An Introduction

It seems like every good story starts with an introduction. I'd like to be thought of as a good story someday, so here's mine.

My name is Jillian. I'm a 27 year old woman from Pennsylvania, and I'm unemployed. After being forced to drop out of college and move back home due to the economy, I find myself wondering what's next. I've been unsuccessful in finding work so far, and won't be back at college until Summer 2010. This leaves me with a lot of free time on my hands.

I'm trying to keep busy in a number of ways: losing weight, doing lots of reading, and slowly paring down my possessions. One thing I'm not doing is making any money. I have some mounting debt I'm unable to make payments on right now - college and living expenses from when I still had my apartment halfway across the country. With no job prospects on the horizon and debt looming over my head like a thundercloud, there must be SOMETHING I can do. Which is where this blog comes in.

About 2 weeks ago, I read an article promising ways to make money on the side (or in my case, if you can't find a "real job") which had a lot of good ideas. Many of them are specific to the NYC area, but the article proved to be food for thought nonetheless.

Since reading the article, I've found handfuls of seemingly legitimate ways of earning money online. I've even made a little so far - a little over $100 at the time of this writing. I'm hoping to make enough money online to pay off my debts - $25,000 worth. I'm giving myself a little over 2 years to do this, which would make me debt free when I hit 30.

So from now until July 1st, 2012, I'll be researching and testing out various methods of earning money over the internet and documenting my progress here. I'll talk about what works and what doesn't, and how far along I am on my goal. I plan to also post here and there about things like personal finance and SEO marketing that will (hopefully) help me get out of debt a little faster.

I don't expect to be unemployed for the next two years. But having a job comes with its own expenses in the form of work clothes, transportation and so on, so I don't expect to be able to put a lot of what I earn towards my debts either. For the time being, my plan is to use ONLY what I make online toward my debts - and put any excess money from a job into separate savings. My hope is that, even if this experiment fails, I will accrue enough savings from work to become debt-free by age 30.

As of this writing, I'm not an expert on earning money online. When July 2012 hits, I probably won't be either. But I hope to learn enough meaningful information to become unburdened from debt, and to provide tips helping my readers do the same. It would be great if this became a two-way street, with readers helping me find new opportunities or telling me what has (or hasn't) worked for them.

I welcome comments, so long as they're constructive in one way or another. You don't have to agree with me - and I hope you'll point it out when I'm dead wrong, but I ask that you be respectful towards me and other readers. I also welcome email, so please feel free to contact me at undebting@gmail.com.