How to Make an Extra $100 a Day in 2025 (Working from Home!)

Summary

BiggerPockets Money Podcast: How to Make an Extra $100 a Day in 2025 (Working from Home!)

Hosts: Mindy Jensen & Scott Trench
Guest: Jackie Mitchell
Release Date: January 3, 2025

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of the BiggerPockets Money Podcast, hosts Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench welcome back Jackie Mitchell, a 26-year-old TikTok sensation from Columbus, Ohio. Jackie returns to share the inspiring story of how she successfully navigated a side hustle challenge, transforming her financial landscape and achieving significant milestones.

[00:00] Mindy Jensen: "What if you could make $10,000 in just 100 days? That is exactly what today's guest, Jackie Mitchell did."

Jackie’s Background

Jackie provides listeners with a glimpse into her professional and personal life. Currently employed in the nonprofit sector, she and her husband both work full-time jobs. Growing up, Jackie was instilled with a strong sense of financial responsibility by her parents, which fostered her entrepreneurial spirit from a young age.

[02:15] Jackie Mitchell: "I always came up with little business ideas. None of them ever stuck, but I always had that drive for earning a little bit of extra money."

The $100/day for 100 Days Challenge

The core of Jackie’s story revolves around her ambitious challenge to earn $100 a day for 100 days, aiming to accumulate $10,000. This initiative was motivated by her and her husband's goal of buying a house without depleting their financial reserves.

[02:23] Jackie Mitchell: "I thought, is it so crazy if I just try to challenge myself to make a hundred dollars a day for a hundred days?"

Jackie meticulously planned and executed various side hustles, leveraging her flexible work schedule and existing connections. Her commitment paid off as she not only met but exceeded her target, ultimately earning approximately $10,800 by the end of the challenge.

[03:32] Jackie Mitchell: "I ended up making close to $11,000. I hit my goal of $10,000 eight days early."

Diverse Side Hustles

Jackie discusses the variety of side hustles she engaged in during her challenge, highlighting her favorite, most profitable, and least profitable endeavors.

• Favorite Side Hustle: Prolific

  Jackie appreciated Prolific for its engaging and well-paying short studies, averaging $20-$25 per hour.

  [06:21] Jackie Mitchell: "Prolific pays by hour and averages around $20 to $25 an hour. The studies are fun and interesting."

• Most Profitable: Focus Groups

  Participating in focus groups offered the highest earnings, with some sessions paying up to $500 for three hours of work.

  [06:21] Jackie Mitchell: "The last one I did paid $500 for just three hours of work."

• Least Profitable: Amazon Tasking Site

  Jackie found certain platforms, like Amazon's task site, to be underwhelming in terms of compensation and did not recommend them.

  [08:22] Jackie Mitchell: "The pay rate was way too low. I tried it once and just wasn't for me."

Additionally, Jackie's unexpected earnings from TikTok's creator program became a significant income stream towards the end of her challenge.

[04:13] Jackie Mitchell: "About a third to a half of my daily income was generated through TikTok's ad program creator program."

Handling Taxes from Side Hustles

Addressing common concerns about taxation, Jackie explains her straightforward approach to managing taxes from her side hustles. She opted to set aside 30% of her earnings to cover taxes, which proved sufficient as she ended up saving more.

[05:00] Jackie Mitchell: "I set aside about 30% for taxes and actually overshot that."

She also made quarterly tax payments, ensuring compliance without the need for hiring a CPA, though she did consult a family friend for verification.

[05:48] Jackie Mitchell: "I didn't hire a CPA, but I had a family friend check it to ensure I was doing everything right."

Post-Challenge Achievements and Future Goals

With the success of her 100-day challenge, Jackie and her husband purchased their first home, a significant milestone achieved within a month of completing the challenge. She shares insights into their budgeting strategies, particularly their impressive $80 weekly grocery budget.

[21:43] Jackie Mitchell: "We spend $80 a week on our groceries, totaling about $240 a month."

Their transportation costs are minimized by maintaining two decades-old, paid-off cars, further strengthening their financial stability.

[22:46] Scott Trench: "We have two cars that we've both owned since we were teenagers. They're functional and get us to work."

Looking ahead, Jackie outlines several financial goals, including upgrading their old water heater without dipping into reserves, planning travel funded entirely by side hustles, and contributing to long-term savings and educational funds.

