Income Distribution in London

With the remaining money £140p/m covers bills including telecomms, utilities, etc. Because of the building being high-density flats there is a shared oil burner for heating so heating is included in the rent, and additionally it is impossible to meter the water supply and the 1 bed flat means we are on the lowest band of water bill that exists.

We get a discount on council tax (student status of my partner who will graduate with her PhD soon, though she's already passed and is just prepping the final submission) and are in the lowest council tax band of one of the cheapest council tax rates (Hounslow covers Chiswick).

We then spend £250p/m on groceries. This covers all meals and lunches, all toiletries and washing powder, etc. We do not buy anything pre-processed and we cook everything and think about a menu during a shop such that we can buy a few things in bulk that we can use differently in multiple meals. Think veg heavy, some rice and pasta. We tend to eat virtually no meat, but we do have fish when it is affordable.

We have bicycles as primary modes of transport (I run http://www.lfgss.com ). Because I run that forum we are thankfully kept in cycle clothing and cycle parts (not that we consume much of either).

My startup pays a stipend of £400 p/m, and then my girlfriend does a little tutoring, which allows her to indulge in fashion and preferred make-up.

I generally get most of my clothes for free or extraordinarily cheap. Example: Most of my T-shirts are Continental N45 bamboo shirts that would be used in production of marketing T-shirts, and I order and pay for a few blank samples a couple of times a year from somewhere like: http://www.barone.co.uk/products/t-shirts/1/bamboo-t-shirt-f... . You can do this to most of your wardrobe, only jackets seem hard to acquire for cheap but thankfully they last the longest.

As for life-style, we had good quality furniture and white goods before we took the respective paths of the PhD and startup, and we had pretty complete wardrobes. So we live very comfortably.

On social things, we're into art which is mostly free, or academic seminars and CompSci user groups... events at which things like beer and pizza are provided so our cost is thankfully low. With friends we tend to do things like buy a bottle of wine and sit on the South Bank talking politics and dreams as the sun sets over the Thames, or picnics in Richmond Park, walks by the Thames, visits to new restaurants (which generally do phenomenal opening day specials as they test their systems - free meals or extremely cheap meals). We tend not to do TV, and if we have money to spend it's likely to go on books and art cinema.

We want for nothing, not because there is nothing we might want, but that we changed our definition of things we need, and things we desire. We never go window shopping for example, we let needs drive us more than wants.

We just live a fairly cultured, and astonishingly cheap lifestyle. Humble and active living.

PS: Yes we have a little in savings, not a lot at all, but we could cope with an emergency. But in 2 years we have not touched the savings once, and the first 2 months of living with these budget constraints were the hardest... we live well and don't notice a difference between how we are and how our friends are.