As a millennial, the message was go to college and get a good job. Unfortunately, I graduated in the middle of the economic crisis with massive student loan debt. Despite having a good job, my salary was never more than enough to just make ends meet with those payments always looming over my head. I’m currently taking more aggressive steps toward becoming debt free combined with my dream of being self-employed, while hopefully sharing positive messages with others.
So what am I doing differently in 2021 so far?
- I’m writing down my goals daily. However, I’m also actively taking steps to work on them. So, whenever I can, I pick up jobs at http://www.rev.com or work on a new Etsy design. I am learning new skills, such as using Procreate on my iPad.
- Focusing on side passions. I decided to start this blog and my YouTube channel. I would love to have 1000 subscribers on my YouTube channel by the end of 2021. That’s how much you need to become monetized and start getting paid as a YouTuber. Now, I haven’t posted a video in about a month so that means I need to step up my game on the platform if I want to see the benefits. My more ambitious 2021 goal is 100,000 subscribers.
- Learning the stock market. I know there is risk involved here, but with research and time I believe I can make smart choices that will yield positive long term investments. I’ll write a future post about it when I start to see some tangible benefits. (I originally wrote the sentence with the word “if” I see benefits. I am also working on a mindset shift, so I changed it to “when” I see benefits).
- Budgeting and reducing expenses. Each month, I’m evaluating where I’m spending my money and how I can reduce costs. Perhaps that means more meal prepping and buying groceries in bulk rather than ordering take out.
- Taking advantage of extra hours in part time jobs. I have some part time jobs that offer flexible hours. When my week is a little slower, I volunteer to take on some extra hours to make a little bit more. Each bit helps to put a dent in the debt.
This is just the start of my journey and I plan to be debt free in 3-5 years. Thankfully, this past year I paid off my car and my one private student loan. I would love to own a beachfront condo, but I don’t want to enter into that until I’ve gotten some of the other debt down.