35K for Gloucestershire is a very high salary and one that many of the areas employers are very reluctant to pay even for the most highly skilled of people.
You have got to ask yourself though what is better earning 35K in Gloucstershire or earning say £40-45K in London or the SouthEast where the cost of housing is that much higher that the extra 5 or 10K before taxes will easily negate the benefit of earning a little bit more.
that's why I prefer what I do now because 1 round trip day trade in VOD can easily = 1 weeks pretax earning says at BGY if you catch my drift.
Some skills in IT contracting where there is still demand for people are paying 500-800 a day most notably SAP and Sieble skills although I hear that demand for VB and C# have been starting to pickup.
Good idea about the cleaning lady - been thinking of finding a part time one myself