Tell me how to do it

[WildTaupeMentor]

Namechanged.

I live near Coventry. 35f on my own just a few pence above min wage £24.9k with no children and not eligible for any benefits work full time. got 1.5% pay rise this year.
I feel being single you pay more than everyone else in couples and its so difficult

I dont have the heating on much in winter
Cut back on food
Done everything on money saving expert website
Not had a holiday in 11 years

I see what to me on here are massive salaries when people say they only earn like 40k and I think like thats a ton of money to me

If you earn well can you tell me step by step how I can get in to a better paying career as Im sick of poverty

What do you do now so we can identify what transferable skills you have, what is your highest qualification(s).

It's usually not about industry, it's about seniority. You need to look for a promotion either in your current company or in another one.

What job do you do now?

Sorry I posted in wrong place

It is also about industry- when I worked in libraries, I'd have had to reach a far higher level of seniority than I would in IT to get the same salary.

The skills and qualifications you have will limit what you can earn right now - you're unlikely to get a job as an engineer if most of your qualifications are non-science. You can work for other qualifications, but that can take time especially if you have to do it part-time on top of work.

Get together a list of all your qualifications and skills. Get together a list of tasks you enjoy doing and things you would hate to do - it needs to be realistic; pretty much every job will have some admin/paperwork, so you can't avoid it entirely, but you could look at roles which are much more practical than office-based, if less paperwork were your preference. What jobs fit your ideal type of work? Do you need qualifications you don't have? Would you be willing or able to retrain?

There are other factors to consider, like how far you'd be prepared to commute, whether you could or would move to a different area, but there's no point worrying about that until you've looked more into what else you would want to do and what jobs are available in thst locally.

cleaner havent got many skills qual

asking how you did it

If you earn well can you tell me step by step how I can get in to a better paying career as Im sick of poverty

Not really because you've told us nothing about yourself.

I did a degree abd my graduate salary was 40k…1 yr after that I was promoted and now earn 50k. @WildTaupeMentor fo you gave the means to go to uni etc?

Let’s start with you. What are you good at? Numbers, persuasion, organisation, ideas, entrepreneurship, mending/making practical stuff?

Then look at the types of careers associated with those skills. Think about which ones you’d enjoy, and which pay well.

Then think about which ones are physically accessible - no point wanting to be an investment banker if you want to stay in a small town with a small commute.

Then think about the entry party. Do you need qualifications? Is there an apprenticeship route? Is it more about connections and talking your way in? Do you need the guts to set up something on your own?

Also, be honest with yourself about why this didn’t happen when you were young. You might have been in tricky circumstances which you’ve now overcome… but if you were held back by being distracted/ lazy/ just not very academic, think about if you’ve changed, and if not, how you can.

Are you the same poster who posted about cleaning luxury Airbnbs PT for a rich family and was adamant that she wanted to stay working for them but somehow also get rich?

Do you have your maths & English C or above equivalent, if not start with that.

Look for other jobs as a cleaner that offer a better hour rate than the one you are on now, or at least better terms & conditions.

As a cleaner are there other companies or gigs which give you potential for salary increase or other perks, eg working for company, or building up a profile of private homes? Is there more money in being a deep clean specialist at end of contracts or pre-moving in?

If you’d like to change jobs what interests you / what could you retrain into? The council offers a lot of qualifications across various things for free or v subsidised - like food hygiene, care, etc. Or are there any evening or weekend courses you’d like to do? What qualifications do you already have?

Are there other activities you could make money from at evening or weekends?

Do you work for yourself or employed by a company? Depending on the structure could you ask for more responsibility? If self-employed could you start a company yourself and get someone to work for you? You will still have to clean but you take a cut from their wages too. I live in a London and everyone is always looking for reliable cleaners.
A friend did something similar to this. She set herself up as a declutterer - there’s no doecific training for that. She would charge £25/hour to go in to peoples houses and help them, whether they were preparing their house to go on the market, or just needed help organising. She then took on a contract with an estate agent to clear houses where someone had died and family would rather pay than do it. She also sold whatever she decluttered on eBay, splitting the profits with the clients. She had two employees now and a office unit to store and photograph items for sale. It took a lot of hours, a lot of time when she was barely making more than minimum, but now she’s reaping the rewards and has had a few contracts over £15k to deal with hoarders she got through the council.

As a cleaner, to increase my income I'd be looking at the area I live in and trying to work for myself instead of someone else.

Are you undercharging for that area, are there other services you could add such as shopping, ironing, tidying, decluttering help (for those who are just in a mess, not hoarders which is a whole different, difficult area) etc..?

Could you build up your housekeeping skills, perhaps offer to cook, stock a freezer for an older person with meals they can microwave or similar?

If you are willing to tidy, you could advertise that.
Most cleaners say they will not tidy so when I was looking for a cleaner I skipped over the ones who said they definitely wouldn't.

I picked a decluttered on the basis she would take away the things I decluttered so I didn't have to do it.

There are people who are looking for a bit of extra help in their daily lives, try to find the ones that there is a demand for that you can do.

A lot are things that are straightforward for regular people, but may be hard for older people, who are an ever expanding market as the population gets older.

Can you build up your cleaning plus as a business and have others working for you so that you generate some income from those employees?