How an Out-of-Work Michigan Teacher Got Out of Debt

Bad Michigan economy, teacher layoffs, high unemployment, funding cuts, budget reductions: sounds like an over-played song, I'm an out-of-work Michigan teacher whose singing a different tune. I just paid off $16,000 of debt and $6,000 in medical bills. Here's how.

I graduated with teaching degree in 1986 and went to work teaching at the Montessori school where I had just finished student teaching. The same year, I got married and had three babies by my fifth wedding anniversary. I left full-time teaching to teach night school in 1989.

In 1997, I quit teaching to home-school our children. In 2005, I returned to the work force. At 40, having been of the teaching grid for almost 10 years, I couldn't find a teaching job. I subbed, but only made $80 a day. That was when I could find a full day post.

There were no benefits, a very patchy schedule and no summer or vacation work. Massive teacher layoffs, hiring from within and only ten or so job openings every year reduced teaching jobs to nil. Administrator friends have told me that for every one teaching job in Michigan, there are thousands of applicants.

We were left with big debt from me being unemployed and limited job opportunities. To supplement the subbing income, I looked for online work. I was one of the first ChaCha guides in the 2006 Beta program. I only grossed $100. Taking surveys, I came upon several freelance writing communities. At the time, How to Do Things, Constant Content, Helium and Associated Content were the better paying sites.

How to Do Things paid in gift certificates, about $15 per article. I made about $500 in gift cards. Constant Content operates primarily by job bidding principle. I submitted three articles and sold one for $13. Helium has and internal rating system. Of about twenty submissions, I managed to sell six on their Marketplace program. I netted around $350. That program has changed, now.

Associated Content, now Yahoo! Contributor Network, has consistently been the best earner. They pay upfront for submissions ($4-$15 each roughly). They also pay for article page views. It's not a pay-per-click scam. Yahoo! pays us a portion of the ad revenue that they make.

Other places to earn money writing include:

Demand Studios

Examiner

Gather

SEED

Bukisa

Bright Hub

I blog with Google Blogger. I link a synopsis to my articles on my niche (content area) blogs. By enabling Google Adsense and Chitika, I earn ad revenue on my blogs. From these sources, I gross about $700-$1000 per week. That's nearly triple what I made subbing and nearly as much as I would make teaching (less benefits). I've linked to some blogs, so you can see how I do it.

Free Lesson Plans 4u,

Health Help 4u

Kidz Literature

Educational Movies

Great Food 4U

The Special Needs Child

Green Crafts

Catholic Activities

Freelancing has enabled me to pay off the $22,000 in debt that I incurred while unemployed. I've been able to pay off our kids' college tuition at community college and books too. Besides our home mortgage, we are debt-free.

A life-long resident of "Pure Michigan", Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people and policies, education and economy, natural resources and social justice in the Great Lakes State.