A year has passed since mycommitment to pay off my student loan debt began. I made the commitment in November 2017, but Iconsider March 2018 the date that I actually began making large paymentstowards the debt. To date, I have paidoff $15,448.49 in principle of my student loan.I did not calculate the interest, which is in the thousands too. The interest payment decreased from $500 amonth to $403, which allows more money to go towards the interest. My original goal was to pay $25,000 on mystudent loan this year, but honestly, it was hard. I am happy that I was able to pay off $15,000,and with interest, the amount probably is closer to $20,000. I want to continue to pay off this debt, andI am exploring other enjoyable side hustles to help me accomplish my dream ofbeing student loan debt free.
How Did I Pay Over $15,000 In Student Loan Payments?
I made the decision to conquer mystudent loan debt within three to four years.I was obsessed with the loan amount for months. I figured how much my interest was and howmuch I could afford each month. Ilistened to Dave Ramsey and started the envelop system. I lived on a monthly budget. I went to Aldi Grocery Store and purchased$50 worth of food every two weeks for my daughter and me. I secured a second job making an extra $900per month, and I returned my luxury leased car.My Nissan Maxima cost me over $500 a month. Once I returned the car and bought a 2011Chevy Malibu for $4,800, I was able to make larger student loan payments. Ialso taught summer school, which earned me an extra $2,000. Any extra money I earned went directly to thestudent loan account. Previously, duringthe summer months, it was hard to pay $1,200 a month towards my studentloan. Now, I pay it with ease using onepay check. It took positive thinking,planning, and budgeting, but you can do it if you make big budget changes.
Lifetime Learner
This journey has taught me so manyvaluable lessons. One, don’t ever get astudent loan. Two, I will help mydaughter be well-educated on student loans and other free resources such asscholarships. Three, I can do anything Iset my mind to do. I remember when Ibegan this journey. I was depressed dueto my divorce and wanted to focus on something positive for me. I have accomplished most of my personalgoals, but I wanted to see if I could really do this. Like really do this. I worked hard and made a payment twice amonth. Then I started to see the amountdecrease, and I was happy. I knew Icould see more changes if I kept working at it.
I divided the remaining balance of$100,825.51 by $15,000, and it would take over six years to pay off thedebt. I’m part of the microwavegeneration, and I want change now. Iwant to make changes within my career. Iwant to use my principal license. I wantto pursue my goal of publishing a book and presenting at teacher developmentworkshops. I want to generate moreincome to pay off this massive debt I have accumulated. On a good note, I have this blog with which Ihave just recently partnered with Google AdSense. I am working with the Ohio Journal of EnglishLanguage Arts as part of a team assisting the editor. I believe these resourceswill assist me to gain more income.However, I wanted a side hustle that will allow me to quit mycosmetology job and work from home. So,this past winter, I decided to open an Etsy shop!
I Opened an Etsy Shop!
So much has progressed since mysecond post about my student loan debt journey (November 2018). On December 19, 2018, I had knee surgery torepair a meniscus tear. The surgery wentwell, and I feel great. During Christmasbreak, I wrote a blog post and caught up on my work while I recovered. I also talked to my close friend and sorority(line) sister. We chatted about makingextra money and tried to brainstorm some ideas.She wanted to begin a vacation fund; I was focused on paying off mystudent loans. We completed ourconversation with both of us wanting a passive income job. I went on YouTube and immediately viewed avideo where a woman earned $4000 selling stickers on Etsy. I was subscribed to the woman’s channel, butI thought she discussed budgeting and planners. I was amazed how she hadtransitioned to Etsy.
Iwatched her video where she described how she made $4,000 in six weeks makingstickers. It sounded so easy. The woman bought an inexpensive printer and afancy electronic cutter. She placedseven types of stickers for a planner on her Etsy shop, and she was makingextra income. I texted my friend aboutthe $4,000 sticker income. I watched anotherpost suggesting selling printables on Etsy.It sounded so easy. You create apicture, place it on Etsy, and have customers download the print. I made the decision to make printables atthat moment. I began creating printablesand watched videos about Etsy. Withinfour days, I had an Etsy shop, and I made a Facebook Etsy Shop page.