[10:24] Jackie Mitchell: "Our water heater is quite old, so replacing it will be a top priority in the new year."

Paying Off the Mortgage vs. Investing

A significant portion of the episode delves into Jackie's deliberate strategy to pay off their mortgage early instead of investing those funds. She emphasizes the non-monetary value her family places on being debt-free, drawing inspiration from her parents' experience.

[29:22] Jackie Mitchell: "The non-monetary value we place on not having any debt is huge."

Scott Trench supports her decision by providing a financial rationale, highlighting that paying off the mortgage offers a guaranteed return equivalent to her mortgage interest rate, which is comparable to potential after-tax investment returns.

[30:27] Scott Trench: "The peace of mind from having a paid-off mortgage is absolutely worth it for tens of millions of people compared to that 2% spread on investments."

Jackie acknowledges the pros and cons, reaffirming her commitment to a debt-free life while also maintaining retirement accounts and other savings.

[31:56] Mindy Jensen: "Jackie is doing it consciously, not just because she doesn’t have anything else to do with her money."

Budgeting Tips and Strategies

Jackie shares practical advice on managing and reducing grocery expenses, emphasizing meticulous planning and efficient meal preparation.

• Detailed Shopping Lists:
  She advocates for listing every item needed to avoid impulse purchases driven by store marketing.

  [17:21] Jackie Mitchell: "Name every single item that I'm going to buy and then go into the grocery store as if I'm a shopper for someone else."

• Variety in Meals:
  To prevent monotony that leads to eating out, Jackie ensures variety in her meal planning.

  [18:45] Jackie Mitchell: "Variety is huge. If things get monotonous at home and takeout looks enticing, it's a different flavor."

• Embracing Leftovers:
  Packing leftovers for lunch reduces costs and minimizes food waste.

  [19:14] Jackie Mitchell: "Leftovers for lunch are the way to go. We're very pro leftovers in this house."

• Essential Pantry Items:
  Investing in pantry staples like flour, sugar, and soy sauce is crucial for cost-effective cooking.

  [20:23] Jackie Mitchell: "Switch to pantry essentials makes the biggest difference."

Embracing Financial Intentionality

Jackie emphasizes the importance of intentional spending and financial planning, ensuring that every dollar is allocated purposefully towards their goals, such as paying off the mortgage, saving for travel, and supporting future educational expenses.

[33:24] Jackie Mitchell: "Some of it goes to grad school, some to long-term savings, and some to travel savings."

Advice for Listeners

For those seeking to enhance their financial standing through side hustles, Jackie recommends finding work that aligns with personal interests and leveraging online communities like Reddit for resources and support.

[36:50] Jackie Mitchell: "Find something that you at least somewhat enjoy... Reddit is a great resource for research."

Conclusion

Mindy and Scott commend Jackie for her disciplined approach and successful execution of her financial goals. They highlight her exemplary budgeting, strategic side hustles, and the harmonious balance she maintains between enjoying life and managing finances.

[40:10] Scott Trench: "It's a fantastic story... You're going to have every option in the world."

Mindy echoes this sentiment, reinforcing the value of intentional financial decisions and celebrating Jackie's achievements.

[43:06] Mindy Jensen: "Live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later."

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Notable Quotes:

• Mindy Jensen [00:00]: "What if you could make $10,000 in just 100 days?"
• Jackie Mitchell [03:32]: "I ended up making close to $11,000."
• Scott Trench [30:27]: "The peace of mind from having a paid-off mortgage is absolutely worth it..."
• Jackie Mitchell [36:50]: "Find something that you at least somewhat enjoy."

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Key Takeaways:

1. Strategic Side Hustles:
   Diversifying income streams through side hustles can significantly boost financial goals. Choose activities that are enjoyable and sustainable for long-term commitment.

2. Intentional Budgeting:
   Detailed planning and disciplined budgeting, especially in areas like groceries, can lead to substantial savings over time.

3. Debt-Free Living:
   Prioritizing debt elimination, such as paying off a mortgage early, can provide immense peace of mind and financial freedom.

4. Future Planning:
   Setting clear, purposeful financial goals ensures that savings and investments align with personal values and life aspirations.

5. Community and Resources:
   Leveraging online communities and resources can provide support, ideas, and motivation for financial endeavors.

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Jackie's journey exemplifies how dedication, strategic planning, and intentional financial decisions can lead to remarkable achievements, inspiring listeners to evaluate and enhance their own financial strategies.

