Expenses in London

Hey people,

I am from India and i will be in London for a period of 3 months for my office work. I am coming with my spouse. My accomodation is taken care of the company. Can anyone tell me as to how much money will i need for 3 months assuming i am cooking there for most of the time. But i also wanna visit other places around Europe..

Hi poormina,

London is a very expensive city! Fortunately your company provides you an accommodation. Where in London will you be based?  (which zone?)

hey,,,
I will be living in central London!! LiverPool Street

Wow very good location! (the rent is very expensive there)

Everything is expensive in London, going out for dinner with your spouse will easily cost you £50 for example. I think your employer will give you enough to live in a decent way? The very good point is that he provides you an accommodation in Central London. Things will be much easier.

There are so many things to do and see in London that you will like it!

I agree with Julien that £50 can't get you very far nowadays. However, if you plan to cook most of your meals at home, it's quite convenient to get your groceries in Liverpool Street area. In fact, there's a Tesco near Liverpool Street station.

A simple home cook meal should not cost more than £10 for two person and I'm being rather conservative here.

Travelling around Europe is another matter though. You can try to book Eurostar in advance. It can go as low as £59 for a return ticket to Paris. Lille and Brussels are even cheaper.

After the recent spike in fuel cost, the fuel surcharges for air travel is something to contend with.

Expenses on food is flexible, you can adjust it to your needs. As previously said, it's up to you if you want to spend £10 for a dinner at home or £50 in the restaurant,or £5 on Sunday market in Brick Lane.
But food is not everything. You need to think of some other expenses, e.g. travel card(£100 a month), medicines if you get a cold(£5), hairdresser(£40+), chemist products and so on. You may also want to go to the cinema or theatre(£10+), for a concert or a gig. Fortunately, there are plenty of excellent museums for free.