End of August Update

{Going to see Prince Tigger of Long Beach, my family cat this weekend!}

What a whirlwind month it has been! After describing my bout of exhaustion and sickness earlier this week, I am feeling better! I am headed to Los Angeles tomorrow for the Labor Day weekend to visit some friends and family. I haven’t been back in a year, so it will be good to catch up and reconnect with the people I love most.

Even though I worked too much this month, I was able to pay off $1650 of my student loans, which leaves me at $47,986.20!! That is the most I’ve paid since February, when I decided to make myself uncomfortable  and drop $2k out of my savings.  This time, I am proud to say this is from income and not savings!

So what was I doing for the past 5 weekends, 7 hours a day? I was working as a Brand Ambassador, which is my main side hustle. You can think of this as face-to-face marketing, events marketing, etc. If you’ve ever received a sample, or seen someone at a concert, sports game, etc that wants to talk to you about a product, that’s what I do. Usually it’s stupidly easy and pays fairly well ($17-$20/hr).  It does require you to be on your feet for long periods and I don’t recommend it for introverts. Even as an extrovert, talking to 100 people a day starts to get exhausting and old. Usually the gigs are one offs and it’s rare to get multi-day events, let alone 5 weekends in a row. My eyes turned into dollar signs and I crunched some numbers and said yes to all 5 weekends.

I worked an event here in Oregon that showcases really ridiculously expensive houses and their interior design.  I was taking surveys and just walking around the event.  Being on your feet for 7 hours, outside in the heat and talking to rich or wannabe rich people can be exhausting and annoying.  Most people were very nice, but conversely some people were just rude.

OK, YOU DON’T WANT SOME FREE $HIT? A SIMPLE ‘NO THANK YOU’ WILL SUFFICE!

I am glad this is over and I don’t plan on booking all my weekends like this again. I think working 6 days a week should be my maximum and I should watch how many weeks in a row that happens.  Your attitude, motivation, and creativity are seriously hampered when you are overworked (not to mention your sleep, eating habits and sex life).

I am so looking forward to September and already have a few fun things on the horizon! I also only have one gig booked so far, which I hope will change, but I am going to moderate and try to take time for myself. After all, I want to live life to the fullest and be financially responsible.

August was a good month for debt payoff, good for my social life, bad for my emotional and physical state. How was yours?

 P.S. If you’d like info on how to become a Brand Ambassador, let me know in the comments. Conversely, I’d like more tips to be a freelance writer, so I can do side hustlery in my jammies 🙂 

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Melanie

Melanie Lockert is the founder of the blog and author of the book, Dear Debt. Through her blog, she chronicled her journey out of $81,000 in student loan debt. She is also the co-founder of the Lola Retreat, which helps bold women face their fears, own their dreams and figure out a plan to be in control of their finances. She is passionate about empowering women, helping others get out of debt, and focuses on the intersection of debt and mental health. Every September she organizes a Suicide Prevention Awareness Blog Tour, to help share resources for those struggling with debt and suicide. In addition to her love of personal finance, art and music, she is also a karaoke master and a cat mom to Miles and Thelonious.

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