to wish that people would acknowledge people like me

[sweethoneytruffle]

I work full time, but a combination of rubbish working conditions and poor hourly pay means I take home approximately £270 a week. This varies a bit and it sounds okay until you factor other costs in.

Out of this I obviously have to pay living costs, including council tax. I also have to pay for car insurance and petrol (job is based in the car so I can't sell it) I work anti social hours, starting work at 6:30 and finishing at 11 but not being paid for that as it's split shifts.

I don't know if I am really bad at money management, but I always seem to be skint, even when I have just been paid, I'm broke!

But we are not mentioned much, it's always about benefit cuts and delays and sanctions. I seriously have £5 in my purse, one tin of soup and a packet of biscuits until Friday!

Sweet you do sound a lot like my DD to be honest; she reckons she used to just sit and daydream in school because she couldn't follow what was going on and could never remember anything.

I think my DD has some sort of undiagnosed auditory processing disorder: she was deaf for a long time from glue ear as a kid and it's like she never learned to learn by hearing. DD got through her GCSEs by reading her stuff and basically teaching herself, making mind maps and really visual reminders. Same for her A levels, which were much better because she sort of honed her learning techniques. She's planning to go to Uni to do Graphic Design in September. She would be hopeless in a lecture theatre type scenario.

But like you, she's much brighter in reality, than she is on paper.

Sounds like the opposite of me! People usually think I'm intelligent and I'm NOT!

£270 take home pay is not a lot, especially if you live in the South East.

Carers are appallingly paid. My MIL and FIL however had to pay £15 per hour for carer who would be lucky to see half of that herself for doing tasks I would not do for a parent or relative.

Carers have appalling pay and terms and conditions. It's shocking and hidden. The council pay the agency a good hourly rate (or the elderly person pays) the agency cream off as much as poss.

It's disgusting op and I hope things change for all carers out there, I have met many and they do a wonderful job.

I know you don't want careers advice however many jobs do not require maths or science.

OK I'm going to say this then I'll go. Writing coherent, interesting, sentences with immaculate spelling, punctuation and grammar, doesn't just happen because you've read a few books Sweet. It happens because you are bloody bright and there's a lot going on there.

Really sorry if that makes you feel patronised; it is genuinely not intended to.

It's very sweet of you to say so Tinkly but it does as really everything about English I know I have picked up just from reading. It isn't from teaching!

Plus, I know my English is fine - good even - but it isn't set the world on fire stuff.

OP, I'm going to be quite harsh.

To be honest I think YOU are being more unpleasant to posters than they are to you.

It is a bit insulting to keep putting forward all this evidence of your ability and aptitude and then knock people down when they address it. (Good results in English, history and French, your active decisions as a schoolchild to not even try to understand, to copy other kids' work and to ask 'I don't understand, please can you help me?' all sound to me like evidence of intelligence).

People aren't accusing you of 'wailing and weeping' or 'telling you off', and I really don't think people are patronising you.

It sounds to me as though you're very capable, whatever you keep trying to tell us.

It also seems to me that you need to have a word with yourself, about both your responses on here and your reasons for not pursuing education opportunities.

Just read this whole thread and still can't figure out what you actually want OP. You don't want suggestions to get yourself out of the situation. You don't want 'patronising'. You don't want help. You say you just want acknowledgment. Well here goes...

Yes it's shit OP. You are very hard done by. You have it worse than anyone else.

OP you're taking home about £100 a week more than I do! I am a single parent, renting alone. I don't get any benefits and don't get CSA.

I love my job, and know this lack of money is temporary as I am taking steps to improve my situation. I don't expect 'recognition' for my struggling circumstances though

I didn't get the impression this thread was started for advice.

I think it was started to point out people in employment are struggling.

Puds, you are responsible for one persons well being (your child.) The OP has several people she is responsible for.

Carers do a fabulous job and are disgracefully paid for it.

