High earning single mums - what jobs do you do?

[Roobear23]

Not crazy money just enough to live comfortably on as a family of two in Devon.

I'm a single parent and not in employment at the moment but I would like inspiration for jobs as I feel there is so much out there I just don't know about it.

I would consider so many things, my background and passion is in working with children and families however this is not well paid and my motivation now is to provide for my son (14mo) as best I can.

Info on what you do and how you got there would be fab. Thank you.

Bump

According to another thread they're all prostitutes
Hth

However. ..What are your qalficaions? Are you keeping an eye on your council website? Local charities?

What do you enjoy? What are your passions?

What about childminding in your own home?

stealth. Will go looking for that thread now!

It's the how does my single mum friend afford to send her child to private school
Suggestions include prstitution, drug dealing, sugar daddy, parental help, arms dealing
Or you know, might be the job she has.

Doing a job just for cash will be really tough both to get in to and to want to stay in. They tend to be highly paid as they're highly skilled or highly dangerous. Start with a passion and work from there.

Ohhh yes I remember that thread. I think the OP knows what job she does, though.

I'm a single mum and earn ballpark £65k but am in Australia now.
I work in creative services.

I could earn more somewhere else but picked my current job based on them being flexible and family friendly, which is essential with no family support here.

The option to work from home when DC is too sick for daycare etc is priceless.

@beingsunny ok but what is "creative services"?

My background was 10 years as a graphic designer, I did a degree in this, now manage a large team of designers in a global corporate who do, design, photography, video and animation.

^According to another thread they're all prostitutes
^
Damn, I'd give that ago but I'm sure it's a job that requires flexibility, and it's just so difficult finding flexible childcare these days.

Not the NHS that's for sure. Unless you are on band 6 money or above. I'm a band 3 and live my job but as a line parent it just doesn't pay enough and I struggle not sure that's helpful

Yeah a sugar daddy is probably the best option actually.

Thanks for the replies. It is probably most sensible to start from what I'm interested in as I know how important it is to enjoy the job you're doing. I'll just aim to work my way up.

God this is depressing. The sooner women get the same start and focus on careers, value in the workplace and value themselves enough to protect themselves the better.

Be smart, do your sums, retrain for something that will give you a decent return (not fucking criminology), play the long game if you have to. Or start a business, study at home using the internet, reading books that give you knowledge and skills and inspiration. Economics/finance/taxation....you can never know enough. Learn new things in the evening even if it's photoshop or knitting.

But you will need to invest in yourself, time, hopefully savings etc. Be smart because retirement is a long way off.

I have 2 x DC's (one in private secondary school but no I'm not on the game 😂 he's a clever boy who got a fantastic bursary) I work full time as an Office Manager/PA. I earn £40,500. I have been in Admin/PA/Office Management for 27 years.

Thank you @badgerread I imagine after 27 years you have put a lot of time and effort into getting to where you are now and it's a useful reminder that a good career doesn't happen overnight.

@KarateKitten what is it that's depressing?

Roo, just the whole situation that is being half joked about...sugar daddies. How unfair that the OP has so few options. And that women in general are trained to have low self belief, low aspirations and tricked into thinking that being a mum is worthy enough to drop everything else.

I'm not criticising anyone here, just sad for women in general being constantly left in this vulnerable position.

Sorry Roo, you are the OP. 🤗

For me I think I had imagined being a stay at home mum (and being happily married) and although I adore looking after him full time, I now need and want to regain employment and something meaningful at that which also helps us live comfortably. As you say it would have been more helpful to have prepared myself for this before finding myself in this situation! There are many options I just need to work out what is best for me. Thanks for your thoughts, I of course agree that women need to be thought of and treated equally in society.

I was a systems analyst, it kept me and two children in reasonable comfort in Devon. It's getting old now though - maybe more opportunities in project management?

I think the suggestion of local government is a good one. It's what I've done and it has been so flexible as my kids have grown up. It's relatively easy to get an entry level job @£20k approx and most good people seem to rise Up, some very quickly. There are quite a few jobs that don't need qualifications beyond GCSE , check out council tax, housing benefits and other admin type roles. Really good conditions usually - pension, flexible working, reasonable holiday entitlement...

If you are interested in working with children and families What about Educational Psychology, Nurse or Health Visitor, Teaching, Social work? Plenty of scope to progress and earn decent money in all of these. Lots of vacancies in the NHS at the moment. Maybe not brilliant money to start but opportunities to progress. Also other benefits such as decent pension scheme What kind of wage do you think you would need OP?

How much flexibility do you have to retrain? (Savings, housing costs, childcare options?)