Moving out & finding somewhere to live!, aaaah! Options

[CrazyFooIAintGet...]

So I'm about to start my first real job and I'm planning to rent a flat in london (where the job is)

I stayed at home with my family while at uni so I'm totally clueless about the whole thing...

Anybody got any advice? If you have any tips about what to look for when looking for flats, what questions to ask potential landlords etc. that would be really helpful

[Daria]

Last year at uni, my rent was two thirds of my income (not including student loan, but that managed to fizzle into surprisingly nothing) and it was awful. This year, different flat, it should be about one third which is, if I remember rightly, what one should aim for when figuring out finances. I was spending all my non-uni time working, which meant no time for socialising... but I needed the money to socialise.
And London is expensive. Oh so very expensive- it is very easy to spend £100 on one weekend and not notice, only to find on monday that you've just spent that week's wages on... not a lot. Not that I have ever done that >_> However, there are plenty of free things to do, you can get your cycle on and you can shop carefully and cleverly. Maybe having a Funtimes Jar would be useful (note to self: make one) which you put cash in now and again to use for going out. If you have no cash in it then you don't go out: thereby getting rid of the Just Take My Card With Me And Won't Have More Than A Couple Of Drinks line of thought. Not that I'm guilty of that one, either

Going back to food: just make sure you have a well stocked dry-foods cupboard. Rice, pasta, noodles, fufu flour (African shops will sell it: ground cassava you mix and beat with boiling water and eat with very spicey stew. Surprisingly good and fills you up), tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, spices, soy sauce, Maggie sauce etc etc. That way, you can get away with buying a very small amount of dairy and fresh fruit/ veg each week. (Last December, I was so poor when I found a pound coin on the floor I was actually overjoyed as I could buy some fresh veg!) Whether you just can't afford it, or whether you just want a larger proportion of money freed up for funtimes, it can be useful. Also, you'll probably have a local market with plastic bowls of produce where any bowl costs £1.

Sorry, I feel really patronising now. Tell me to shut up if I am!

[CrazyFooIAintGet...]

Sorry, I feel really patronising now. Tell me to shut up if I am!

Not at all! Thanks for the advice The funtimes jar is an awesome idea. Should make me much more aware of how much money I don't have!

Cycling is a great way to save money but I will need to get a bike and learn to ride it first (yeah, I never learnt to ride to a bike...)