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

In the summer I buy clothes by the bag £10 and then resell at car boots plus I do clearance jobs. The clothes are really good I normally make 5 x plus my investment only ladies though men’s and children don’t sell as well, I buy at auctions too.

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.

Yes, I meant copy editing. Sorry for mistake. But, although it requires training, it does not require any qualifications or degree to do. There are online training courses. You’d start out junior but can work your way up to a higher than average wage in five years.
Better future prospects than working in a care home, child minding, or a pub imho.

Isn't your conviction spent now after 14 years? Why is it still appearing on your DBS?

I’d find childcare, there will be some even in rural areas, and take any min wage job you can get. Your passions arent going to support three of you and all can be done at weekends or nights. There is help with childcare costs available so you don’t need to stock to just free hours.

I don’t think you can complain re the money situation when barely working and not taking any kind of work you can get.

Train as a physio or occupational therapist or dietician with the NHS and do yoga/fitness on the side. Eventually combine the two streams in a health and wellness business, you could add meditation, acupuncture in too over time.

For a quicker fix I’d also look at a personal trainer qualification, possibly as a way to earn money whilst studying a longer term qualification.

Agree that you need regular income 1st. 2nd manage finances to ninth degree... Separate all money, everything so you have money for everything eg Xmas, bday... Food etc.

Then think about extra stuff like the yoga. Lots of places don't do it for younger children. I'd love my 13 year old to do regular yoga.. Calming breathing etc.. M

Pretty sure that drink drive convictions are spent after 11 years so you should be fine for a driving job.

How about Mums and Kids fitness sessions?

The thing with classes is your time is limited so if you think more widely start it off yourself, design the classes then franchise it out or get contractors to run specific classes to build the business

The drink driving conviction shouldn't be a problem...DH was banned when he was 17/18 and had to wait 12 years before it was spent, but then joined the police, so pretty sure if they accepted him it shouldn't be a problem for anyone else.

I would get a job (any job) that paid a regular reliable wage. Your not in a position to consider your 'passions'

^this

I work 9-5 in a very boring office job because that’s when it’s easy to organise childcare for.

With no qualifications or skills you’d be perfect for call centre, if you do sales you can get good bonus payments and work your way up. You don’t have to be outgoing or loud, just pleasant on the phone, you often just follow a script anyway.

There’s usually a nice mix of people, company pension scheme and you can do your yoga outside of working hours.

Like some on here, I don’t think you can rely on your passions. Something with the local authority, university or NHS (possibly as bank staff) is likely to give you security and opportunities for profession.

I don’t think baby classes are the goldmine people have made out (and you’ll have seen from your own). I have friends that have bought franchises and are basically seeing it as a way to plug their CV while staying at home and bring in a bit of extra money. None of my friends that have done this are the main earner. They get a lot of job satisfaction but It’s clear the admin and marketing side is hard and the returns aren’t brilliant.

More specially on the yoga for kids, I know someone that is brilliant at this and is trying to get into schools after having done it at a nursery. It has been a hard slog and she has contacts and ‘ins’ at the local schools. I don’t know the extent your conviction would be an issue re DBS.

I’m not trying to say don’t follow your passions but doing it as secondary to a paid job might be better.

@Peterspotter thank you so much for your replies, I am looking into swimming teacher!

I have an enhanced dbs and it was drink driving with no licence or insurance (I was a twat back then) so multiple offences will always show up.

As many of you have guessed, it is kids yoga. I absolutely love it. I really want to get my 200 hour yoga teacher qualification but as a pp said, teaching yoga is a pastime for the well off as the training costs £5000.

So an entry level job and evening study seems to be the main choice. I can definitely do that.

@Cremebrule Yes, that's it exactly teaching classes is far from a goldmine and costs a lot in time, energy and materials.

Friend does childminding but more on a taking children in at 7am, giving them breakfast then getting them to the same school as her own children.

Then after school care, bringing them home, giving them tea and getting them to do any homework and just entertaining them till their parents pick them up at 7pm/7.30pm

She has 2 children of her own and looks after 4 others regularly. In the holidays as well.

