How would you get out of poverty if you were me?

[Fedupandpoor]

I am 36, two children under 6 and a single parent. Ex DP is useless. I have no family, no proper qualifications and no savings of any kind.

I am so fucking sick of being poor and struggling by on UC and minimum wage jobs. I want a good life for my kids, not rich but comfortable and not having to choose between heat and food.

What is the quickest and best way to dig myself out of this hole? My passion is fitness, yoga, meditation, sewing and alternative health. I have started teaching a kids fitness group that I absolutely love but it brings in pennies. I have another training booked in April to teach the same thing but to children with additional needs, however as I have no reliable childcare it is difficult to run many classes.

What would you do if you were me? Is there anyone who has been in my situation that managed to break out? Before anyone jumps on to lecture me about why I had kids and got into this situation, I know it was fucking stupid. I can only put it down to a horribly abusive childhood and then abusive ex partner as well as my own stupidity. But I've dealt with that shit now and it's time to move on

Where do you live?

I know a woman that was in your position. She was on my college course around eight years ago. This was in Scotland doing an HNC so it was fully funded. She got a student loan, a bursary, childcare costs and a discrepancy fund and was getting over £1000 a month. Went onto HND and degree and now is training to be an accountant with KPMG.

Online/open university degree training for something safe like accountancy/IT etc

If I was in poverty I wouldnt be considering my passions, only the clearest least risk route to a career with prospects.

I'd study at night and work during the day at literally anything.

You need to get contact and regular childcare sorted so that you can be available regular hours.

Look for any job that will pay you MNW and where you can progress. McDonalds is great, chain hotels, supermarkets etc. entry level jobs in the NHS or public sector.

Or assuming you have GCSE maths and English then look for a degree apprenticeship it will pay you (and you’ll get top-up benefits) whilst you get qualified.

Once you are earning a liveable salary then you can start to save a cushion to get qualified in what you really want to do or ha e savings to fall back on whilst you spend some time on starting a fitness / yoga business.

It’s not a quick plan but it’s a solid one and you might find a job or career that you love on the way.

Could you do a college course for a professional qualification?

Universal credit will support you financially to get in to better paid work through study

Thank you so much for all the kind replies.

At the moment I am not working full time as dc2 is only 15 hours per week at nursery. I teach my classes for 3 hours on a saturday, I declare this income and am registered as self employed with UC.

I'm not idealistic (anymore 😁) that's why I'm asking for help. An entry level job could be good, but I live in South West, in the poorest region. Not discounting it though if its the most sensible way to go.

I am waiting to start a mentoring program, 'outset start and grow' for new businesses. I would like to set up a social enterprise to offer classes for children and adults with additional needs and work with schools etc. I am also sewing like crazy to get to the level of being able to sell my things.

My qualifications are an access to He course (from 10 years ago) then my fitness training certificate. I have first aid, dbs, and insurance etc.

What are you doing at the moment? Is there any possibility to do an job based apprenticeship?
I believe the best chance you have is get some formal qualifications, change jobs if you have to...
You can look a bit more into special needs teaching/ support as you already have some experience it's probably easier to find progression in this field.

What's your work history? Any qualifications?

I would train to drive lorries 9-5. You can get paid up to 35k and there is a national shortage. I assume you can already drive though? If not then I would try and get a sales job and work my way up. Childcare should be covered up to 70% as a lone parent.

I have done freelance copywriting but only made a very small income from it. I worked at McDonald's for 6 months last year. It may just have been my branch but it was awful, I mean nervous breakdown awful. I avoided all the drama/bullying but seeing it happen around me to the younger workers was soul destroying.

Would you consider becoming a childminder? It would solve your childcare issue!

Stick with the fitness, you enjoy it and it will shine through?

Have you ever thought about training to be a swimming teacher? You can work for local authorities/ hotels and private clubs. Some of the private clubs pay quite well for a decent swimming teacher, plus you can do private 1-2-1 which cost around £25 per half hour.

Many moons ago I trained to be a life guard at a local trust/council which led on to doing my levels in swimming teaching.

