I've heard quite a few times on here that the minimum per annum income you can live on in London is about £18k.

where it's at. and its pretty cheap too. i live in bethnal green, its great. loads going on and well connected to everywhere.

stay away from south of the river..

that i asked about on here and was told that it was crazy-dangerous. i'd asked because the rent had been so cheap.

i know almost nothing about london but i know a few people that live in camberwell very cheaply and have quite decent places. and camberwell is great and easy to get to.

"NOTICE: I moved wardrobe to the living room so u can access your wardrobe anytime"

live north/ northwest( not too north tho.)
NOT southeast
AVOID.. finsbury park, kilburn, kennington, lewisham, eltham, willesden, harlesden, stratford...

(SE London) and pay £286 p/month. This is unusually cheap but flatshares of around that price do come up from time to time. As it's a student area you would prob have to live with students in order to pay that little. As you are a non student this could be problematic in terms of council tax but there are ways around this ;).

New Cross as an area is a bit crappy but has a good studenty feel to it and there are plenty of bands and clubnights going on. It's also about 25 mins to London Bridge by bus or 7 mins by train.

Generally your best bet is to stay glued to gumtree and see what turns up.

it's not far from places at all and is cheap.

is the best connected part and allows you convenient access to the most gigs and things. I'd be looking particularly at Islington (though pricey) and the West side of Hackney (Stoke Newington/Dalston) which is fun and reasonably priced.

I'd avoid North West London (not connected as well, pretty boring and devoid of venues). West London (properly boring and expensive), South West London (even more boring and full of men wearing boater shoes). South and South East (e.g. Brixton, New Cross etc.) can be quite good but are slightly isolated so a bit of a braver choice.

The largest proportion of the good stuff in London happens in North, North-East or East (central East though e.g. Bethnal Green or Whitechapel).

and rarely go to other parts of the city. all the best bars, gigs, etc are here

afew places bethnal green/stepney way that were around £80 per week and i've never had any problems in three years of being here - seems to be a stigma attached to certain places.

i have afew friends dalston/stoke newington way, that might be worth a try too?

Seriously, find someone to put you up and take a weeks holiday. Go on walks to see where you feel comfortable, then ignore what everyone else says, especially about crime. I was mugged twice within a year in a supposedly 'nice' area of South West London. Then I moved to Wood Green, which is near Finsbury, and came across no crime at all. I know many people who LOVE New Cross, despite everything thats said about in, equally I can understand why people would want to live in West London because it's quiet and pretty and you don't have to be at the centre of the action all the time.

A lot of the properties advertised on Gumtree are owned by very dubious types, again it's hard to know this without meeting them. Lots of detail in an ad is a good sign.