Savvy Ways to Navigate an Increasingly Expensive London

London, the United Kingdom, is one of the most brilliant and beautiful cities in the world. Those living in London or even those simply visiting, can absolutely agree. When people think of the top five cities in the world, London always comes up alongside the likes of New York, Singapore and Dubai. With its great allure and opportunities, it’s only natural that many people would want to live there. This is fantastic news because it means that the city is a cosmopolitan one, filled with buzzing internationals and entrepreneurial locals. However, as there is such a great demand for living in such a fantastic and exciting city, the supply is dwindling and therefore prices are skyrocketing more than ever.

Over the past three or four years, with the country’s removal from the European Union and other political factors, the UK, and London in particular, have become more expensive than ever. A lot of London locals are scattering outside of the city hub to find settlements outside of Greater London, in the hopes of sparing some change. The great thing about London, although it is very expensive, is the fact that there are always different and new ways that you can see situations, this is the perk of living in a cosmopolitan city. This article aims to shed light on ways that you can increase your salary to stay competitive in the London market and offer ways to perhaps reduce costs, essentially making you financially savvy. So, without further ado, it’s time to dive in.

Digital Working Strategies You Can Implement

There were three types of jobs, or actually four if you include website design, that you could dive into after your working hours to make a little bit of extra income on the side so that you could afford your London lifestyle more comfortably. The top four that people often speak about are copywriting, marketing, forex trading and website design. All four of these opportunities come with a little bit of research and some know-how, however, if you have a knack for words, finances or design, you could actually get quite far with a limited amount of time and research investment.

When it comes to copywriting, there are a surprisingly large amount of agencies looking for people. Something that you have to understand about copywriting is that in every text that you see, whether it’s plastered on a bus, in a newspaper, on a website or in a digital article that you’ve seen – different forms of copywriters have written this work. This is why the copywriting world is so lucrative because there are a lot of opportunities. You could either try to approach a copywriting agency that sends you work from themselves or you could look for work through actual organisations and companies that you contact directly.

For forex trading, there is quite a big finance world in London. A lot of people work in the world of finance and therefore there’s a lot of information fluttering about, which could be quite beneficial to you because it means that you could learn quite quickly about the finance sector. You could look at forex trading as a viable alternative. If you know a lot about finances and you know a fair amount about politics and how will events impact the stability of certain currencies, forex trading could be a good idea.

Additionally, if you have a little bit more of an advertisement voice, marketing might be an interesting option for you. A lot of people are currently on social media and therefore a lot of products need to be marketed. This could be a great option for you to engage with over the weekends, offering your services to small or medium-sized businesses that don’t have a large budget for marketing. This is where you could sweep in at a lower fee but nonetheless earn a little bit extra for London.

Website design is another fascinating one. It’s an occupation that you can learn the basics of relatively easily. Many people start businesses but have no clue how to start their own website. Websites are typically designed through templates on e-commerce platforms, which means that 80% of the work is already done for you, you don’t have to go and code. If you have an eye for design, are patient and have relatively advanced technology at your disposal, website design could be a fun and perhaps even creative side job that you could do in the evenings.

Set a Clear Budget: Reduce Your Expenses as Much as Possible

Now that you know a little bit more about how you could potentially increase your financial income, this section below focuses on ways that you could perhaps save. If you’re able to implement both of these strategies, i.e., increase your financial income but also decrease your costs, simultaneously, you would possibly find yourself in a more lucrative financial position.

One of the best ways to save, funnily enough, is not to go out and just cut all of your costs but to create a budget. There is a funny saying that goes along the lines of “many people overestimate how much exercise they’ve done in a day and many people underestimate how much money they spent in a day.” It’s a Hungarian saying so that one is loosely translated, however, the point is that a lot of people underestimate the expenses that they have in a day. 

