To think life is a bit pointless for many if you don't have much money

[Potato35]

This obviously doesn't apply to people who are happy with the bare minimum or are perhaps living mortgage or rent free or don't need to work.
Being on a low income restricts your life in so many ways. It's not about wanting millions and a luxurious lifestyle, but..
Imagine being able to go to the supermarket and not have to calculate the cost of everything to the last penny
To have choice over where you buy clothes, not just second hand/Primark etc.
To have more options about the size and conditions of your home and be able to afford the cost of renovations
Can afford more things like vitamins, supplements, health and beauty treatments
Can see more of the world
You can probably afford a pet or children
When your friends want to go to higher end restaurants you can afford to go and not just get a starter and a tap water
You can afford better food

What's the point of living to just earn a low wage and just get by? Where's the fun in life?
Somebody has to do the minimum wage jobs because many of these jobs are essential to society, like working as a carer.

I do think life would be miserable being on a minimum wage job for a long time, but I honestly if I were in that position I would be able to find my way out of it so, you have to be resourceful

Can you explain how you came to be working in a minimum wage job (that’s if you are), are you a relatively new graduate who is just starting out?……if that’s the case then at least you can see light at the end of the tunnel as you will probably progress and so will your wages

I'm sorry you feel like that OP, but not all of us on minimum wage find life pointless. I work in childcare and I get a lot of fulfillment out of my job. I have a loving partner and a caring, thoughtful DC. Yes, it's hard sometimes to pay the bills, but I don't dwell on it. I get a lot of enjoyment from reading (library books), growing my own veg, watching comedies on YouTube, mixing with friends and family (in our homes mainly). I consider myself to have a good life. My life is far from pointless.

This. One of the happiest years of my life was my gap year when I stayed in $10/night hostels and lived off cheap pasta and rum & coke, along with the hundreds of other young travellers I met who were in the same boat.

It’s about relative poverty.

Some people are happy doing a minimum wage job . Some people don’t want stress and pressure. I was a cleaner once and I loved my job. It was actually therapeutic for me . It was the happiest I had ever been at work . A lot of people enjoy having a stress free simple life .

A genuine question to those who say that being poor and doing low pay, low demand jobs were their happy times - why pursue education and career if you were so genuinely happy without those things?

I suspect because they’ve forgotten how utterly utterly boring it was and how each minute seemed like an hour.

That is my memory of being a student back for the holidays and working in a low paid call centre. Shudder at the memory!!!

To think life is a bit pointless for many if you don't have much money

Have you never seen A Christmas Carol?

Cheery!

Not everyone does or can pursue a career.

Thank you 💖 it is very worrying which makes me stress out which effects my health

@Kirbert2

Not everyone does or can pursue a career.

Well yes, I know that, and I agree, I'm one of them. But I was asking if why people posting were so happy when in situations where they had a low income at one time, why they had gone on to pursue education and a career, that achieved a higher income, in order to look back fondly on those times.

@Sweetmelonff

I suspect because they’ve forgotten how utterly utterly boring it was and how each minute seemed like an hour.

That is my memory of being a student back for the holidays and working in a low paid call centre. Shudder at the memory!!!

I think it's vastly different when it's a means to an end, when you know that it's a part of the journey, rather than just being the journey.

And tbh, my life isn't boring, it's a lot of things but boring isn't one of them! And I have progressed up 'the ladder' as short as it is, but it's a lot more work and not a lot more money in return, still well under the national average and although I struggle less than when I earned less, I still struggle, I can pay the bills demanded of me now and am not constantly wondering when the bailiffs will turn up.

And tbh there's times it just doesn't feel worth it at all. But I guess everyone feels like that sometimes no matter what they earn.

I think people assume for a wage like mine there can't be that much responsibility, or scrutiny, or actual work to do, but I have found that compared to some of the 'professional' friends I have, I'm doing more work from home because there just isn't enough time to do what's expected at work, that it's threatening to take over my life, that there aren't the professional structures in place that tend to come with well, professions, no standard practices, and little in the way of protection against the effects of that.

And I get paid a lot less than they do and am held in a less favourable light.

And I've found this is social care, hospitality and retail. All 3 are struggling with recruiting and retaining staff, especially those who are needed to coordinate and manage the day to day running, or need a skill set like a chef. People work incredibly hard in those industries, but the return for that just isn't there.

My old low pay job paid enough to live on. I tried to pursue bigger and better things, but some of us are just not cut out for it (3 times uni drop out here).

No, low paid does not mean boring.
My NMW job was varied. Apart from the routine stuff, every day was different. I know people who work for charities who work with vulnerable people. They have to risk assess their clients, and have a huge amount of responsibility. They are on NMW.
NMW does not always mean a monotonous dredge of a job. And some people actually do like the jobs that are samey. It is safe for them.

and I wa pretty much all those things and so happy in an elite profession and then went into psychosis which took every single thigns id world for away. id world my way up from poverty and trauma to get there too.

So you go and get it!

Want a beautiful house? Learn how to decorate and renovate yourself - who knows, it might lead to a new career.
Want lovely clothes? Hunt around charity shops or learn how to sew.
Want healthier food? Stop buying takeaways and learn how to cook from scratch/go vegetarian.
Want holidays? Get a job that encourages travel, or embrace camping and self-motivated holidays and activities.
Want savings? Study how to budget and invest properly.

All those “wants”are in reach - if you are willing to compromise, study, work hard and put yourself out for them.

I grew up in real poverty, went hungry as a child, I’m not poor now.

Whilst choice because of money is great the most important thing is to love and feel loved. You could be in a huge house, eat and drink anything you want and have amazing holidays and still be utterly miserable if you do not have people who care for you and also have people you care for.