I can identify with 99.9% of what you're saying. Like yourself, I only have my meagre wages to eke out a living on, with nothing saved. I am not living the life of Reilly either. I'll save when I can afford it - which I rarely can. I am not out on the piss every night either, as I'm a shift worker. I average just over a grand a month take home - half of which goes on rent - and I'm lucky in that respect, because it's usually higher where I live - and that's my share of the rent. The rest just goes - at an alarming rate. And I'm still wearing kit I had twenty years back, so I ain't blowing it on store cards!
I will never be able to get on the housing ladder, and nor do I wish to, as I think the whole country is going to shit. As for Council Tax? There has to be a better alternative to simply bricks & mortar. Mortgage at 40? I think not. Retire at 65? Where to and what with? Buggered if I know. I'm just day-to-day-ing it like you. On a plus point, I'm living in a semi-rural environment and thankfully am not deposited on a housing estate full of mongs and druggies.
Qualifications? None. Not an O Level to my name. Back to school or OU? It doesn't appeal to me in the slightest - and in any case, having a degree these days is not like having one twenty years ago was. Personal qualities. Yeah, loads... probably. Put it this way. I can run rings 'round the Oxbridge twats I work for - and I'm no mong. But on paper? Zilch.
I am trying to get off the hamster wheel. I'm working on a book that will hopefully go some way (upon publication) to helping me convince potential employers that I'm an employable asset. I consider this to be infinitely better than a degree. We'll see. I do believe that there is a narrow window of opportunity that comes but once a lifetime. If you miss it then you're fcuked and have to muddle through the best you can.
A few friends are out now after doing their 22. They're doing quite nicely - but luck and providence and a good forces pension make the difference. Me? I left the mob after seven years in 1990 and thought I knew it all. Wrong! Had I waited four years, I could have done very nicely out of a redundancy package. Again, windows and opportunities. I did have one: they offered me an extension and two stripes and I turned it down. So, who's to blame? Pass that bottle!
So matey. There's nothing constructive that I can add I'm afraid. Whilst our circumstances are similar, they also differ slightly - but not much it seems. One thing is certain though: you're not alone!