Ways to earn side income in the London

[amostay2004]

Ways to earn side income in London

Hi,

I know I rarely (or never) post in the off-topic section but I need some help. I'm planning to further my education to UK (London, specifically) in September this year, but my parents could only afford my tuition fees so I have to support my own living including food, accommodation and other necessities.

I'm from Malaysia and a student visa only allows me 20 hours of work per week and even if I'm able to find a part-time job, I highly doubt it could support my living expenses.

So I know this forum has a fair share of UK cubers, and I'd like to ask if there's any way to earn side income just to support my living? I'm not looking for extra money to go shopping or traveling, just money to not make me die of hunger there

Thanks,
Amos

 

[MTGjumper]

How much do you think your living expenses will be? If you're 22 or older, minimum wage is £5.73, and if 18-21, it's £4.77 (I'm presuming you're no younger). If you're working 20 hours a week, this will come to £114.60 and £95.40 respectively.

 

[Escher]

Do you play any musical instruments? Giving lessons is always quite profitable, you can get away with charging around £10 if you don't have any qualifications.
You may well be able to get a grant from the government or from the University/College you are going to. This would definitely be worth some investigation.
Do you have a specific skill or qualification that you could use? Perhaps in IT? A specific skill or skill set would be very useful: it is getting more and more difficult to find jobs in the UK due to the credit crunch.

But keep in mind that if worst comes to worst, the government will not let you starve.

 

[blah]

Go to a bar, take out your cube casually, make everyone there bet that you can't solve it under a minute. Voila.

 

[envy253]

lol blah, cube-busking. genius!

 

[amostay2004]

@ MTGjumper: I'm 20, and according to my friends who stay in London, jobs there pay at least 6-7 pounds. But I'm expecting to spend anywhere between 70-100 pounds per week on accommodation alone..probably 20pounds on food..not to mention transportation and miscellaneous stuff, and I'm being very positive on the figures already so they might be higher.

@ Escher: I play the guitar and a bit of drums, but I don't think I'm anywhere good enough to teach.. I just learn from church.
I did my research, and the school doesn't offer any grants, nor would my government, because I'm pursuing a professional qualification (ACCA).
And is cubing a skill? lol..I play badminton as well..but again, I don't think I'm that good.

@ blah: Trust me it has crossed my mind several times, not to mention BLD-busking, performing, and the like..hehe

 

[mazei]

I guess I won't be seeing you much when you go there.

 

[amostay2004]

IF i go there..heh. I'll make sure to join more competitions there and try to break your NR

 

[Bryan]

Get your living expenses down. Are you going to have roommates? Cut down to only essentials. Are you living in the dormitories there?

It looks like you can earn 6/hour and work 20 hours. That's 120 minus whatever taxes. That's what you have to live on. You can try all the side income you want, but remember, the government has explicitly said you can't work more than 20 hours. What are the repercussions if you get caught?

Just trying to be a realist......

 

[Kian]

Get your living expenses down. Are you going to have roommates? Cut down to only essentials. Are you living in the dormitories there?

It looks like you can earn 6/hour and work 20 hours. That's 120 minus whatever taxes. That's what you have to live on. You can try all the side income you want, but remember, the government has explicitly said you can't work more than 20 hours. What are the repercussions if you get caught?

Just trying to be a realist......

of course, in the uk 120 pounds minus taxes is about 9 pounds.

 

[amostay2004]

Hmm...does any side income means I'm working more hours than I should? I dunno how they define working hours..and I don't think I'll be taxed for part time jobs..would I?

 

[Escher]

Your situation

- If you find a job, you will earn around £115 a week
- You will pay 20% tax on that, BUT
- You can claim that back straight away because it will be under the 'Personal Allowance' of £6,035.
- So in the end, the money will go out one pocket and in the other
(Tax in the UK is not based on working hours)

You should (a lot of these are pretty obvious...)
- Talk to your college/University about getting a grant/scholarship
- Try and get a 'student loan' (I'm, not sure if foreign students can get them), or some kind of loan where you can pay it back with 0% interest if you don't go into the overdraft.
- Not get a credit card...
- Live in a house with at least 4 people living in it, so you can spread around the living costs.
- Cook all of your own food (vastly cheaper)
- Try and do some extra jobs on the side, like babysitting, or DIY, or something like that (just don't tell the government...)
- Apply for as many jobs as physically possible.

The problem with living in London is that its a very expensive place to live. However, there are a lot of things that you can do to cushion the costs, like getting an Oyster card, buying food in bulk and cooking, using the college computer facilities as much as possible, etc.

Save up money before you go - you'll need some start up capital, for deposits etc.
Try and get in contact with other students (facebook groups?), & see if you can get some kind of living arrangements organised with them.
Anyway, I hope this helps.

 

[amostay2004]

Thanks Escher, I did pretty much thought of most of the things you said..my girlfriend is living in London so I know many things..
I was thinking of maybe giving tuition as well..

But I've never heard of the tax thingy though..I'll check it out

Thanks for the advice guys..appreciate it.

 

[mazei]

Thanks Escher, I did pretty much thought of most of the things you said..my girlfriend is living in London so I know many things..
I was thinking of maybe giving tuition as well..

But I've never heard of the tax thingy though..I'll check it out

Thanks for the advice guys..appreciate it.

And with that, I'll definitely won't be seeing u much anymore

 

[ExoCorsair]

If it comes down to it, find things around the house that you can sell (online or otherwise).

Some things that come to mind are: old musical instruments, cubes that you don't use.

Also, it is totally legal to sell open source software, if you have blank CD-Rs lying around (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html).

 

[CharlieCooper]

if your girlfriend is living in london, perhaps you could live together (i'm aware it might not be at that stage yet ) or you could cook together or something to save on costs. if you live in a house with more people, you could also have some kind of cooking rota between you, although a word of warning, it becomes increasingly difficult to save on energy costs when some people will leave every appliance in their room on 24/7.

you could try to get rent that includes bills, student halls of residence will cover this normally. sometimes you can share a room too, which might not sound to good but can practically half you rent in some cases. you could also try living a bit further out of the main city area, although you might want to weigh this up against the cost of travel

do you have anything you might want to sell? i recently sold lots of books and cds on amazon which made me enough money to survive for a while!

the university will probably help you with a job. other student favourites in england would include doing "market research" discussions which can pay VERY well, £40 for an hour i got once! i would google that... or you can try working in places that pay time and a half or double pay on sundays, then make that a day you regularly work. some sites pay you to review things. sounds scammy and terrible, but all of us are at it. i've made quite a lot from it for not so much effort...