With your exercise qualifications you’d have another string to your bow and it would be attractive to an employer to have some one that could do either.

Don’t give up.

What education do you have?
Are you interested in children? lots of TA jobs here and schools value people with a proven interest - you could do sports clubs. Gain experience and if you want the school can help you access further training once you’re in the role.

For full disclosure, I have a drink driving conviction on my record

It's 14 years old, I am very, very ashamed of it and it shows up on my Dbs.

I have never had a problem when showing the dbs to teach classes as no violent/drug offences. But it will probably prevent me from a driving job. Some wonderful ideas here, I am going through all of them one by one. I hope this thread can help others in my situation.

I also follow the earn £10 a day thread and am on clickworker, cloudworkers, appen etc. They have been a lifesaver and paid for Christmas

Ex DP is no use at all. Not for maintenance, or child care.

I was a single mum too!

Can you do themed kids parties on a weekend? I did a spa-party for my friends daughters 7th birthday and spent about £70 on all of the stuff and thought to myself I wish I just paid for someone to do it. I would have happily paid for someone to come in and do it. You could do fitness or sewing party packages alongside a part time job whilst your little one is in childcare.

Swim teacher sounds interesting, I could incorporate that with my existing job. Is swim teacher for additional needs a thing?

Would my conviction stop me being a childminder? I live in a tiny 2 bed council flat, would that be an obstacle?

Personal trainer
Run a fitness boot camp
Swimming teacher

@PlanDeRaccordement, what you're describing is copyediting; copywriting is writing actual copy. Both in my experience require training and it can take years to get to a point where you're bringing in a decent wage.

Sewing won’t get you anywhere if you cost in your time.

Where in the SW? I work at a large university and we have a thriving temporary staff bank. Once you’ve done one role it inevitably opens up more and then permanent roles. Flexi time, more annual leave than most other places.

In your situation I’d see if anything entry level at a public body like NHS, Council, a school is available as they’re often more supportive of single parents (I’ve been there!)

Fed you’d literally teach every one. Most L.A will have SN classes on as they may need special equipment to get in the pool. If I was you I’d aim to be taken on by a local authority at first as you would gain lots of experience to take on to some where new or build your own business from it.

You’d have access to lots of courses that where available. It was a life saver for me

I think you need to think long term.

All of the things you're doing are bringing you in too little money. You need to do something that will bring in a full time salary (in the future if not suitable now) so that you get benefits from that such as a regular wage and a pension.

Would you be interested in training?

Would you be interested in making things and selling them on Etsy while you train?

Could you teach pregnancy yoga? Baby massage? Could you do personal training?

I would forget the sewing, yoga and the idea of a job that meshes with my passions. I would arrange better childcare or at least consolidate the hours to facilitate part time work and start looking for any job at all. Shop, pub, cafe, cleaning, care work, whatever. Then once some regular money was established, I would look into training for a reliable career. Teaching assistant? Accountancy? Social work? Start at your local FE college. There is probably help with childcare costs available. Supporting 2 dc on your own of a (e.g) kids yoga teachers salary from scratch and a base of no savings or support is a pipe dream.

Kids craft classes,

Teaching mindfulness. You would need to go on a course. You can charge a lot and appears on surface fairly lucrative. Becoming a PT? Learning to become a nutritionist?

My friend started out as a baby swimming teacher and now has her own baby swimming school and appears to be doing quite well for herself.

Go on a business course so you can work out how to go about it the right way and make money rather than just earning "pennies".

You know you can claim back 85% of the cost of childcare if working via Universal Credit.

Remember too that UC is not great for self employed people with varying incomes. After a year in business they will assume a level of income and use that to calculate your UC even if you don't receive it. They also count all profit as income for you and don't allow you to put money aside to grow your business.

NatWest offer some great free mentoring and coaching courses for small businesses.

www.business.natwest.com/business/business-banking/services/entrepreneur-accelerator.html

I would start cleaning for £10ph and look for a course to do that would lead me to a well paid job. I would keep my hobbies as hobbies.
Kids’ clubs don’t pay a lot after overheads unless you have high numbers attending.