@DavidB has been considered already, we live in a quite nice little town, and to wander its streets all day wouldn’t be a chore.

You say you have ambition but no workplace ambition. Can you not combine? If your ambition is to be a mountain biker for example why not try to be a mountain bike guide or something like that? Or will turning a passion into work ruin it? …..I have no answers actually just musing.

Bin men start on just over minimum wage, most now work for agencies which are useless, drivers wages are better, but you are the one that deals with all the stress!

Hardest job I ever did, clearing bins at jogging pace, car drivers constantly giving you abuse!

Dust from bins getting everywhere!

Working in a team was the only saving grace, good colleagues mad the work bearable,  that and finishing early and keeping fit.

40+ you might find it tough too?

X-binman

Reading your post, Have you thought  about buying a van?

loads of self employed, man with van Work available, can earn £500-1000 as much or little as you want, time off when you want?

Good luck btw

Teaching, definitely. Finish before 4pm, every weekend off and half the year in paid holidays.

Now why did I give it up again……..

I did a month on the bins one summer before wheelie bins, one of the physically hardest jobs I ever did.

Next summer I got a job with the council strimming verges. It was awesome, almost zen like in its satisfaction. Until you strim through a wasps nest…

Nothing involving driving. You’ll become a fat crabbit bastard.

Two of my friends have “downshifted” to become parts drivers for local motor factors, no targets, out & about but not too far. They enjoy it.

Gardening, window cleaning, running errands for pensioners, dog walking, house sitting, pet sitting.

Loads of things if you put a mix together you could do quite well.

My mothers neighbour is retired, bored and just sold a company.  Flush with cash he has a roster of workmen coming round most days to do things.

Post person?

ROFL Harris! {insert laughing emoji here}

Security guard on a large but unimportant industrial site? Sit in a little hut listening to the radio, drinking tea and browsing online all day, occasionally issuing a pass or signing people in/out.

I’m thinking move to the Black Isle in 5 years time, buy a trailer and some lawn management machinery, massive shed and no mortgage. Then also buy a fat bike and ski touring kit for the quiet winters on the hills and beaches.

Hard to to think of too many reasons not to. Life direction changed STW.

And I’ve just realised who owns the Singleton distillery so that’s somewhere for SWMBO to work.

Bonus.

Take in Nairn?

I was thinking Postie – seems like a dying industry though.

A quirky job like Scotroutes is probably perfect. Anything that remotely looks like the first rung for a young grad and you’ll be up against loads of high energy ambitious types and be line managed by one of the above that’s a handful of years older which no one wants. You need deadend where the pay is slightly inflated because it’s a career with no progression so limited appeal.

Don’t underestimate the stress of being self employed. Especially in a job (gardening) where the work varies massively in volume- feeling the urge to take as much as possible in the summer and fretting about the dwindling current account in the winter.

Take in Nairn?

Yep. I had to drop off a couple of customers at the Golf View so took a stroll along the beach for my lunch.

Gardening fits your description for sure. Bit of learning to do at first if you’re not currently green fingered. Do some courses or just get a job with a gardener for a year then set up your own thing.

Yep. I had to drop off a couple of customers at the Golf View so took a stroll along the beach for my lunch.

Nice. My mum lives just a bit inland of Nairn. Nairn may have a hole for a high street but the beach (especially the west beach) are lovely.

I’ve ridden along to the point for a bivvy. There’s an old (but lovingly cared for ) house alongside the abandoned graving yard with what is almost a lawn surrounding it. Lovely spot.

The postie where I used to live was the most stressed out, pee’d off person I used to meet. He was a lovely guy and wanted to do a good job, however, he was tortured by ‘performance management’, short staffedness and ridiculous deadlines and targets.

Didn’t sound the most pleasant or stree-free existence to me.

I’m a Driving Instructor and if you want to be able to ” switch off ” at the end of the day, it’s not easy. Mentally it is, it’s just being mythered all the time.

Ive had text messages at 2 am. If you use the usual advertising ways of these days, Facebook etc, you will never stop being mythered.

Ive got 2 phones now so I can get a break just leave the work one on silent. No one bothers, they will just think you can’t answer as you are teaching.

Someone else has mentioned Parts Driver for Motor Factor, a job I used to do. It was good, got some good customers, got the bonus of being alone in the van for a bit then having a laugh with the other lads when you get back to the depot. If you look after your customers, delivering their stuff with a smile, using common sense by parking a bit away from the doors if the stuff is not heavy so you don’t block customers etc, you will never struggle to have a job done at a good price on your own car. Only reason I left was they stopped being local and went region wide without taking anymore drivers on and the work load was impossible to do within the timeframe.

Exhibit A “Anything that remotely looks like the first rung for a young grad and you’ll be up against loads of high energy ambitious types and be line managed by one of the above that’s a handful of years older”

Exhibit B “The postie where I used to live was the most stressed out, pee’d off person I used to meet. He was a lovely guy and wanted to do a good job, however, he was tortured by ‘performance management’, short staffedness and ridiculous deadlines and targets.”

A performs the performance management on B because A has never done Bs job.

