Anyone gone from earning a very good salary to minimum wage?

The world keeps spinning indeed ! You take pride in your contribution to your children’s upbringing through hard work rather than just good luck

I was made redundant last year on a pretty high wage. I’ve enjoyed my career break. Fairly niche area so I’ve applied for a limited number of similar roles and no joy yet. We can manage but things are tighter than id like. I’ve also just applied for a tourism related job abroad which pays less than 15% of my old salary… clearly mid life crisis time.

Jangan ragu main di Jo777

Does lower paying automatically mean mw for you? I will say I enjoy my job more than the job I used to have, the only stress I ever have is childcare, I love the job itself. You just become one of those ‘if I wait x days I can get it cheaper/ I can’t justify paying that kind of money’ people😅 and eg I went away on a trip with friends last year that took a lot of saving for as opposed to the olden days where I’d just be a bit short sometimes. But that was pre children anyway so it’s all swings and roundabouts. I am keeping an eye out though. I’m not helping much but hope something good comes up for you

I stepped back hugely when we adopted kids. I was in a very senior role on a good salary but the job was way too demanding to be able to parent two traumatised kids. I took a role that was much less demanding and much less well
paid, but that I could do with my eyes shut. I did feel my career had stalled, and was bored at times but it gave me the space I needed. As the kids became less demanding I was able to do another relevant qualification which stood me in good stead when I was able to step back up the ladder.

If you took a less demanding role would that give you head space to develop your cv in some way if you did see a more suitable role come up?

Yes, was on 30k then finally left because of childcare and became a sahm. Working mw now. Love my job but my choices and lifestyle have shrunk right down , I miss the freedom better money gave me. Everything has to be thought about and figured out

Not the exact same scenario, but at one point I was earning £20,000 PA less than I had previously. I'd been at the same company for 8yrs, having worked my way up from starting as a temp to an associate director on £65,000 managing a large team. They'd had several restructures and my role became redundant. I felt absolutely gutted at the time, but it was a very stressful role and in the end was the best thing.

I returned to temp work which suited around multiple rounds of IVF but the pay was significantly less. Unfortunately, we don't have any children despite years of TTC. I did find it uncomfortable when I bumped into old colleagues including staff that I'd line managed, and their careers had progressed, but I was back where I'd been 10yrs previously.

I'm not back to my old pay, but have a far better work/life balance than I did back then which more than makes up for the deficit.

I've done this, from senior HCP to working as a classroom assistant (school hours and term time only) when the kids were small.
I absolutely loved the role. I felt like I was earning , paying tax and NI, and making a positive contribution to society. I also learned loads about the SEN/ASD system, like sign language and PECS which has both benefitted me and informed my practice when I went back into healthcare.
There are many benefits to working that aren't paying related.

I worked part time, mornings only, when my DS was small, so went from decent salary to just squeaking by.

I still got job satisfaction, as I was in work everyday, but totally stalled re career progression until I went back full time.

I really enjoyed it, the mix was great for me. We were tight re money, but I knew it was only for a few years. I had to budget, but we weren't living in poverty, we had money to go swimming a couple of times a week etc. Christmas and holidays were more budget than before, but still lots of fun.

The career progression stalling was the real downside for me - it was frustrating as there are higher grade jobs that could be done on a part-time basis, but all required full-time for at least a year.

I'm a single parent, but a great option for couples is for both to go to a 4 day week, taken as two half days a week, so you only need childcare for one afternoon a week.