Details
- Age: 27
- Job: Digital Product Designer (UI/UX)
- Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Marital Status: Financially Single (but I have a girlfriend)
Prologue
In December 2016, I set a goal to pay off the rest of my student loans. The nice folks at my university gave me a graduation gift in 2012 of $32K in debt, so that was nice.
As soon as my loan repayment started, I began making payments of around $425/mo. It was as high as I could manage at the time, and through December 2016, I was able to cut my loan debt down to around $25K.
The Thing About Debt
I get really uneasy when I have any kind of a balance on a credit card, even if it has 0% interest, and I hate that looming feeling that even though my savings and retirement accounts are slowly building up, I'm still climbing a ladder out of a deep deep hole. It's unending.
If I go on vacation, it's paid off before I leave. I over-budget. I plan for those tires I'm gonna need in two years. I suppose it's the responsible thing to do, but debt is stressful. And I don't like that feeling.
Side Income
I'm a full-time designer, and since high school I've freelanced to bring in some extra Beer & Pizza Money™. At times it was enough to buy some nice Christmas gifts, but it was never something I depended on.
I started a wedding videography side hustle after college, and shot a handful of weddings. I profited zero dollars, because all of the money was used to buy gear. Pretty quickly, I got tired of giving up my summer weekends to go film strangers dancing poorly to Bruno Mars.
A coworker and I had discussed starting a side hustle for some income, but our stipulation was that it had to be fairly passive. Nothing that required weekends at a barn wedding or weeks of editing.
We ultimately settled on creating resources for the design community. It'd been done before, but we put our own spin on it, and things went well.
Results
Our initial goal was to net $1,000 each per month, so around $2,700 gross monthly revenue. After building a sizable audience on Medium, we hit our stride netting between $1,000-1,500 each per week, and sustained it for several months.
Since December 2016, we've grossed almost $90K (about $30K each).
Nearly 100% of that income was put directly toward the loans (saving for taxes, of course). I'm elated to be finished paying off my loans, but admittedly a little bummed that I don't have much to show from the whole side project. It's a strange feeling. Loans suck.
Learnings
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Set a Goal: You might not be able to pay off your $100K loan in 4 months, but it's great (dare I say "fun") to set challenges for yourself. Double my loan payment this month, Pay $2,000 by the end of the month, etc.
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There Are Tradeoffs: I consulted my financial advisor to see if it was smart to channel 100% of my side money into my loans. Ultimately, I decided that the mental exhaustion of the loan weighed heavier on me than the prospect of investment returns and/or maxed-out retirement contributions.
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Any Side Money Helps: If you have the luxury of free time, I urge you to think about turning your passion or skills into a money-maker. I opted for a digital product because it was fairly passive and I didn't have to worry about shipping physical goods, but if you make badass walnut armoires, then DO IT! Once you make that first dollar, it can get addictive.
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It's A Lot of Work: But it's so incredibly satisfying making large payments toward debt. It's like shoveling the snow off the driveway one pass at a time. It doesn't feel like a lot at first, but eventually, you'll start to see the progress you've made, cross the halfway point, and feel like you're actually doing it.
Long-time lurker, occasional poster. Thanks for sharing your stories and encouraging me to write my own.
I'm free at last!
Submitted July 11, 2017 at 11:19PM by TheJMoore http://ift.tt/2t2lWSn
