Ok, actually now that you say that I was 12/13 when I started work that earned you money. Firstly it was delivering the local free paper and then I started doing a paper round every night after school and then at 6:30 on a Sunday morning!
At 16 I started work in an office.
Ooh, I hear you, I still remember the freezing cold nights when I would get in from papers absolutely soaking wet, I didn't have a bike either because we couldn't afford one so I ended up walking miles. Sunday morning was the hardest because the Sunday papers were so heavy.