Being in debt is discouraging. It is also disheartening to see a vast majority of your monthly payments going towards interest and very little chipping away at the principle that you owe. But, tightening your budget will only get you so far. If you want to make a dent in the amount of debt you have, you’ve got to start looking at boosting your income. And, getting a part-time job to help pay off debt is a great way to go.
A vast majority of people who strive to pay off their debt look first at tightening their budget, and they often overlook or don’t want to consider getting a part-time job to help. But, this is a mistake. It might take putting your pride aside, giving up some time, and finding a part-time job that will put your back on the right track to making huge dents in your debt repayment. If you want to get your debt out of your life fast, a part-time job is one of the best tools you have.
Any Part-Time Job Is Better Than No Part-Time Job
One of the biggest hang-ups that we have is our mental state and attitude towards getting a part-time job. Many don’t want to succumb to the notion that we need help, budgeting has only made minor improvements, and now our back is against the wall. The only way to tackle your debt with large chunks of real money is to increase your income. And, finding a part-time job will start to make an impact right away.
Finding a part-time job may not be the best thing for your situation. Is it always cool to deliver pizzas or drive for Uber? No, of course, it’s not. But, cool doesn’t pay off debt, cold hard cash does.
A part-time job doesn’t have to be a stepping-stone to a better career. You probably already have a day job. A job is a job, and any job that you take to help you dig out of debt is a great job. Now isn’t the time to be overly picky. You should consider jobs that you are overqualified for, jobs that may be hourly or entry level, and jobs that employers will quickly hire you to start immediately. Think of the job as only a means to get out of debt and look to leave it as soon as you’ve accomplished this goal if that will ease your heartache. These are the types of jobs that you need to pay off debt fast.
Will a Part-Time Job Help?
A part-time job is one of the quickest ways to pay off debt. Many financial experts, like Dave Ramsey, recommend that you pay off credit debt and other loans using the debt snowball method. With the debt snowball, you tighten your budget and find as much extra disposable income that you can to throw at the debt with the smallest balance. You pay this significant amount to one credit card or debt while you only pay the minimum monthly payment for all of your other debts. After your first debt is paid off, you roll that large payment into the debt with the next highest balance and then so on down the loan, which creates a snowball effect as you throw more and more money as each of the following debts.
A part-time job is an incredible help towards speeding up your debt snowball repayment plan even faster. Dave Ramsey highly recommends the listeners of his nationally syndicated radio find a part-time job to help speed up getting out of debt. If you had a part-time job, you would have more disposable income to add to your debt snowball. You can attack your debt with the lowest balance with a larger amount of money thanks to your part-time job. And, then you can continue to roll your income into each subsequent debt as you continue to pay off credit cards, car loans, student loan debt, and other loans.
Additionally, all of the extra money earned from a part-time job is paid directly on the principle and not any interest. Reducing your principle will continue to reduce the amount of interest you pay. As you pay down your principle balance, the interest portions of your payments will continue to reduce, making each installment payment even more effective.
Trade-Offs of Part-Time Jobs
There are tradeoffs that you make when taking on a part-time job, of course. You’ll be losing free time, time spent on hobbies, time spent with friends and family, and other sacrifices that you’ll need to make to pay off debt. But, it helps to remember that these sacrifices are only temporary. You will need to consider how your part-time job fits in with your schedule and family obligations, though.
For instance, if you’d have to leave your children with a babysitter or in daycare to take a job, you will need to ensure that those tradeoffs make financial sense to do so. How much money will you make at your part-time job? Will it be above and beyond the amount needed for a babysitter or daycare? Remember, the whole point of a part-time job is to get out of debt, not to break even.
You may want to consider whether it would be a better decision for you to work at home as opposed to going out into the workforce at a traditional part-time job. Believe it or not, there are many different jobs that you can do from home, which you can earn a nice income without having to leave your house. Just having a good computer and an Internet connection may be all you need to get out from under your financial problems.
Some of my favorite resources to finding jobs that work from home are:
Some ideas for part-time jobs that you can do from home are call center phone operator, selling stuff in online auctions, in-home daycare, customer service representatives, working as a personal assistant, Internet marketing, freelance writing, selling a product, and many others. These types of jobs can help you work from home or based out of your home and give you more flexibility if you have other family and childcare considerations that may limit a traditional part-time job.
Ultimately, you may decide that working outside of your home is a better option, but you need to look at your schedule to figure out what hours you can work. That will determine the type of job that you can get. If your entire daytime working hours are filled up with your full-time job, you may have to take a night job or even a weekend position to make things work.
What About Your Side Hustle?