Transcript

[Mindy Jensen]

What if you could make $10,000 in just 100 days? That is exactly what today's guest, Jackie Mitchell did. And we are bringing her back to tell us all about how her challenge has changed her financial perspective, what side hustle she did, and what her new financial goal is. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the BiggerPockets Money Podcast. My name is Mindy Jensen and with me, as always, is my everyday is hustling co host, Scott Trench.

[Scott Trench]

Thanks, Mindy. That was a clean intro. Unlike the Rick Ross song, which would help us lose our family friendly status here on Bigger Pockets money. BiggerPockets has a goal of creating 1 million millionaires. You are in the right place if you want to get your financial house in order. Because we truly believe financial freedom is a handle for everyone, no matter when or where you're starting, including if you just want to make that first extra 100 bucks. Jackie Mitchell is a 26 year old rising TikTok star based in Columbus, Ohio. Jackie, welcome to the show. We're so excited to have you back on the Bigger Pockets Money podcast.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Thank you guys for having me back. I'm super excited to be here again.

[Mindy Jensen]

I am super excited to talk to you. So, Jackie, when I first met you, saw you online, you were on TikTok where you were sharing your $100 a day for 100 days side hustle challenge. And we talked to you kind of in the middle of that challenge back on episode 470. Before we get into updates, let's give a little bit of a recap. What is your current job? And can you give us a brief overview of your history with money growing up?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Sure. So I currently work in the nonprofit sector. Both my husband and I work full time. Like I said, I live in Columbus, Ohio. Grew up with a healthy view of money. I think my parents instilled a good idea of what it meant to be financially responsible. So, you know, I was given an idea of what it meant to spend money, what it meant to earn money. I was always the kid who wanted to do a lemonade stand, always the kid who wanted to find some weird way to sell something at, you know, garage sale or, or thrift and flip something. I always came up with little business ideas. None of them ever stuck. But, you know, that was kind of me growing up is I kind of always had that, that drive or that knack for earning a little bit of extra money. And my parents helped me understand what it meant to steward money well, so I'm really thankful for that.

[Mindy Jensen]

Let's go into this hundred dollar a day, hundred day challenge, what was your impetus for starting this challenge?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, so at the time, my husband and I had been married a couple years, rented for a few years, and we really wanted to solidify our goal, our dream really, of being able to buy a house. And at the time I had calculated, you know, to be comfortable without like, you know, digging into kind of our reserves, we needed about an extra $10,000 in order to make that down payment realistic for us, you know, so there were a couple ways we could go about it. Certainly both he and I had brainstormed a few ways, but one of the easiest ways we found was just to break it down into everyday bites. And for me, I was the one who had more flexible hours at my job. I was the one who was kind of already connected to some of these like side hustles that I had been doing since college, since, you know, even high school, some of them. And so once I realized that a hundred times, a hundred is ten thousand, you know, I thought, is it so crazy if I just try to challenge myself to make a hundred dollars a day for a hundred days? And that's kind of where the challenge was born. I posted it mainly to keep myself accountable and people definitely did keep me accountable. So then I was stuck. I really had to do it, I had to follow through.

[Mindy Jensen]

Did you end up making your $10,000?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, I, I ended up making close to $11,000. Actually, I think eight days early, I hit my goal of $10,000 and I think I landed somewhere around $10,800 for the final day total.

[Mindy Jensen]

That is awesome. So did you put, did you buy a house? Did you put down the money and.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yep.

[Mindy Jensen]

Woohoo.

[Jackie Mitchell]

I, we're in our house right now. I'm recording this from our brand new house. So, you know, actually towards the end of our challenge, so when we started home shopping and we, shortly after I finished that challenge, actually within the next month, moved into our brand new home. Well, brand new to us, but our new home.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Scott Trench]

I have a question here. Did it get easier to make the hundred dollars a day? Were you able to do it faster and faster by the end or was it pretty consistent the whole way through?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Certainly for a couple of reasons. The first one being when you learn a new side hustle, there's always that like learning curve of getting started, understanding the platform, whether it's, you know, something like user interviews, something like a focus group data annotation. Prolific. Any of these sites come with a learning curve for sure. But then secondly, I ended up starting to earn from social media, which was unexpected for me. And so by the end of the challenge, I would say about a third to a half of my daily income was generated through TikTok's ad program creator program, which was crazy.