I work up to 40 hours a week, never take home more than £180 at the end of it. I have to manage even though I've tried my hardest to find a better, less p-taking job. Have to get on with it unfortunately. I'm educated, however I couldn't work for 18 months, all employers see is an overqualified person with a large gap in their CV. I'm no Tory supporter but I don't blame them for my situation, it can't be helped. All I can do is keep working until some nice employer gives me a chance at something better.

The way home carers are treated is appalling and it has been worse since local authorities put out care to private providers. Old and disabled people now pay significant amounts for care (unless their income and assets are low) but the carers see none of this. It is creamed off by the people owning the care companies. They are also less likely to be unionised than when they worked for local authorities. It is disgusting.
Yes OP-you didn't start the thread for advice or to bash people on benefits-just to point out that some people are working hard and still struggling. YANBU.

Hi op, I understand you didn't start this thread for advice but I think it's a very natural reaction for some humans. If we see someone struggling, we want to do something to try and help them.

I acknowledge that the working poor exist. I briefly was part of it. I hear about it in the news. It does get spoken about.

Now what I wanted to say is, I wonder whether you may have dyscalculia. From what I understand, that's sort of like dyslexia for maths. Might be worth having a look into it, just so you know.

Also, I'm always hearing how crucial having a second language is. I know you like your job/don't want advice/have probably already tried this, but maybe search for personal caring jobs for a French language speaker? Please don't shout at me if that's a bad suggestion. I'm not very thick skinned.

As soon as I read your post I immediately thought you may be a home carer. I agree the terms and conditions are appalling for this sector. Such a vital service that requires the job holder to be trustworthy, reliable, capable, able to use initiative, remain calm at all times, show compassion. All this and so much more to end up earning a pittance. The way the shifts are allocated it is virtually impossible to work elsewhere between calls so you could be out of the house for 10 hours a day but earn only 5 hours pay on a good day. I know some people who even do this role but have to use public transport and then have to hang around in the park or supermarkets until their next call. Back in the day my mum used to do this job but then it was called home help. She loved it and was paid by the local authority and she earned a decent amount as she was paid for the full morning or afternoon or evening. Now they are paid per call which could be as short as 15 mins. So eg. 15 mins pro rata of £8 p.h earns you £2.00 then say a 20 min unpaid travel time to the next call with a further 10 min waiting around and then another 15 min call. That's 1 hour of time but ending up only earning £4.00. And it's bloody hard work too for that £4.00.

Did you have to undergo basic training and competency before you started to prove you can read instructions? I'm thinking that you probably did so you can show that you can read medication labels and give the correct doses according to the care plan? To be honest from my experience if you are doing this along with the other duties then you are doing 70% of what is expected as a hospital nurse. I know you say you don't want to go into nursing but I don't think you should be put off by your lack of maths skills. I can understand how you feel though about finding it impossible to study and continue to earn a living but as others have said there are grants and it could be you just need someone to give you some guidance.

Home carers do need to be recognised for the important and responsible role they have. Unfortunately I cannot see any improvement until this service is brought back under government control rather than being handed to companies whose number one priority is making profits for themselves and their shareholders. We're all living longer and most likely staying in our own homes more and more and I know that I would want my carers being paid and valued and able to earn a decent living wage.

Sweet, one of the things I have always found with Mumsnet is that although a lot of posters will weep and wail about people on benefits they often have very little sympathy with the working poor.

If you look through a lot of threads on here you may come to the same conclusion I did which is that a lot of Mumsnet posters benefit greatly from a low wage economy as they are not in the strata that are damaged by it, but instead are in the strata who benefit from it by paying shit wages to their nannies, cleaners, gardeners and the people who look after their parents.

So they bury their headset the sand about low wages. But they like to think they have lefty right on credentials which need the odd polish so they'll whinge on about benefit cuts while ignoring the fact that the children of the working poor are far more likely to live in poverty than those of benefits claimants.