The best way for you to try to avoid falling into this trap is by making a list. Spend one month writing down every single additional cost that you have. Forget the big fixed costs that you have every month, such as rent, rates, taxes, water, electricity and additional levies. Those exist and it’s going to be quite tricky to reduce those quickly. However, all the additional expenses you have, such as dinner dates, takeaway coffees, groceries, clothing and nights out – these are the ones that you need to focus on and write down in extreme detail. Try it for one month and do so without any judgment. Don’t berate yourself after one week of seeing how much you’ve spent. Use it as a tool to just get it all down for a month and from there you’ll be able to set a budget once you know how much you truly spend – then you’ll be able to reduce those costs.

So, step one to creating a budget for spending is to look at what you really spent. Then, you do the same exercise in month two but you use colours. So for the expenses on a day that you feel you really couldn’t have pushed aside, such as a lunch expense that you needed to make because you simply don’t have the time in the morning to pack your own lunch or a new jumper that you purchased because the weather is changing and you needed it. You need to write these down in green, as these are expenses that you can’t avoid. 

However, if you noted on the day that you purchased three takeaway coffees and two packets of biscuits, i.e., things you only wanted but didn’t need, you write or highlight them in red. Then at the end of the month, you accumulate all your red expenses and all your green expenses. The green ones will become the new accurate budget for your third month and the red ones are the amount that you should actually be saving. 

This tactic gives you a clear idea of what you should be spending and what you shouldn’t per month.

Try to Avoid Accumulating Debt and Aim to Pay any Existing Ones off ASAP

Although debt is often seen as a sensitive topic, when it comes to your financial life in London, you unfortunately don’t have the luxury of being sensitive regarding finances as it is such a financially heavy city, that you have to almost be blatantly honest about what you’re going through, to survive.

An area that a lot of people don’t talk about is the debt that they have. Having debt is sometimes something that you just can’t avoid. If you’ve worked out that renting works out a lot more expensive than purchasing a home but it means that you have quite a hefty mortgage to pay off every month, then there’s nothing that you can do about this. You can’t reduce the mortgage amount that you pay, as it’s fixed by the bank. However, you can try to approach it more tactfully. 

Everyone knows that the faster you pay off a mortgage, the better. The larger your initial capital investment, the less you’ll have to repay every month. However, something that a lot of people don’t always know is that putting in cash advancements into your mortgage whenever you have the means to, is a great way of significantly reducing your monthly mortgage costs. This means that if you’re able to save a good £1000 or £2000 per month from your additional copywriting, marketing or website design job that you’ve now incorporated into your evenings and weekends, these are amounts that you should immediately funnel back into a mortgage. Do not use these amounts to spend more frivolously. Really buckle down and try to get that mortgage payment down as much as possible.

In the current London climate, however, it is fair to note that owning your own property is almost impossible. Therefore, that paragraph above, might not be very relevant to so many people because owning your own property is massively expensive in the city. However, this does not mean that people do not have other debt. Therefore, the same application should be applied to anybody who’s looking at their soaring debt amount. Try to get it paid off as soon as possible. Every penny that you can put into that debt figure is a penny that needs to go there. It may sound a little bit grim but try to live as frugily as you can, even if it means for a few years, so that you can pay off your debt quickly.

Actively Look for Discounts and Less Expensive Activities Around the City

Hopefully, this isn’t all sounding too debilitating to your London lifestyle. Yes, working an 8 to 5 job and then trying to have an additional job on the weekends is not the ideal situation. Neither is having to reduce your costs at every turn, avoid buying your much-loved takeaway coffee and potentially also push every single penny you have into any debt that you want to pay off. Although it is important to do all of these things it’s also important to avoid burnout and try to engage and enjoy the city. After all, you’re living in London, the jewel of the world. Therefore, this part of the article is meant to offer you solutions to engage with the city less expensively.

Everyone knows that London has a lot of fantastic things to do. Go for the options that are either inexpensive or free. For example, visiting London’s museums such as the British Museum is free to attend at any time, as is the TATE museum. Both of these are wonderful things that you can do with friends in the evening or on weekends, including a picnic or sport in London’s parks. And afterwards, you can go for a lovely walk along the Thames or in the city, creating a really nice evening that costs you nothing.

