It Sure Isn’t Cheap In London, But You Can Make It Cheaper

London is the coolest and most buzzing city in the entire world that is for sure! One thing that is also for sure, is that it isn’t cheap in London, it can be a truly prohibitively expensive place to live and travel around in. Also for tourists hear on holiday it is an even more scary place for the bank balance, unless that is if you are of course rich. Students coming from other countries and other cities in the Uk are going to be for a huge shock.

The words, cheap London are two words that quite frankly don’t sit very well together, but it is however possible to live slightly cheaper in London if you are careful and smart. And believe me for someone like myself that loves London and plans on staying here for the foreseeable future, to enjoy and experience life in this amazing and crazy city. The only way I can do it comfortably is by using my Scottish thriftiness that I was supposedly born with. In my case it is something, which I had to learn and coax out of my soul, because I have easily and haphazardly blown an unbelievable amount of money over the past 3 years.

The first thing I had to learn in order to find out how to live cheaply in London, was to close my eyes and send my vain pride floating through that great big black hole in the sky! Not an easy thing to do, but with some determination and willingness to become cheap in London, it had to be done.

A shop I that I ventured into about 3 times in my life before I move to London, called Poundland has become my new second home. As the name suggests, everything costs a measly quid and believe me that amazes me. This place is fantastic for buying a wide range of house hold cleaning stuff, toiletries and a variety of other things. They even sell a lot of brand names as well as lesser known brands.

Once upon a time I use to get caught up in the theory that brand names were always better than the unknown ones. That was until many years ago, when I worked as a buyer in a Cash & Carry. One day I was on a tour of well known brewery in Scotland, and I witnessed with my own eyes the same lager going into different cans. One set was for Asda’s own cheap label, which at that time sold for about 20 pence a tin and the other set was going into the brewer’s own brand, which retailed for about 60 pence.

Same lager but different  tins and of course different prices. I witnessed similar things with a varity of other products over the years! I remember one day I bought a six pack of the Asda cheapo lager and a twat at the checkout said to me I don’t know how you can drink that stuff, it tastes like piss water, “really”. The best thing of all, was that  he had the same lager,  but the brand name in his trolley. So he also liked the piss water, but liked to pay three times as much for it.

There are also various other Indian cheap London shops that are also worth having a wee look around, you can pick up the occasionally bargains in them. But also be carefully and check out the quality of whatever you buy. I bought a tin opener for a pound a few months ago and it broke after opening half a tin. The one I bought for £1.50 is still going strong.

Another great find and where I buy a lot of my fruit and vegetables cheaply in London, is at those market stalls. I find their prices for certain things is a hell of a lot cheaper than the supermarkets and the quality is just as good. If you want to become a real cheapskate, then wait till around 30 minutes before the market stall closes and you can find some real bargains. I got a box of 6 delicious big mangos last week for £1, they were about that for one in Sainsbury’s.

For my meats I usually head to places such as Shepherds Bush or Harlesden, where for a measly £15 my arms are just about fallen off from the weight of the stuff. The choice is usually fairly good and there is nothing wrong with the quality of the chicken, lamb, beef, goat or pork that I buy from these places. You probably don’t have quite the same variety of different cuts of meat that you would find at the supermarket, but if you want to be cheap in London, get with the programme.

Travelling for Cheap in London is not easy, especially if you have to travel through 3 or 4 different zones, that can truly cost you some serious money if you are doing it on a regular basis. If I have the patience and I’m not in a rush and I’m broke, I will go and figure out the best way to get to some place by a combination of walking and taking one bus. It can be a bit of challenge sometimes, but I like to walk and since I’m in the process of getting fit again, it is something I plan on doing on a more regular basis.

Partying in London can be real expensive business, especially if you like to go to bars and clubs, or eat out. I was out in Camden not so long ago in a club and I got a few pence change for a round of 5 drinks from £20. I suppose the good thing about the drink prices in London is that you never have to queue up for too long to get a round in.

I know for most people going out to the pubs and clubs is more a social thing, so sitting in your house getting tanked up before you head out, isn’t an appealing prospect. However heading to the park with your mates or partner for a few drinks in relaxing surroundings, especially when the weather is nice is something worth considering. Especially when places like my local Indian shop, is doing a deal such as 8 bottles of Coors for £5, man is that good. I remember doing this on a regular basis when I was young student back home in Aberdeen, those were such fun days.

Something that  I do at home, is to make sure I don’t needlessly burn electricity. I make sure I don’t leave the lights on when there is no need, I make sure I turn off my mobile phone chargers when not in use, I turn off my computers when I go out etc. And believe me this does save money and over the course of the year it is worth it.  The money is better in my pocket than the power suppliers that already charge me too much. Students pay attention to this one, remember, money saved on electricity is more money for more booze and takeaways.

Slightly cheaper London is something that is possible, if you truly want it to happen. For me, becoming cheap in London was something I consciously made an effort to do and I have become fairly successful at it, which has allowed to me free up extra money for enjoying life in the Big Smoke and I will tell you something my life hasn’t suffered in the least, since I started becoming slightly more careful with my money.

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