Because heaven forbid they should have to clean their own kitchen or send their children to anything as déclassé as a childminder.

And they also assume that other people had the same opportunities and advantages they had in life too. Unless they are the sacred cow benefit claimant who cannot be criticized.

A lot of posters on here only like poor people when they're on their knees taking handouts. A poor person who try's to work and earn their own money is fair game, they only like victims and you're an uppity little madam to them.

Jack your job in, they'd all be telling you that you were wonderful.

The left wing isn't for the working classes any more, it's for the underclass and the Middle class who wish to patronize them.

Moan, I do not find that to be true at all.

I read much more understanding of and sympathy for the working poor on MN than I come across in a lot of the press and (unfortunately) IRL.

I read plenty of informed discussion about low wages and in-work benefits.

Jack your job in, they'd all be telling you that you were wonderful. That's just patently a silly thing to say. they only like victims and you're an uppity little madam to them. is equally silly and, IME of MN, unfounded.

And, of course, many posters on here represent the working poor. This demographic you talk about is only one of many who are on MN.

Moan I completely disagree with your analysis; I think Mumsnet on the whole is very clued in about the working poor. What many of us are guilty of, (and I hold my hands up), is trying to fix everyone and everything.

If someone has a problem with a situation, then they are likely to get a lot of, possibly unwanted advice, on how to fix it. Whether it's LTB, meal plan or retrain, when probably all they wanted to do is vent.

It's just human nature, some of us are fixers. It doesn't mean we are not sympathetic.

If sweet did retrain, get a magical A in maths and become a nurse/rocket scientist/footballer. The person who took her place, would still be trying to pay rent, council tax, gas and electric, food and travel expenses on that minimal wage, they could retrain. The next person would be struggling! These are important jobs.

Its 2015. I fully believe that a full time worker should be able to have a basic tv package, mobile phone and internet access via a basic tablet. Those are not luxuries in 2015.

A luxury is owning a pet or a sporty car that you would like rather than one thats just practical, it's eating out, going to concerts and festivals and holidays.

Yes if you want those then fine, retrain, aim for them.

Minimum wage should be enough for one person to live in a rented property and feed, cloth and heat themselves and access things like online banking! It's pure shit that we expect people to live on that.

I don't think the OP has been unpleasant at all. She posted to share her feelings about the often unrecognised working poor in the context of her own pay and conditions.
She didn't ask for advice, or career alternatives, or to be fixed / improved.

She wasn't unpleasant but people have decided she was because she wouldn't do what they thought she should.

And while I think Moans post was extreme there were truths in it, I feel.

I'm sorry for your situation xx with the little money you are left with, try to buy reduced items in what I like to call "shit corner" of the supermarkets (lol), buying stuff in the sales, being frugal with your money and seek any coupons and vouchers you can get your hands on... I do this to survive as a poor student.

Also, if you have Facebook, a useful page for budgeting food money, cooking with cheap ingredients and tips with food is "Feed your family for about £20 a week." They banned me from their page just because they must've disagreed with a comment I made which can't have been offensive :/ but I digress... anyway, I'm still advertising their page regardless and I find it helpful with food anyway... xx

goldfish, no, it's more that she keeps repeating how 'stupid' she is and how she's not clever and could never possibly do certain jobs or retrain or anything.

I think we all realise what a difficult spot she's in with her work hours etc, and a lot of posters have acknowledged this, but most people on here have just been trying to support her and at the very least see if she would stop using such negative language about herself and her abilities.

But that support has on the whole been expressed as solution finding or fixing, or telling her she's cleverer than she thinks. I hear a lot of people who put themselves down but she comes over to me as realistic rather than negative.
And I do think it's patronising even if it's well meaning to keep offering positive strokes when someone has specifically said that it's not what they're looking for.

She doesn't feel she has the ability to do the courses or jobs people have suggested.

Why has that caused people to be cross?

Why shouldn't she be a carer?