Furthermore, there are also a lot of lookout spots that you can go to that do not require entrance. Try to find these on sites like Timeout London or in your local newspaper. A lot of these places advertise what they’re offering on social media, so keep an eye out for free things that you can do in London when you’re scrolling through Instagram or TikTok.

Furthermore, try to go to places that are not as expensive. If you want to spend time in Chelsea or Notting Hill, chances are that things are going to be a little bit more pricey. However, if you’re willing to take the district line or the Hammersmith and City line out toward the east and get out at Aldgate East station and take a lovely walk through the East End or even through Brick Lane, you’ll be able to find a lot more hospital prices. For example, two of the most famous and oldest bagel shops are actually found on Brick Lane. Both of these don’t have bagels for more than three quid a pop, which is a fair price for lunch. In Notting Hill, you’d be paying £15 for the same bagel.

You can also sign up for things, such as vouchers and newsletters which offer you discounts. There are also apps that you can look into, such as ‘Too Good To Go’. This is an app where you can purchase a package from a restaurant or a bakery and then that establishment essentially gives you almost double or triple the value of goods. The reason it’s called Too Good To Go is because the products are too good to just be thrown away, therefore, they sell them at a lesser price. You might pay five quid but you get 20 quid worth of baked goods. This is a great way to save money and also support local businesses.

Don’t forget that some things in life, even in London, come for free. Taking a walk in Hyde Park or Kensington Park is a wonderful thing to do and it costs you nothing. Walking through the city in the evening is also a fantastic idea and jumping into one of the public buses costs you £1.90 for a trip but you can look at the whole city while you’re doing it. It doesn’t always have to be the expensive restaurant or the expensive pub, that’s the point being made here.

Take it in Your Stride

London is a wonderful city that a lot of people want to live in but to keep up with the city, you have to try to implement new strategies. You can either go the online gaming route if you’re somebody who enjoys this. Alternatively, you could look at more reliable work sources, such as copywriting, forex trading, marketing and website design. 

Additionally, you should also seek out ways that you can reduce your costs. Starting with a budget is always a grand idea. Go into the nitty-gritty of all the expenses that you have in a month and try to get these down. Also, get that debt amount down, it’s vitally important for your financial success. Dive into the free or less expensive experiences that London has to offer. There are so many small businesses in other parts of the city that are looking for people to purchase from them and offer services and goods at a lower price. Engage with these businesses and support them.

Finally, realise that all of this is not going to happen in a day. Trying to live more financially savvy is not something that can just be switched on from Monday to Tuesday. It’s going to take you quite a few months to get yourself into this mindset and you must be patient and kind to yourself during this process. It’s not easy and nobody wants to admit that it’s time to budget more, however, it is important.

Well, there you have it, these are some financial ways that you can both earn more but also spend less whilst living in the fabulous city of London.

Try Your Hand at Online Gaming Income Streams

A smart way that you can try to stay financially savvy and viable in an expensive city like London is to diversify your income streams. One such way is to look at online platforms. You see, London is a city filled with many jobs and availabilities, however, unfortunately, you only have 24 hours a day. So, if you are currently employed and working an 8 to 5, you can’t get another 8 to 5 job, even if the opportunities are there. Therefore, an idea would be for you to invest and look into online working opportunities that you could perform either in the evenings once you’re back from work or spend a few hours over the weekend.

There are many different forms of online working opportunities. If you have made spare cash that you can afford to lose, options to play with your spare funds include online gaming such as Esports platforms, as there are many different tournaments and championships. If looking to try your hand in crypto trading or financial markets, IG is an option. There are also other online platforms that you could try your luck on, such as casinos. These are a relatively volatile and you can lose your funds or make some money,  as they are based on luck and chance, however, if you have spare cash that you can afford to lose, you could try your hand on some platforms like casinos.com amongst others.

If the gaming niche is not yours and you want something a little bit more hands-on, then you could register with online working platforms and the other ideas shown above. 

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