MoneySide Hustle

On a $40,000 Salary, Dog Walking and Freelance Writing Helped Her Pay Off $102,170 in Six Years

3 min read · RealCase summary

Mandy Velez graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013 with $75,591 in student loans and a $40,000 starting salary. Making only the $300 minimum payment, she calculated, would have kept her in debt until 2046.

Instead, she said she 'got serious and took on multiple side hustles, from dog walking, to cat sitting, baby-sitting humans, to freelance writing.' She commuted to work to keep rent down and skipped expensive outings, and for the first five years averaged about $1,166 a month in loan payments — nearly four times the minimum.

In the final eight months she put everything toward the last $32,000. She was debt-free in 2019, six years after graduating, having paid $102,170 in total, about $27,000 of it interest, and avoiding an estimated $69,000 more in interest she would have paid on the minimum schedule.

Key takeaways

›Original loan balance: $75,591; total paid with interest: $102,170
›Starting salary of $40,000
›Averaged $1,166 a month in payments for five years vs. a $300 minimum
›Debt-free in 2019, about 27 years ahead of the minimum-payment schedule

#Debt Payoff#Student Loans#Dog Walking#Freelance Writing

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