[Mindy Jensen]

I love that. Okay. One of the biggest questions that your viewers had for you was, was on how you were going to pay your taxes. Was filing taxes easy or was it kind of a nightmare because you had all these different tax forms to. To return?

[Jackie Mitchell]

I mean, really, it's just the same form over and over again. So it depends on how much you like filling out forms. Um, but yeah, you know, from the get go, I said I was going to overshoot how much I set aside for my side hustles just because I would rather over save and then, you know, have more in my tax fund than I needed. So I set aside about 30%. I definitely overshot that, like I said. But then when it came time to pay, I just paid. I actually make quarterly payments because with that kind of work, 1099 work, I believe it's, it's. I don't know if it's required or if it's just preferred, but the government really would like you to pay every quarter for that. So actually went ahead and made one quarterly payment in 2022 and my final payment in 2023. Yes.

[Scott Trench]

Did you hire a CPA for that?

[Jackie Mitchell]

I didn't, but I did have a family friend kind of check it just to make sure he thought I was doing all the right things. So while we didn't hire him and I did most of it myself, I did have someone check it. But now I feel confident enough to be able to be doing it myself. And I'm doing quarterly taxes again, the same way.

[Mindy Jensen]

Okay. When we spoke last year, you were doing data annotation as one of your big side hustles. What was your favorite side hustle? What one paid the most and what one paid the least?

[Jackie Mitchell]

It's a really good question. Um, my favorite side hustle besides, I think social media, which is the one that I've kept at the most since this challenge, would probably have to be Prolific. Prolific is a site that a lot of graduate programs or PhD programs use to collect data for research for either papers or different studies. Some of them social, some of them, you know, regarding psychology. Some of them, a lot of them actually this year regarding the election. But these are short studies. So while focus groups are great, a lot of those are longer, like maybe two hour studies that you get paid to do. Prolific is anywhere from like a minute to maybe 20 minute studies and they pay by hour. So while you know, you may not, you may not get a lot from one study you're doing, you know, five to 10 an hour. And I was averaging, I think around 20 to 25 doll dollars an hour on that site. And there, there was a good stream of income. I do know that they have a wait list sometimes, so I always caution people, join it, join the wait list. It's always worth it. I've never heard anyone get into Prolific and be like, yeah, I hated that site. Everybody who gets in really likes it. So that was probably my favorite just because the, the studies are fun, they're interesting, they're short and it pays well. And once you get in, there's a good stream of them. In terms of my, the ones that paid the most, I would say focus groups always pay the best per hour, but they are harder to come by. So that is the down. I only do focus groups. I think the last one I did was two months ago. Now I'm in a couple different focus group like emails or, or sites that kind of send you ones that have been pre screened for you that they think you might be a good fit based on your profile. Um, last one I did in home study, they sent me some cleaning products and I reviewed them and I didn't end up having to have anyone come to my house. I just did like a in person video. I did a video and then sent it to them of me reviewing the product and that paid $500. So you know, $500 for maybe three hours total of work. That's a great, great hourly rate. But again the downside is they don't always come, you know, into your inbox very often. So I would say I do those when I can. I love them, they're fun. And there's no wrong answer. Right. So that's the other part that's fun about things like Prolific and things like focus groups. There's no wrong answer, it's just your opinion. So to be able to just give your opinion for three hours, I mean I talk, you know, probably eight hours a day. So to be able to get paid for three of those, that's great. But again the downside is just that they're harder to come by. And then the ones that paid the least, I had actually trialed. I'm trying to think of the name. Amazon has a tasking site that is, I think similar to sites like Data Annotation and Prolific. And I was asked by some viewers to join and kind of give my honest review. And I just found the pay rate to be way too low. So I tried it once and it just wasn't for me and I don't recommend it. I think there's sites that pay better.

[Scott Trench]

What have you kept doing or. Yeah, tell us about what happened after the challenge in your house, your home purchase and what have you learned from or. Or kept doing following that?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, I think, you know, after my challenge, I was kind of on a high of like, I can't believe I did this. And so I think I should always do this forever. Um, and I slowed down a bit. I don't do it every day like I thought I might. Um, but I do still side hustle for a couple different reasons. Um, the main one being I really enjoy social media, so I've put a lot of effort into continuing my platform and I've really enjoyed the opportunities that's. That have come from that. But then there's. There's still great opportunities. I mean, I still like doing prolific. I still love doing a focus group. Like I said, I just did one a couple months ago and it paid for like half of our Christmas gifts this year. So, you know, I love to do it for things like traveling, gifting, any, like, out of the ordinary expenses. I think these are great ways to just kind of, you know, boost your regular income. And so that's how I kind of treat them. Now that we've hit our big goal of buying a house, are you saving.

