap grocery store next to
us every month around twice a month we
order a for everything that is typically
very heavy to carry home from the
grocery store like drinks
laundry oatmeal stuff like that and we
find it really convenient because we
don't own a car so everything that we
buy from the supermarket needs to be
carried home so doing this kind of just
makes our lives a little bit easier we
also have a few grocery runs every
single week and because we then do that
shopping in the more smaller and more
expensive stores our grocery bill at the
end of the month often ends up costing a
little bit more than what it typically
should be costing one thing I will say
in regards to like things I actually do
save some money on when it comes to
grocery is that we used to always buy
these like free Cut packs of like V stir
fry like things to put in the oven and
now we just buy the fresh ingredients
themselves and it ends up like costing
us half the money just because we're
getting the ingredients cutting it
ourselves instead of just getting it
like prepackaged like this yes it does
take some extra time but it's easy it
doesn't take that long and it saves you
some money but yeah
21.57 is what I spent on groceries in
the past month so living Central is
maybe not the best for saving money on
groceries but it definitely is for
saving money on transport neither me or
my boyfriend own a car there's
absolutely no need to we can get pretty
much everywhere we want either by
walking by taking a bike or by going the
tube or a bus one of the smartest things
I've done to save money on the tube is
actually getting the 1625 rail card you
can link it to your o
and that helps you save like 33% off
every single tube ride you take off peak
I think this trick like depending on how
often I take the tube saves between like
20 to 50 every month it's crazy
definitely do it if you haven't already
so between tfl buses and sender bikes in
the past month I've spent £57 on
transport another great thing about
living in London is that lucky you you
also get to pay council tax every month
as a foreigner this word is a bit
misleading because I thought like I was
paying the taxes of the landlord but
council tax is more something that goes
towards you know the cleaning of the
streets the collecting of rubbish that
kind of stuff so the council tax I pay
every single month is £51 and again
that's split in half between my
boyfriend and I next up we have
insurance I pay
£475 uh for home insurance and I split
that again with Theo and I also have
travel insurance for £5 a month and that
brings the total set expenses or needs
to
£1,750 ATP now we're going to go through
my wants and the first thing we have
here is my subscriptions and I was
actually really surprised when I went
through my bank statements to do this
video because I don't have a lot of
subscriptions and I think it is because
me and Theo are both on like our
family's um entertainment accounts I
think it was Olivia Neil who said
something like I will never be adult
enough to go off my parents Netflix and
Disney Plus account and I couldn't
really anym like I pay for my own flat I
you know I save I invest but I'm still
on my parents Netflix account with all
that in mind that brings the
subscriptions total to £58 and 10p if
you watch any of my videos you also know
I'm a big coffee and bakery lover Al
although I have actually skimmed down on
how much I spend in coffee and bakeries
in the past month which I'm really happy
about it used to be like 10000 a month I
become a lot better and in the past
month I only spent £52 20p living in
London also means you have so many cool
restaurants to go out and explore and
try out personally I feel like if I
don't go out and try some of those
restaurants and eat out with my friends
like at least a couple of times a month
I'm kind of missing out on the reason I
chose to live in London in the first
place same thing goes for like
experiences and stuff so in the past
month I spent £5 and 40p on restaurants
I'm completely honest I don't think that
number is too bad often when I talk to
people they say like they spend 50 like
per restaurant visit in total I think I
went to like six or seven restaurants
last month and how I kind of make sure
to keep that sum that I spend down is
one I'm a small eater so I don't eat a
lot that's very helpful I also don't
drink alcohol when I'm out eating in
restaurants and three there are so many
good restaurants in London that AR like
ridiculously overpriced yes you can find
restaurants that will literally charge
you £100 for dinner we can also find
really good ones like my favorites like
bankon and Bone daddiy both don't charge
you more than 20 of dinner meaning you
can go out you know for more dinners and
have more fun and not spend like 80 100
on a dinner in regards to experiences
and drinks I would say last month was
probably on the low side but I only
spent £30 on that in total on Ubers and
black ABS in the past month I spent £7
90p and the majority of that is just
getting home from friends or getting
home from parties in the evening and a
really helpful thing to save money on
this for me has been the fact that I
live really close to my friends now if
I'm going home with my friend and she
lives close what we do is that we add
like two locations to the Uber so that
you know we're stopping at mine and then
we're stopping at hers and because we
live close there's like a 5 10 minute
gap between those and so it ends up
being a lot cheaper than getting two
separate Ubers or two separate Black Ops
I also have a class pass gym membership
which cost £65 a month and it's been
like the best thing I've done for myself
I love my class pass membership in
regards to shopping this varies so much
based on what type of the year it is you
know in December I spent a lot of money
on gifts on stuff for the home like
things like that in November and late
October I haven't spent any money
shopping but the month before that I
spent like 400 shopping so on average
between gifts home and clothes I spend
£300 on average on shopping every month
and finally on beauty and hair I spend
150 a month I don't use a lot of makeup
I have a quite simple skincare routine
so the majority of this money goes
towards my hair which I get highlighted
every 2 3 months and that often comes to
around like 270 so that was all the
categories of my variable expenses and
in total that comes to £
838 obviously these expenses do not
include ad hoc costs like buying
furniture cuz you moved or um going to
the dentist because you have um an
inflamed wisdom tooth like I don't know
but since we're doing this video in the
style of the 50 30 20 budget and that 20
part is all about savings and
Investments I do want to walk you
through kind of the different accounts
that I have and the different things
that I often invest in and Save in every
single month just to get an essence of
what that is for me first things first
we have my student loan yes I do have
student loan I graduated last year and
I'm still paying that down and it is
approximately like 00 a month it depends
a little bit on the currency because the
norian croner has been quite weak lately
but between like 180 and £200 I also
have a few different accounts for
savings and what I save in each account
kind of varies a little bit between each
month like right now for example I'm
saving up for my upcoming holiday
because I really do want to go to
Central America and obviously that costs
money in regards to those accounts we
have my rainy day fund with Barkley's we
have my mortgage savings which is in a
Saving Bond and we also have my fund
fund which I call out which were my
holiday savings and those kind of
savings go and in regards to Investments
I also have a stocks Insurance Isa with
two different index funds in them so
those was all the categories we've gone
through my needs we've gone through my
wants and we've gone through my future
I'm only going to calculate what I
actually spent in needs and wants
because the Future Part kind of varies a
little bit between each month but in
total in the past month I spent £
2,588 on ATP now I'm not in any way
saying that that is the standard for all
20-some year olds living in London my
rented bills alone which are definitely
on the higher side equate to over
1,381 of that total so yeah that's the
decision that I made that is definitely
costing me a lot more money but I hope
you found this video interesting and
educational anyway thank you so much for
watching and I will see you in the next
one bye
guys
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