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Where I Was

Tomorrow marks the 6-month anniversary of Frugaling.org! On May 4th, 2013, I finally wrote about my struggle with student loans and my hope for a better life – one without the worries of excessive debt. My debt sat at $37,719 and would be pushed over $40,000 with the fall semester’s loans. I was scared, and I wondered aloud, “Would the amount of debt I have prevent somebody or scare them away from a serious relationship or marriage? Could debt be so burdensome, if shared, that people just avoid it at all costs?”

Remarkably, I’ve been able to continue to churn through article after article, while maintaining one of the busiest graduate school semesters of my life. But I’ve been motivated by a pressing need to change the paradigm. I live a life where everything I enjoy is taxed at an artificial rate: 6.8% active interest.

Starting a website like this was almost comical. My friends, coworkers, and family members generally gave me a resounding “That’s nice” message. Most thought it was a waste of time. I appreciated their rejections and skepticism, while completely fighting against every concern. People thought I was crazy to be in grad school, writing about personal finance, and have the lofty goal of paying back debt while in the process.

Make An Extra Side Income Money Challenging Gif — *There was definitely some skepticism to my excitement…*

Where I Am

When I started, there were about 10-20 readers per day. It was safe to say my friends were taking pity on me and visiting to be nice. 6 months later, the site brings in 20 times that per day, and is consistently growing. Concerns over car/student loans, ways to save, and ideas about making more money have led to a site with growing popularity. Frugaling is about to cross the top 150,000 websites in the world and received about 83,000 visits in 6 months.

The excitement goes beyond website statistics. As I open up my Mint.com account and peek at my debt balance, I’m reassured by positive change. My debt load now sits at $34,179 – that’s a reduction of $3,000! I was able to pay back all the loans I took from this semester and pay back an extra $3,000 – in total it’s about $6,000.

By creating this site, I’ve been able to making serious amounts of advertising revenue – in the neighborhood of $10,000. I’ve shared this number with a couple of most closest friends and family members; suddenly, this is a serious living. Comically, I’ve never made more per month than the last 6 months. The money has been directed primarily to student loans and creating financial savings. I’ve grown more hopeful by the dollar, as I realize there’s an out – I can do this!

I feel like a lottery winner. Now, my monthly interest payments sit at $100 a month for the student loans. This is both manageable and something I’m ready to devour. Left and right, I’ve been paying my loan manager $500 to $1,000 at a clip. I’ve been paying so much money that the servicer sent an email reminding me that nothing was “due” yet. Little do they know that I want to pay off the active interest loans prior to graduation. If I fail, that’s okay – I’d rather fail trying.

Where I Am Going

I don’t want to lose my original intentions for starting this site, though. I created Frugaling to share my voice about personal finance, offer a reflective perspective, voice frequent opinions, help people tackle their debt, and encourage my readers to get frugal. For the next six months, I’m going to attempt to deliver the best content to my readers yet.

From experimental diets and budgets to new writers and perspectives, Frugaling is going to get a tremendous upgrade. By the year’s end I’d like to reach 500 Twitter followers, 100 Google+ followers, and write another 40-50 articles. Over the next couple months, I’m looking forward to cultivating some new contributors to the site and beginning to expand beyond my sole perspective.

When it comes to my debt, I intend to pay another $2,000 to $3,000 more by year’s end. Get ready NelNet (my loan servicer), some massive payments are coming. Oh, and on top of that, I won’t be needing any student loans next semester! The direction is changing, and I’m ready to catalog this entire experience for you. Please subscribe and share the site! Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Your friend and less broke grad student,

Sam

When you’re in college, people will tell you that school comes first. You’re here to learn and get educated. Shape up or ship out. Tune in or drop out. I couldn’t disagree more.

Going to university is exceptionally complicated, it isn’t for everyone, and it comes with serious financial burden. As a student, the financial and time constraints can be frustrating. The urge, for the motivated, is to work more. The reality is that there just might not be enough time in the day to hold another job – nor is that always a psychologically healthy decision.

If anything, college is about learning to prioritize what’s important and balancing work with life (check out the Tailored Freedom blog for re-defining balance). Sometimes, to make a buck and free up time, you have to get creative. That’s where Gigwalk comes in.

Gigwalk was founded on the principles of crowdsourcing work. Large companies need minions to do local work. From pictures to surveys to secret shopping experiences, Gigwalk bridges the gap. If you have an iPhone in your pocket and live in a city, you can start. With little more than an iPhone and a PayPal account, you can begin applying to Gigs and making $4-80 (depending on availability).

Unfortunately, there’s a catch: It’s not easy or intuitive. Take the most popular Gigs that are available these days by Bing Business Photography. Bing has a dream, and that is to photograph the country’s businesses – inside and out. Unlike Google, who has its own employees doing this, Bing decided to crowdsource the project and pay people $5 to $7 per storefront. Most Bing Gigs require 4 photos of the store and a Photosynth (360 degree picture of the inside). This can get hairy when you walk into an open business, spin around three or four times, and start taking pictures. Let’s just say, it’s creepy. Employees give you strange looks and patrons wonder if you’re casing the joint. But as a natural extrovert, I just go out there and socialize. I get paid to spend about 10-15 minutes at a business.

In about an hour, I made $28 in my own city. Bing approves the Gigs in a day or two and then the money magically appears in my PayPal account. Couldn’t be easier.

The real secret comes in the possibility of traveling on Gigwalk’s dime. You see, you can apply for Gigwalks anywhere they’re available in the States. Let’s say you want to take a roadtrip to Chicago, and you know where you’ll be staying. Just apply for a variety of Gigwalks in that area, complete the pictures and 360 pano, and you could just about pay for the entire trip in a couple hours. Chicago alone has thousands of dollars in Gigs!

Gigwalk in the App Store: Download here