[Mindy Jensen]

Up for the next goal?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, I mean, right now I would love for us to not have to dip into our reserves to buy a new water heater. So that is going to be on the top of my list in the new year. Our water heater is quite, quite old, so he's ready to kick the can. And I'm going to Europe with my friend and I'm doing that completely with side hustles, which I've done before a couple times in the past. Actually. Our. Our honeymoon was completely side hustled in 2020. Like February of 2020, I went with my friends to Paris and that was side hustled. So this will be my third trip that I'll side hustle.

[Mindy Jensen]

Let's look at some of the numbers involved with those side hustle trips. Are you com and are you combining them with like credit card hacking or are you just paying for them with the side hustles?

[Jackie Mitchell]

The first two I did not combine with credit card hacking just because I was in college for the first one. And then we had just kind of gotten like a nice travel credit card when we went on our first trip together as a married couple. But this time I am using some points. It's actually as the day of recording is supposedly Travel Tuesday, which is one of the best days to book for the next six months for airlines. So after I, you know, log off of this, I think I'm going to hop on and see on Google flights any deals that I can get and then that'll kind of decide our itinerary. So I will be doing that and hopefully spending some points. But the last two times, no, it was all out of pocket through either earnings from sites like, like I said, Focus Group, Swagbucks, anything like that. Just earnings that I saved up.

[Mindy Jensen]

Stay tuned for more after a quick break. But while we're away, we would love to hear from you. Do you currently have a side hustle answer in the Spotify or YouTube app while we're gone? This show is sponsored by Airbnb. Fall is here and I've got a trip coming up soon.

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[Mindy Jensen]

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[Scott Trench]

Welcome back to the show here with Jackie Mitchell. All right, Jackie, you know, you, you went through a hundred day slog to save up $10,000 and beat your goal. And that's awesome. And that's something that's going to inspire, has inspired and will inspire for many years to come. A lot of people out there, but it's one piece of a broader kind of long term financial strategy and I would say probably not sustainable for most, most people wouldn't want to try to keep that challenge up for an indefinite time horizon. I love how you limited it to 100 days in a specific goal there. How are you starting to zoom out now and think about your larger financial goals and your journey to wealth, wealth building now that this challenge is complete. You know, we've heard a little bit about the travel hacking, but how are you thinking about broader personal finance in light of the success you had here?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, you know, for me, one of the biggest things I learned from my challenge was that little bits really do add up. I mean, I know it's a simple concept, but gosh, like, until you really see the results of that, it seems incredulous. So I think one of the things that this challenge reoriented me on was the idea of just spending a little bit more on our mortgage each month, just throwing little bits extra. Um, to me, it always seemed like people who paid off their house were paying, you know, you know, 5,000 extra dollars a month or, or, you know, they were paying double their mortgage every month. And that's not true. Um, we've already shaved off a couple years on our mortgage just by making extra payments, rounding up, you know, a couple hundred dollars here and there. Um, and so while I'm not attack mortgage with the same intensity that I was attacking our down payment because it didn't seem as urgent, it is nice to know that however hard I want to attack that the opportunity is always there and little bits always make a big difference. So for us, paying off our house early would be amazing. I'm 20. I'm actually 27. I just turned 27. And you know, to be able to pay off our house by our mid-30s would be the goal. And I think it's something that, you know, through this side hustle challenge, through social media, just through learning about how we can go about that in A healthy way that seems balanced and still enjoy time with our friends and family. I think that's my biggest goal for my 30s, and then just to love on our friends and family. I mean, to be honest with you, I always say that, you know, finances are a part of life, but they're not the point of life. So I would like to be in a place financially where I'm always able to have people over. I'm always able to spend on my friends, spend on my family. You know, I'm always able to have experiences with people that otherwise, if I didn't have my finances in order, would be either difficult or impossible for me. So beyond spending and kind of trying to pay off our house early, I think our goal is just to feel comfortable enough to be able to host and love on people the way we want to.

