My debt free journey, Part 1: How I paid off more than 75K in debt on a teacher's salary

 Okay, right off the bat, maybe that title is misleading: it took a lot more than a teacher's salary to pay of 75 thousand in debt plus interest, or at least, to do it in five years.  It took a lot of side hustling, getting creative, and finding what resources were available to me.  

Right off the bat, about three years into this journey, my parents paid off about $30,000.  I honestly had a hard time accepting their generosity as it felt like letting someone carry me partway through a marathon race course.  But, they told me that they had put lots of prayer into it and felt that this was what God was leading them to do, and they would sleep better at night knowing I was so much closer to being out of debt.  One of my pastors also pointed out to me that, sometimes when God sees us busting our tails to pursue a goal He has given us, He will bless our efforts in unexpected ways.  Knowing that such a gift was God's and my parents' way of saying, "We see your hard work and we want to bless you" made it easier to accept.  

But that still left me with 55 thousand in debt that was rapidly accumulating interest (more on that in part three!).   Here's how I broke it down (note: this is not necessarily a reflection of the income that I made from some of these ventures- sometimes side income went to cover an emergency or replenish savings after the fact!). Obviously, numbers are approximate. 

Budgeted from my regular income (Squeezed out of budget, or "Sqoob"): $16,215.05
(This includes some bonus Qcomp pay and my pay for being the after-school theater club advisor for a year)

A Summer of Teaching Driver's Education classes: $3,840

Working at Kokomo Tan (from December 2016 until the pandemic, which led to a permanent shut down): $3,583.65

Waitressing for a summer at a country club: $1,706.67

Hobby Lobby: $2,750

Teaching Summer School (four years): $4,855

Teaching English Camp (three years): $5,200

Cocktail Serving at a hotel, 1 year (I made a lot more than this but it was in a time of financial crisis): $2,160

Plasma donations: $1,040

Driving and shopping for Shipt: $300

Economic Stimulus Checks during Covid: $2,490

Rodan and Fields: $5,023

Survey apps:
    InboxDollars: $40
    Swagbucks: $75
    FushionCash: $25
    Zap Surveys: $25
    Google Rewards: $10
  Other apps:
    Achievement: $20
    Field Agent (code: yfmhsw8): $228
    Pact (fitness app that no longer exists): $39.56
 Sales:
    Clothes on Poshmark (referral code HANNAHMARIE04): $158.10
    Facebook Marketplace: $148
    Ebay: $207.10
    Decluttr: $6.20