[Someone1234]

Move out of London. You don't need to be "close to work" a lot of people commute in every day. And, yes, train tickets are insanely expensive but I bet it is still a saving all things taken into account.

$50k is do-able even in South England, I mean you won't be a movie star, but you'll get by on rent and so on until your salary increases. It is only London where that won't cut it.

[unfunco]

This. London is a shit-show, filled with people that don't want to talk to you, and without wanting to mention the old rat-race cliché, that's precisely what it is; selfish, greedy, and unhealthy.

I lived in London for five years and it was the most miserable five years of my life, rent was £1,000 a month for a shared house in Camden, and with bills on top the majority of my salary was eaten up by living. I moved from London to Liverpool, my salary actually increased, and my rent halved for my own apartment. Now I have savings, my office is walking distance (8 minutes, to be precise), and the city is friendlier, safer, and being smaller it is made much easier for seeing friends and getting out more.

What London doesn't want you to know is that there's a whole country outside of it, with much better living conditions.

If moving is not an option, you can look at reducing and removing your debt using a charity, they arrange monthly payments straight out of your salary so that you're not building arrears, Martin Lewis normally has good advice on this sort of stuff: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan – the same website will also help you lower your outgoings.

Most importantly, $50k is not a lifetime of struggling, and you should look at getting a payment plan sorted before it becomes usurious. I've seen debt do horrible things to people and families, it's better to fix the roof whilst the sun is shining. Talk to someone.

[haack]

I was about to comment explaining how this isn't everyone's experience, and how I love London, but realised this isn't the thread to do that.

Yes, if you want to save money then don't live in London. I'm currently commuting 1.5 hours and walking some of the journey to shave off as much money as I can from my commute expenses. Trains still aren't cheap and travelling is exhausting but it saves me money. In my experience London salaries are higher on average (£2-4k) but not necessarily.

Maybe try freelancing in the evenings to scrape together more money.

[throwaway1410]

London is good if you have experience in something that's currently hot - for example, as a big data contractor you can easily pull £100-140k. If you don't have that, there are probably better choices.

[informatimago]

Commute to Barcelona <-> London, it's cheaper ;-) :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477291/London-rents...