Ms. George’s Class Art
I namedmy Etsy shop Ms. George’s Class Art or MsGeorgesClassArt. It is my second heart. I tend to it every day, and on the weekends,I create ten new prints. Etsy is highly competitive,and I have not reached my goal of selling a print once a day. I have read information about SEO and changedmy tags for each of my prints. Still,it’s hard to generate sales. I post onMs. George’s Art Facebook page, Pinterest, and Instagram. However, business is still slow. I’m not quitting. My goal is to keep the store open for threeyears and evaluate its status. I amhoping that three years will generate the passive income I am seeking.
Besidesa passive income, I am loving making beautiful teacher prints to hang inclassrooms, offices, or home. I lovecrafty items. Every weekend, when I amcreating a print, I think back to when I was a junior board advisor. I used to spend hours creating tickets,little booklets, and flyers for prom. If I knew what I know now, those itemswould have been beautiful. Hey, you haveto learn somewhere. To date, I have over75 items that I have created. I sellmore than just prints. I also sell coffee mugs and tote bags. What teacher doesn’t love a mug or tote! Ialso sell cosmetology items. Cosmetologywill always have a special place in my heart, and I felt it was fitting toinclude those prints in my store.
The prints are not selling asquickly as I would like, but I’m being patient, and I’m adding mugs and totesto the store. I have put more money intothe store than I have received, but my attitude is still hopeful. Having a passive business is not like Iimagined with the hard work at the beginning and waiting patiently for someoneto purchase an item. If you’reinterested in Etsy, I would suggest doing a lot of research and being preparedfor slow times within the business.
Checkout my store and tell me what you think.I tried to keep the theme of the store similar to the theme of my blogand keep the pictures bright and pretty.I joined several groups on Facebook, and two groups stated that my storewas beautiful. I was happy because Itruly put a lot of work into my store, and I nurture like I do my blog. Tending to my store makes me happy. I canannounce that I am an entrepreneur.
What’s next?
I wrotedown a few goals that I would like to do with my Etsy shop. I want to continue to work on the SEO of myitems, sell one item day, and market more.I am strongly considering opening another store with another niche. Since I worked on Etsy all by myself, I canhelp others with their Etsy banners and create logos for their store. I may open another store in the summer, whenschool is out. Creating my store has beenso fun and a confidence booster.Sometimes, I cannot believe how much I learned and created just byfollowing a few easy steps.
I havebeen considering making more YouTube videos.I am divided between Ms. George’s Class topics and Etsy topics. Do Iwant to talk about teaching strategies, or do I want to demonstrate how to besuccessful on Etsy? A student in myCareer Exploration class told me to create videos about the subject Iteach. She told me to talk about workethic and personal goals. I feel pretty confident in the field, but I can’t sayit is my passion. I am passionate aboutteaching, motherhood, and Etsy at this moment.Years ago, I was very passionate about the Bible and spent countlessnights studying it. However, when Idivorced my ex-husband, my passion died.My point is, right now, I’m passionate about these items, but they maychange. I think a YouTube channel aboutteaching will be the best fit for me, and I have been brainstorming topics Iwould like to discuss.
Anothergoal I would like to conquer is social media.I would like to have a presence on Facebook and Instagram. I have 200 followers on Facebook and 145followers on Instagram. I feel prettyconfident that I will gather more followers on both platforms. I focus my attention on both sites after workand market to gain more followers. I’mstill learning about Instagram. I usedto like photos on Instagram, but now I am posting photos, quotes, and itemsfrom my store. It is different frombeing a spectacular. I hope to see ifall my hard work using social media will pay off.
My Etsyshop, MsGeorgesClassArt,is my focus, and I am attempting to build a lucrative passive income. I focus on the appearance of the shop, theitems, and marketing. It’s a lot ofwork, but once it picks up momentum, I hope I can relax on the daily task. Do you have a passive income? What do you do to generate more income foryou and your family online? Leave yourcomment below.