Side hustles and the gig economy are extremely popular nowadays. It seems like everyone has a side gig that they are working on to make more money. Since the explosion of Uber and Etsy, everyone appears to be turning their spare time and hobbies into a lucrative side income.
So, is a side hustle right for you to help pay off your debt instead of getting a part-time job? Maybe!
You should consider starting a side gig that doesn’t interfere too much with the rest of your life. Pet sitting is a great side job, for example. You can charge $30 or $40 a night pet-sitting for people going out of town. You might not even need to bring a pet into your home overnight to make money with a pet-related side gig. Dog walking or simply checking in on pets and helping with other house sitting duties can result in a little side income.
Other side gigs that are ideal for earning a little extra money to put toward your debt include house cleaning and yard care or gardening. You will see best results when you look for side gigs in areas of your life that you enjoy. What are your hobbies? Can you turn those into money making ventures?
In today’s sharing economy, it’s also possible to turn an extra room into a rental with the help of Airbnb or to turn your car into a ride for others with Lyft or Uber.
But, a part-time job may be more reliable than a side gig or side hustle. While you might not want to take on part-time work, the reality is that you are more likely to receive a higher income with a part-time job than you are with a side gig at least initially. It takes time to build a clientele list or turn something like blogging into a viable side hustle activity that consistently makes money.
On top of that, a part-time job is often more reliable. You might go weeks without landing a pet sitting job or having anyone rent your empty room. A part-time job ensures that you have at least 10 to 15 hours of work a week, resulting in money that you can put toward repaying your debt.
Which Part-Time Jobs Are a Scam?
The age old philosophy of, “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably isn’t.” applies to part-time jobs just like everything else in life. With so many people struggling to make ends meet and looking to get out of debt, there are quite a few scams out there. A good sense of skepticism will help keep you out of trouble in most cases.
There are a few scams that you should stay away from when looking for part-time jobs, though. Like always, you should stay away from the get rich quick schemes. You should stay with the tried and true methods of making money with a legitimate part-time job.
I would also stay away from things like trying to make money taking online surveys. They aren’t a scam, but they are rarely worth your time and effort, paying less than minimum wage for the amount of time it takes you to complete them.
Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies may not be worth your time and effort as you hunt for a part-time job to pay off your debt. While it’s different for most people, many of these types of companies take a while for you to build your team and grow sales enough to start making enough money to pay off your debts. You would make more money with less effort by simply getting a part-time hourly job near your home.
Anything that comes in a system or typically sold on the internet or late night infomercials aren’t a good choice for a part-time job to help you get out of debt. It’s not that they are a scam, so to speak, but you will struggle to make enough money to help pay off your debt in the amount of time that you want to make a significant impact on your debts.
Remember, in this example, I assume that you only want a part-time job to help you pay off your debts and will go back to a normal life with just your day job after paying off your debt. If that’s the case, systems from infomercials and MLM companies shouldn’t be your focus. You should look for traditional, hourly wage part-time jobs near your home whose income you can immediately use to pay debts each and every week as you work your aggressive debt repayment plan or debt snowball.
Will a Part-Time Job Be Enough?
Like most things, finding a part-time job alone will not be sufficient to get you out of debt. It will help, but it’s not enough just by itself. A part-time job is one of the pieces to the puzzle. It’s a tool. And, when you use it in conjunction with tightening your budget, using a debt snowball, and changing your spending habits that led to debt in the first place, only then will you once and for all conquer your debt.
In the end, it is up to you to commit to getting out of debt and then staying out. And, it’s different for everyone. Maybe having a part-time job doesn’t work for you. That’s the rare occasion, though. You usually find people only making excuses as to why having a part-time job in addition to the regular full-time career won’t make sense in their situation. That reality is far from ever an actual accurate picture in most cases.
There are instances though where it might be a better idea to look for a different full-time job if you feel that your employer isn’t paying you what you’re worth. Only you know how to weigh those options in your personal financial situation. However, you only have so many hours in the day, and you have to use them effectively if you want to get out of debt. You should crunch the numbers, look at your budget, look at your schedule, and figure out what works best for you and your family.
Finding the money to pay off that debt might be easier than you think, though. Getting out of debt doesn’t have to be that hard. There are plenty of ways to make a little bit of extra money and pay down your debt. The real question is, “How bad do you want to pay off your debt?”. That’s the real issue. You have to want it, and you have to want it very badly. Paying off a lot of debt takes commitment, determination, and a change in your attitude.
Sometimes it’s necessary to get a part-time job as a way of earning money required to throw at your outstanding debts. It’s a great tool to help you get ahead on your debt repayment plan. It is all about how focused and determined you are to knock your debts out one by one. You can do it, and a part-time job is an excellent way to take the first step in tackling your debt.
Great article Mike. Thanks
I would like more information