It is hard work and she is super organised but she charges £5.50 per hour per child

That way you can do your classes during the day once your youngest is in school

Check out whether your local college offers free courses that may help. I'll PM you with what my local college does so you have an idea. If your local college doesn't do them, you can do them via my local one as they are distance learning.

Look for local call centre jobs in insurance of any kind. If you stick at it and are good some would train you up to get a btec or whatever they are now called to become an underwriter

In a similar situation a friend trained as an NHS clinical coder.

Better future prospects than working in a care home, child minding, or a pub imho.

Agree these are all quite dead end jobs.
Also hard to get a full time job teaching swimming.
My boss gave me some advice when i was younger; i asked for a raise and he said the best way to get a raise was to work more hours. So you need to be looking for work that can be done part time initially and then progress to full time . You also need to avoid dead end jobs.

You know the glass ceiling? Well there is also something called the ‘sticky floor’... jobs done mostly by women which have very little prospect of promotion. See above.

Also remember that the system relies on a proportion of the population being poor. You will have to fight your way out of it, because the cards are massively stacked against you.
Good for you for your open and positive attitude. When you feel despondent though, remember that the system want to keep you where you are.

Hi. No advice about the jobs, but wanted to say about your dbs...if you do get the chance to interview for anything needing the dbs, be totally honest and transparent about it.....
If it is clear since your drink drive conviction 14 years ago, it shouldn't cause you any trouble, but if you deny it or don't mention it, it is likely to be viewed suspiciously.

I wish you lots of luck...you sound like a really conscientious person who just needs a break x

OP, if you've got an Access to HE plus your fitness certificate you must be eligible to do a degree course. Have you looked at the open university for things you can do part-time? Or local universities /FE colleges which offer degree courses in fitness / sports? You could get a full student loan which you wouldn't start paying back until you earn £20k and even then in tiny amounts (check Martin Lewis's excellent articles about student loans as a 'graduate tax').

If you got a degree, or even a shorter HND type course you could then look for work in a gym, set up your own fitness consultancy, personal training and so on. There's lots of lovely space down in the SW so perhaps you could use the countryside or beaches to run boot camps.

Either way, a degree qualification will get you out of minimum wage territory and onto a career trajectory, as well as setting a great example to your kids that nothing's impossible.

@Thistly That brought a tear to my eye

It's so true. I see it all around me as I live on a council estate in a deprived area. But, I'm prepared to do anything. I have started keeping spreadsheets to track my spending. For those who don't know why poor people spend money on takeaways and expensive shit once per month its because it buys you a few hours of escape from your piss poor life. I have fell into that trap many times and took dc out for the day to a farm or activity and blew £50, an entire weeks food budget.

Now I track my spending, I organise my day down to the minute to be as productive as possible. I listen to Ted talks, motivational podcasts and follow inspirational accounts on Instagram to get out of the 'poor person' mindset. I read an amazing quote that said "You have to do what other people won't to be able to live like other people can't" and its my new mantra.

Sorry for the woe is me rant, I'm incredibly grateful for everything I have. A warm home, food, health and two amazing kids. I just don't want them to grow up as I did.

I think hospitality might be difficult if you don't have childcare in place. Could you use the time while your children are young (access courses, OU) with a view to qualify and get a job when they are at school?

@CouldBeAGreatMum My access to He was for humanities and journalism and was 12 years ago. I started a combined English Literature and Journalism degree but dropped out after the first year.

Could I still use it to get on a new degree course? Would it open the door to a degree in personal training/fitness/ nutrition?

www.kirwanssolicitors.co.uk/media/548854/drink-driving-offences-faq.pdf
as you can see the circumstances of your drinking & the amount you drank & the actual punishment affect your future employment however there does seem to be a debate about this
www.forum.drinkdriving.org/threads/teaching-or-working-with-children-with-a-dd-record.69102/
I would suggest you ask advice - as because of the length of time since (& if you haven't repeated the offence) may count in your favour
most(redbrick) universities have vocational & qualification advice (ie can you get a degree & what type)they may also give you advice about your d & d. As you are a single parent cant you get more free hours at some stage? I really would like to see someone who wants to work this way get on - op! You may have hurdles but you need to get advice about the hurdle of d&d
nb another interesting & more positive article
www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/may/22/convictions-cautions-teaching-job

PE teaching?