This might not be very helpful, but I never learned to swim traditionally either and I find that the scissor kick, or side stroke, is easiest for me when I'm not in fins.
It's a stroke that keeps your head above water, doesn't use much energy, and is easy to learn since it's somewhat of an instinctual movement in the water. Life guards often use it when rescuing people, as you can do it even with one arm holding another person above water. It looks like this: https://youtu.be/WN0eGhrfEs0?t=1m13s and there are heaps of tutorials out there (the full video I linked is pretty good!).