No Side Hustle For Me

In the personal finance world, "side hustle" is a major buzz word... and I don't have one.

I've mentioned many times before that both The Husband and I are college graduates and have good paying jobs. I've also talked about the fact that we are in debt. Our debt is solely the cause of living beyond our means. Our debt has nothing to do with job loss, financial hardship, difficult circumstances, student loans, or medical bills... just plain stupidity. Most people in the PF community or who are debt bloggers talk all the time about their side hustle or what they are doing to make extra money, and honestly, I'm doing exactly nothing.

I choose not to have a side hustle. Although it would enable us to get out of debt so much faster, I'm not willing to give up the time with my family. In fact, I don't have the time.  For many years, 12 to be exact, I worked at a shoe store. It was a job I loved.  When I began teaching, I even kept my retail job for the first couple of years. I would only work at the shoe store one night a week and a weekend day here or there. Once the kids got older I had to quit my second job to become a full time chauffeur to my kids. This is also a way we are keeping ourselves in debt longer: we allow are kids to play sports and do extracurricular activities.

Having a side hustle, while definitely financially worthwhile, isn't worth the time away from my family or the strain it would put on my family. And while many hustles get to the point of where they are passive, they usually take massive work to reach that point, work I'm just not willing to put in.

I read all these blogs where the author has quit their day job to become a full-time freelancer, but for a long time they were working 40 hours a week at their day job and another 25+ hours per week developing their brand or padding their portfolio. I just don't have time for that.

I could get a second job but with soccer two nights a week and dance three nights a week, plus comps and games on the weekend, my free time is very limited and I don't want to give up my free time to a side hustle. As much as I want to get out of debt, I don't want it badly enough; that's why we are still in debt.

I admire people who give up everything to get out of debt. I admire people who have a garage sale every other month, who scour thrift stores for clothes, who work two jobs, who turn down invitations because they can't afford something, who clip coupons. But mostly, I admire people who have created a side hustle that works for them and works for their lifestyle. I'm just not that person.

Side hustles are by far the best tool to help you get out of debt faster. As long as you are able to meet all your financial obligations on your day job salary, any extra money you make can be thrown 100% at debt. That works out to be an awesome return on your investment. But do I want to invest my time just to gain financial freedom a couple months earlier? To me it's not worth it so for now I have no hustle.