Lone parent, disabled, WC renter, not on benefits, self employed, vegetarian family- used to be much cheaper, step kids (dad not in picture) and very small age gap between me and older ones. (for clarity I do now claim PIP)
Originally back footed into home education, before realizing it's power and embracing it.
I live pretty hand to mouth to be honest. It isn't pretty and I'm a MN outlier.
I had years of cutting my cloth too tight anyway, so little changed except we spent what I could bring in, on what we needed and wanted. Mainly in the thick of it, I took on pretty horrible work in unsocial hours, which is where the money is.
A 'think outside the box' 'problem solving' basic worker who speaks English, and can communicate well with others who don't, and understands the crap end of society and how it operates, can do well for themselves, without exploiting others. The sacrifice is health and pension, (I wont be retiring) but we where already there, I just followed more money harder.
I did later take the APWA (didn't touch the SEN part) for one Dc, off my LA through the courts, which helped a little, and tbh I effectively hustled the cost of a substantial number of IGCEs and A levels out of the private sector as a method they could show some social value as charitable status organizations. You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours. That's just ended, so one's that already benefited are putting into a pot for the one's needing them in the future.
All off them have been encouraged to make their own externally sourced 'pocket money' from being entrepreneurial, and have been encouraged to understand financial literacy at a much higher level than mine. Some have had good little businesses from early.
Dc's and now DGc's have always had huge input into decision making and consequences around their education, what we do and how it's achieved.
Result is 97% of the time are co-operative about making everything work, which meant if I picked up work that involved 12/14 hours of overnight dirty hard graft, they understood my needs on return, catching up sleep, not being ragged, and being a bit brain dead later that day. Apart from one with high SNs, they literally put squabbles on hold and understand delayed gratification most of the time.
We live a bit differently, having figured out how to ensure each others needs are met as a family with 'matriarchal head' leading it. Very occasionally I've had to put the 'matriarch' hat full on and read the riot act. I'm their parent/grandparent not their friend, but anything can be challenged and changed if you can show why it would work better. The one with high SN's gets everyone's help to voice theirs, more grace over emotional regulation, and more exceptions. I've set them up to be ok enough when I'm dead, without too much dependency on siblings providing for them, though they all say they want to.
Everything here's a choice and living with the consequences of them, good and bad, which everyone knows. Mainly from the Dc's/DGc's POV, they aren't sacrificing anything that matters much to them, and are getting things that do, with the exception of one who would be a gaming/doomscrolling addict if let, but even they recognize once they're doing other things, they're just as happy.
We tap into other home ed families and a couple of school ed single parents, exchanging night 'minding' sleepovers etc, for things they wanted.
We don't have many of the things many families have, because all have discussed them and valued them lower than other things we do want and value higher, but there are individual expensive exceptions, that are highly valued by either one, or all. It's all choices at the end of the day.
Everyone finds their own way to pay for what they truly want, whether that's using school systems to free up a parent to do standard work, or not, if you think about it.