Hi Reader,

Next week, I'm sharing our May debt update, and I'm so excited to share our progress since my extra paycheck lands this month. More on that soon.

This week, I want to talk about the income side of our debt payoff, specifically how I'm actually generating extra money on top of my full-time salary and why it looks the way it does.

The Setup

I work somewhere between 55 and 65 hours a week across a full-time job, two freelance contracts, and a content business that's still building. I have two kids, two dogs, two cats, and a marriage I want to keep. It's a lot, and I won't pretend otherwise.

But here's the thing: I actually love all three of these jobs. That's not something I say to make it sound easy. It's the reason it works at all.

Baronfig

I found Baronfig through BELAY, a platform that connects contractors with companies needing operations support. I started working with them about two years ago, and earlier this year, they bought out my contract directly.

That was a big deal to me. Not just financially, but because it meant they trusted me enough to actually invest in me. I do operations, some social media, and a little bit of everything for a small and genuinely wonderful team. I absolutely adore these people. It's the kind of working relationship where you show up every day, actually caring about how things go for them.

We have one recurring meeting per week and one recurring meeting per month, but otherwise we all work asynchronously. I work 45 hours per month on this contract, so I can really break that down however I need to.

MacPac

MacPac is a different kind of story. They were one of my first jobs out of college. I actually started working there between summers while I was still in school, fell in love with it immediately, and ended up staying for almost ten years.

We had both of our babies while I was working here, and one of them even came to the office with me for three years. My jobs here ranged from an admin assistant to an operations manager. But because it was a small family-run company, I got to have a lot of say in what we did and how we did it. It was a huge learning experience for me about the e-commerce industry and, specifically, the food and beverage sector.

The connections that I made through MacPac have been insanely valuable. My current full-time employment is due to our previous work with them in the warehouse. The owners also fully supported me as I built content on the side and worked as a contractor for other companies. They have been huge cheerleaders in my career, and I am so grateful that I got to work with them for as long as I have.

I continue to work with them on a contract basis now. The work is hourly and variable; some months it's a $100 project, other months it's closer to $1,000, but the relationship is one I'd maintain regardless of the money.

Why three jobs

The honest answer is debt (and I'm a bit of a workaholic). The extra income from both contracts goes straight toward our debt snowball. Combined, on a good month, I'm clearing an extra $1,000 to $2,000 that our regular paychecks alone wouldn't cover.

It's not easy. Some weeks, I'm tired in a way that makes me reconsider this setup. But I keep coming back to that $6,600 number I shared last week. The faster we get out from under this, the sooner we get to decide what we actually do with our money.

That's worth a lot of early mornings.

Next week: the May debt numbers, and a huge payoff.

Talk soon,