How to save money in England

Hello everyone,

Did you plan your budget before your move to England? If so, how did you go about it?

How do you save money in your day to day life? Do you find there are any areas where you can't cut costs?

Do you have any tips about saving money in England? For example, getting the best deals on accommodation, grocery shopping and dining out, the best value transportation, etc..

Are there any apps or websites that have helped you to save money?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

Hi Priscilla,

As a Londoner who has lived in the UK for over 20 years, I would as from my own experience and to save a lot of money from your monthly salary to do your grocery shopping at Lidl supermarket ( it id very good quality for money and this is a German brand with high quality products), also do the rest id your grocery shopping like poultry, meat, fish,  various products like rice, plantain bananas, fan, vegetables and other good products at London stall markets like East Street Market in Walworth Road or Brixton Market or Borough Market.But I would recommend more Brixton Market as you have more verify of things and choices.Also on Walworth Road opposite the MC Donald across the road you will see a £1 shop called Sam 99 where absolutely every item  you buy just costs £1.There are similar £1 shops across London and id id always quality stuff.
You can also go down the Elephant and Castle area and on the lowerground floor find another £1 shop as well.
If you want to buy appliances for your home and kitchen you can go to Argos and they have many stores across London.www.argos.co.uk .
Now coming into the accommodation side id things, it id always expensive in London.
I would advise you to use the following newspaper  called Loot (it is pink unless the color changed over the years) and check their accommodation section.
Depending on the area where you will becsetlled, I would advise as well to find out where the local council housing office is located, and full in with them a council housing application. It can take years until you get offered accommodation with them but it is still worth it, because local council accommodation cost a lot cheaper than those in meantream accommodation. For example for a one bedroom flat that would cost £900 per month on the high street,  the same type of  accommodation with the local council housing will cost around £60 per week less local council tax (kind id housing tax) that you pay monthly but them again it is not sky rocketing.
When I first arrived in London from Paris, I was lucky to have next of kin already established in London, so I did not have a specific budget with hr as they offered me free accommodation for over 6 months, until I could get to know the system, get a job and have my iwn place.
But as a whole I would recommend that you have with you at least £2000 to be on the safe side to start with.
Also another way to look for accommodation is to check shop windows kept by people from Pakistan and India, as there are lots of ads placed on them by people who have a accommodation to rent out.
I hope that I have not forgotten any of your questions.Feel free to contact me idfyou need more information about settling down in London.

Regards,
Jotace

Sorry for all the typos from my smartphone that kept changing some words.
Yam not fan
Is not id or of mot id etc.

For transportation I would recommend buying the Oyster card and top it up for the bus only for thecday, week or month according to your needs. You can buy an Oyster card both for the bus and metro but it comes up as very expensive. If you will very rarely use the metro then only the bus is best.
Dinning out you have a lot of interesting places with a mix of cuisine from various countries and it is not expensive.
I would recommend Brixton Village located in Brixton.You can try a place called Honest Burgers.
There are also various places in South London where you can eat well.If you like Chinese good they usually have buffers where you can eat all for a single little price.
Around the Elephant and Castle area there are a lot of South American restaurants as well.I you go more central London of course good there is more expensive but does not heart once in a while to try something different there.
Regards,
Jotace11

Priscilla,
I hope that I have been helpful with my answers and tips.

Obviously the OP does not know too much about moving to "England" It's Britain period. 4 pieces of land to it, Scotland , Northern Ireland England and Wales. For native British expats returning from outside the EU or returnees as they are known just do not land back in Britain likely .  They have to apply to return and cleared so they are not a burden on the public purse, they need a job to walk into before they can return. Nothing to stop them landing and walking through immigration but they would need 18,000 sterling as a guarantee to sponsor themselves  back into the British system of habitual residence , of course they can return with not a penny but they would be living under a bridge with a begging bowl.  Anyone returning with a spouse, the guarantee of self sponsorship doubles to 36,000 pounds sterling and the spouse needs to past an English language test. So forget about saving money at this stage