Seems to be the way of it.

If your ambition is to be a mountain biker for example why not try to be a mountain bike guide or something like that?

because potentially a client might not follow instruction correctly and you could be dragged through the courts for years and be sued for millions of pounds which would be covered by your insurance but even so the stress would finish you off?

Its got to be HMRC… as a result of trying to run some programmes for them, I came to the conclusion it was a place where people with no ambition or were losing the will to live went to die.

But, this is key for the OP,  still got paid and couldn’t be fired for pretty much no work at all.

Blimey Rick, I’m looking for an easy number to make the most of life. Not have the life drained out of me!

Fair do’s, joining HMRC whilst you still have a pulse wouldn’t be good at all….

Reading with interest, same sort of question I’ve asked myself for the last two years or so.

Given my (mostly poor) experience with tradesmen, I think I could clean up as a plumber or sparky.

But, I would say if you want to maximise money vs effort vs hours worked a gas safe engineer has got to be the way forward.  Just set yourself up to be an alternative to the big companies rip off prices.  Ask the punter what they were quoted, knock of 20% and still earn £500+ a day.

Where do you live?  We are just back from Center Parcs and the guys working in the outdoor activities and tree adventures stuff seemed to be pretty content with their lot.  How about something like that, Go-Ape have plenty of sites.  I suspect he pay will be very basic though.

edit: Their Security Officers earn £20k, that has to be a pretty easy line of work.

You can extend the lawn maintenance stuff to cleaning monoblock/patios, clearing gutter and painting fences.  None of them require real skills or particularly expensive equipment.  Do a good job for one and before you know it you will be doing the whole street.

a friend of mine is an accountant and says her clients in this sort of work are earning more than she is, and only working 3-4 days a week… and that’s the bits they tell her about.  One of them drives an Uber when the weather is too crap to be doing outdoor stuff (and bad weather increases demand = surge prices!).

Deliveroo !

£10/hour according to various rider reviews….

https://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Deliveroo/reviews

Some people’s idea of a stress-free coasting job are quite bizarre! I’m glad the driving instructor turned up to correct that one… Postie – you won’t believe how hard it is to get in! They turned me down (I couldn’t have taken it anyway, couldn’t pay the mortgage), then the same vacancy came up a few months later.

I tried walking dogs. It was shit (and not just literally). Dog won’t do what you tell it, dog runs away. Dog then can sense your anger and won’t come back. Asked a farmer to shoot the bloody thing! Apart from that it was boring as hell.

Any outdoor activity work is well below average wage.

I’m currently trying to coast.. but they won’t let you (The Man) – it’s all about goals, performance, development, even if you don’t want it to be.

My backup plan has always been to buy a pressure washer and a van, and then to go round pressure washing peoples drives and patios in Surrey (or other middle class suburban locale).

Reckon you could charge £80-100 a job and do two a day comfortably. That’s £1800 a month pre tax. More if you can do 3 or 4 a day.

Not much, but then again I can’t think of anything more oddly satisfying and relaxing than getting paid to pressure wash patios.

I reckon if you put together a half decent website and made sure you looked legit you’d find work easily enough.

Window cleaning is another one, a bit more labour intensive but you can charge a hell of a lot more.

Window cleaning is another one, a bit more labour intensive but you can charge a hell of a lot more.

Quite a lot of layout for window cleaning; you need a van that’ll take a water tank with a tonne or more of water and a water purifying setup somewhere, as the water they use has been de-ionised so it’s streak free when it dries.

Plus, ours only charges £15 for a four bed house, I don’t know how many he can feasibly do in a day.

Wow it’s posh round there, the window cleaner round my way has a bucket of water with the bits in and a ladder on his shoulder. Terraced housing life I guess 🙂

Yeah ditto – our Window cleaner drove the same 1980’s Citroen right up until about a year ago, same bucket and ladder, wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same rag. He washes and then used a chamois to dry/remove streaks.

None of this water tank and purified water nonsense. He also charged a damn sight more than £15!!

Become a full time military reserve.

because potentially a client might not follow instruction correctly and you could be dragged through the courts for years and be sued for millions of pounds which would be covered by your insurance but even so the stress would finish you off?

An incredibly scary precedent.

“I’m currently trying to coast.. but they won’t let you (The Man) – it’s all about goals, performance, development, even if you don’t want it to be.”

You see this is the problem. How hard can it be for employers to accept people’s goals, aspirations and personal development might all be outside the work place.

Whats wrong with turning up, grafting hard for the hours, then sodding off home again. It’s like they want their entire workforce to want them sacked and replaced by those they developed!

I really must get this thread deleted 🤫

So far the options look to be Gardner or getting skilled as a plumber/gas engineer/sparky.

Gardner – may work out in the long term, but short term you have got to build up a customer base which is easier said than done.

Tradesman – Yes there is money in it.  But to be any good at it you would need to go and work for someone else for a bit to learn the trade (after college) and you are still going to be working unsocial hours when people want you in an emergency.

Bus Driver?

Plenty of coasting there.

My mates a postie and he loves it. Fills in with a bit of carpet cleaning on the side.