To wonder how people afford to live with these jobs

[Dreamer14]

I have worked in the private sector for nearly 20 years. In a high paying industry too. However… I’m bored. So very bored.

My Monday dread starts on Friday nights. I’ve changed company and the feeling is the same. I feel isolated because I work at home all the time. I don’t feel like I’m being the best version of myself. I’m grumpy as I’m unhappy etc.

I’ve thought for years, I’d love to go do something completely different. Each time I try… I give up because I simply can’t afford to work 37 hours (with all the childcare I’d need) for £20k.

I would love a job helping others. I look at NHS and school jobs, council jobs, charity jobs etc. but the pay simply isn’t enough. Am I doing something wrong? Have I missed something?

We would like to move in next few years but if I went to bank and said I earn 20k they wouldn’t lend me nearly enough. I don’t have a rich husband! I’m the main earner.

I'm working 37 hours a week and hate every moment. My dream situation would be slightly less hours so I can pick my kids up one day a week and something I love that involves a bit more human interaction.

I would not be giving up a 60k job to earn 20k or even 30k at a public sector job!
The grass isn't always greener.
With a degree and your experience you should be able to get a higher paid job even in public sector. Maybe look at alternatives.
Like pp say if you earn 20k you may live with parents, house share, have no DC and /or have top up benefits, have a partner so two income household. Organise work / shifts so minimum childcare costs or on family.
And really struggle to make ends meet.

Trust me, I had to pay over 4k. It was totally shit. And no mistake or other, I had it checked out by an accountant friend of mine!

If self employed you have to pay tax based on last years earnings. So what you earned this year is irrelevant.

@Heavymetaldetector
Fair enough! Just saying I don't think it's worth trying to only earn under 15k or whatever because of tax, you will still be quite a lot better of earning 18k plus a year

They don't. They start reducing but don't stop completely. I earn £21k and get tax credits.

You are lucky. Low in cash but high in everything else. I love your post and I love that there are people like you!

If it helps I do work full time but for min wage, 37 hours works out to £18250 a year. I do get a wage rise early next year to £20600 but as wages rise, UC reduces which is fair enough so what I get money wise will maybe be £50 a month more.

Could you reduce your hours and days with current employer to give you capacity to do something that would give you the stimulus? I sense you are looking for something that is more purposeful where you are passionate about the impact, so think abt how you could balance that with paying the bills?

@Dreamer14
I work in public sector (in the Midlands), there are plenty of project manager jobs at £50k plus which do come with some of the benefits that you're looking at.

I met a new PM recruit a year or so ago who came from pharma actually.

We have several in the team I support that work 0.8 FTE and even if you want full time, there is a lot of flexibility which would allow you to do school pick ups.

I work in public sector led construction (transport/regeneration) so although not directly working with public daily, it may be a halfway house for you where you can still command a relatively good salary but get some of the work-life benefits you're looking for.

Not all councils/public sector organisations pay equally. So do shop around and keep looking- jobs do come up. Also look for the government companies, not just civil service. They have lots of PM style roles.

@Dreamer14 there are quite a few new type roles centred around project management. Maybe look at a different industry, software, for example, have product owner roles that are similar in the way that you manage a ‘project’ (or feature request) and work with a team to get the work done. No technical IT Knowledge is usually necessary.
loads of areas have these roles.. NHS do, Financial services do too. Maybe ‘helping people’ can come in a different form to front line work?

in my experience, software companies usually have a great work environment and work/life balance too.

Lots of charity jobs pay okay I work 28 hours a week for 28K it’s not a lot of money but it’s definitely a lot for the hours I do I work for a drug and alcohol agency

Actually, a lot of schools are struggling to recruit TAs now. There comes a point where being paid so little for such hard work* just isn't worth it any more. I'm getting back into it because it means I'm available to my chronically ill teen outside school hours but it's only possible because DH earns good money and WAH so he's there in the day for I'll teen when they're at home.

• it is probably nothing like you imagine. A lot of the time TAs are used as cheap substitute teachers and they often work with the most difficult children. It does feel worthwhile and I love working with children (especially the difficult ones) but the pay in no way reflects the reality of the job.

I agree TAs are way underpaid for the level of work they do.

I suspect most of the jobs you've described come with their own stresses and anxieties. Low paid rarely means it is an easier job.

I left what could worked out to be a good career in the future.(finance) to do more 'rewarding' work and still work in the public sector. Wouldn't recommend it. It's as bitchy and sometimes as pressured as private sector jobs. My job doesn't feel secure as private sector jobs anymore as I'm sure public sector redundancies will be on the cards soon too with everything that's happening.

Definitely follow the money. Security and peace of mind is the basis of happiness. You can work with the job you have to make it more interesting. You can volunteer in your spare time to connect with people.

As it happens, I'm really interested in finance now when I hated it years ago! I don't care about doing something more rewarding anymore as it totally burns you out for very little financial reward and security, and a lot of the time clients don't treat you very well.

I’m a TA, I have a friend who does peoples ironing and she earns more per hour than I do 😕

Starting again is really hard. I think ultimately it will involve either boosting your partner's salary first (promotion possible?) or reducing your outgoings.

You may need to weigh up how much you want or need the more expensive mortgage.

If you're truly unhappy, and want a more meaningful job, then it may be worth just parking your bigger mortgage plans and biting the bullet. Who knows where it will take you!

I was able to take a step back career wise because my partner earns very well. Most people I know who work in low paid jobs (who have the potential to earn more) do so by having a partner in a well paid job, or they make bit lifestyle cuts.

Good luck, lifes too short to be unhappy for too long.

Plus housing benefit (varies a bit by area, but £114 pw round here), and as you say CT support. So £77+114+15. Which works out to almost £900 a month.

I've just left the ambulance service (newly qualified paramedic, BSc degree, £25k/pa) due to insufficient available, affordable childcare. Childminders are charging £6 - £8 per child, per hour, starting at 8am and closing at 5.30pm. My hours were roughly (shifts start times vary) 6am to 6pm - if I got off on time, not to mention night shifts. I loved my job, but my child comes first. I couldn't keep depending on friends because we're all in the same boat. Apparently, we need to work more to be better off. It's bullshit.

I know you said you weren't so keen on further study but you could consider allied health professions in the NHS with your degree. You could do a masters and would qualify as a band 5 on Agenda for Change pay scale and could hopefully be a band 6 in a few years. So speech and language therapist, physio, dietitian, occupational therapist etc and in general its 8-4 hours Mon to Fri but some places have weekend working. Although it's still stressful 😊

There's worse things than being bored. I wouldn't leave a well paid job out of boredom, especially with the cost of living crisis.

Well what would be more rewarding for your children?
What's the long term goal? You said you wanted to do some more stuff with them for your benefit then quickly loved the idea of volunteer work.

?

Have you considered the children? It just seems to be about you?

Don't work in a school. You would still feel dread and your pay would be rubbish.

sorry to ask but what kind of job you do ?
always loved to work from home as have got little ones but haven’t find anything 😏

This is an interesting thread.

I’m an LSA and take home just under £1,200 each month. My partner earns £24k a year. We don’t have kids, but we manage with what we get. We can save a little each month for home improvements too