Sally Redux

The question was not 'How cheaply can I live in LA?' but 'Can I achieve a standard of living which makes it worth moving from a comfortable lifestyle in London?'

One of the biggest differences is going to be non-availability of public transport in this poster's case.

N1cky

This was where we made the biggest mistake when we moved to LA, we only had 1 car while I wasn't working. We would all get up in the morning, drive daughter to school, drive to hubby's work and then I would drive home. By that time I had been out of the house for 2 hours, for a 20 mile each way commute. I would then go pick daughter up from school, so out of the house for 3, if the traffic was bad (around 3 times a week) I would drive straight over to hubbys work as it wasn't worth going home, and we would go to the park for a couple of hours, pick hubby up around 5.30 and get home between 6.30-7.00, and I wondered why I was depressed and hated LA life.

Being without a car is even worse though, with 2 kids that young you will never leave the house, lots of neighborhoods don't even have pavements, so you can't even go for a walk around the block.

mymatemarmite

yup, I want to make sure we can afford a comfortable enough lifestyle if we're going to move halfway across the world! I would say our life in London is comfortable, others might not...after paying our mortgage each month we have £1,300 to spend on everything else (including bills). But I'm aware that LA is a hell of a lot more expensive than London. If my husband doesn't take this job, he's been offered another in London which would bring in an extra £500/month, which is life changing for us.

So can we seriously not do with just one car? My children aren't old enough for school, surely not EVERYONE drives to work? One person in every car? Seriously? Don't people carpool, I know the public transport isn't up to much, I guess one of the reasons we're looking to live near to Santa Monica so his commute is short and easy. Would I really need to drive everywhere? Maybe I'm being really naive about this but seriously the environmental responsibility will already be through the roof with travelling back to the UK once a year!

Sally Redux

"LA is a great big freeway".

To be blunt about it, most white/middle class Americans are terrified of buses. "Speed" had to have a storyline about Sandra Bullock having her licence suspended to explain why she would ever consider getting on a bus.

mymatemarmite

good point...ok, where do we need to live close enough for DH to bus/cycle/walk/carpoole to Santa Monica (the Yahoo Village apparently) but also a walkable neighbourhood for me and the kids

Sally Redux

"Santa Monica' covers a fairly large area.

mymatemarmite

well, that's as much as I know at the moment!

N1cky

If he is going to be working for Yahoo get him to find out if they offer a work commute bus, both them and Google do in Silicon Valley, they have work bus stops all over the area.

Sally Redux

Oh sorry I didn't know what Yahoo Village meant. Where is that?

OK looked it up, it's fairly central so possibly it could be doable if the budget stretches to Santa Monica itself or maybe Culver City

Santa Monica buses: http://www.bigbluebus.com/busroutes/index.asp

Mummy in the foothills

Yeah I don't think you get how different it is here.
It's a whole new world, nothing like UK. All the kids activities cost a bundle, where we are public transportation is non existent, We have one cab company in the whole county and that has two cabs, I saw on for the first time this year.
I looked at Gymboree for the little one but $50 enrollment then $65 a month was too much plus the driving for a few classes.
I just had to keep reminding myself I was in a foreign country now, and get on with it.
Now she's in school so no need for Gymboree but we drive 30 minutes to dance class weekly that is $35 a month if I went to the high pressure school it would be $65 a month.
Nursery school is $22 for every half day here. age 3-5.
No playgroups unless you want to join a religious one near us (MOPS)
Lots of kids sports starting at age 4 here, baseball, soccer, basketball run anywhere from $50 to $100 per season.
I think you need to make a list of want you have to have, then see if you can match as much of it as possible.

Sally Redux

What concerns me is when people think it's going to be just like England but sunnier.

It is so, so different.

Marmite needs to visit and really research this move.

BellaE

Marmite, check out rent.com and use www.maps.google.com, which provides driving, walking and public transportation directions.

AmerLisa

But that should be obvious. It isn't the UK... I think if you're making the move, flexibility would be the right word. If not, why bother?

Sally Redux

Some British people just don't 'get' that things are different. They think there must be healthcare provision for those without insurance, or concern for the environment, or easy socializing. That is the purpose of cautionary posts on here.

FredCDobbs

I'm not convinced of that at all.

If you did an objective comparison of prices for food (groceries and restaurant), clothing, cars (new or used), petrol/gas, wine & beer (staples!), electronics (computer stuff, TVs, cameras, phones etc.), services like gardening and house cleaning and so on, I'd bet L.A. would work out significantly cheaper than London. Comparable hotel rooms are twice as expensive in London, although that's probably not a relevant item

Mercer's most recent ranking of cost of living in world cities has London as 18th most expensive with LA down at #77. An on-line comparison called Xpatulator.com has London at #20 and L.A. down at #146. I'm sure there are other rankings too.

I suspect that some of the U.S. residents posting on here might be a bit out-of-date in their assessment of London prices.

Of course for any individual it depends on what you actually need to buy, and fluctuations in exchange rates make a difference too.