[Mindy Jensen]

I love that I am not 27, and it took me until I was about 50 to learn that lesson. So I'm so delighted that you've learned this. Early on, you seemed like you have a really good, solid financial footing, which is frankly not that common in your age group. So it's January. Many people are focused on getting their finances in order as part of their New Year's resolutions. You've pivoted to budgeting and specifically reducing grocery costs. What are some tips you have for people who are looking at their budget and saying, how did I spend $2500 on groceries last month?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, I've got a couple tips. The first one being, you cannot leave anything up to chance. You may think that you're good at estimating and guesstimating what you need for recipes and what, you know, kind of ingredients you want to buy. But when you get into the grocery store, I mean, this is true of me. Marketing will get you every time, and you will spend more than you think. So for me, the most important part about grocery budgeting is naming every single item that I'm going to buy, listing those out, and then going into the grocery store as if I'm a shopper for someone else. So I'm. I'm not shopping. For me in that moment, I've got a list to fulfill, and that's not my own list. But, you know, budget eating doesn't have to be boring, and I'm really passionate about that. I think variety is huge. When you're budget meal planning, you just need to make sure that you're not eating the same things day in, day out. If that works for you, that's great. But for me, that is the biggest Reason why I end up eating out is if things get monotonous at home and takeout looks enticing. You know, that's a different. That's a different flavor. And I've. I've been eating the same thing. You know, I made a casserole on Tuesday, and I've been eating the same thing every day since then. So I think that's a great idea. And then also, you know, just personally, me and my husband have found that lunch items are expensive. And so for us, cooking every dinner as a family of two to serve at least four to six people and then packing those leftovers for lunch the next day is always more cost effective. Leftovers for lunch are the way to go. We're very pro leftovers in this house.

[Mindy Jensen]

Embracing leftovers can be a real help because, like you said, you've got these leftovers. I had a really great dinner last night. Now I'm gonna have it for lunch. I don't necessarily want to eat, like, I. I don't make a lot of chili because I tend to make a lot of chili, and then I'm eating chili for like 14 months in a row, and I don't really want that. But also, chili freezes really well. So if you have extras and you don't wanna do this, pop it in the freezer and, you know, bring it back out when you haven't had it for the last 17 days.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Absolutely.

[Mindy Jensen]

Are you familiar with budget bites? Budget bites.com and Beth? I believe it's Beth Munsell.

[Jackie Mitchell]

I don't think I am.

[Mindy Jensen]

Oh, I'm gonna change your world. Jackie. We interviewed her on episode 299, and she breaks out all of her recipes. Here's the ingredients, and here much. Here's how much they cost. So this recipe has a tablespoon of olive oil that's 17 cents. And this recipe has, you know, a pound of ground beef that's 4.99 or whatever. So it starts making you think about exactly how much each recipe is gonna cost you at home. All of her recipes are amazing. My friend JT has like a whole calendar, and you look through his calendar, it's a budget bites. Budget bites, Budget bites. They're really, really great recipes. And then conversely, if you are, you know, in a tight spot and you want to make an inexpensive meal, you can go through and look for one that is inexpensive or look for one that has ingredients that you already have in your cabinets.

[Jackie Mitchell]

I think that's fantastic.

[Mindy Jensen]

Yeah. She's an awesome, awesome blog with. I don't know, 10 billion recipes, something like that. My, my count might be a little off.

[Jackie Mitchell]

You know, you bring up a great point. When it comes to budget eating, you do have to have the essentials. And I love that she's counting that because, you know, there are a lot of times where people will share recipes and then you realize that half the things that they're using are things that they consider pantry essentials that are, like, very odd or niche or specific. So I always tell people, spend $80 on pantry essentials. I've got a list on my page that I pin because that's like my most asked question. But things like flour, sugar, salt, soy sauce, peanut butter. These are things that you spend on once when you get into your house or when you're starting out cooking at home, and then you're not going to be replenishing those all at the same time. So it is an initial investment, investment of maybe 80 to $100. But you're never going to have, you're never going to run out of all of those things at once. So once a week, pick up whatever ingredient that you're out of. Garlic powder, pick up flour, pick up peanut butter, and then you're good because you always have that base to refer to. And so what I really try to do is encourage a nice little, you know, I don't have a lot of space in this house, but I love my house so much. But I don't have a pantry. So I've just got some cabinet space of just pantry essentials. And I think that makes the biggest difference. Especially for people in my age group, cooking seems daunting and exciting. Seems more expensive than takeout at first when you don't have those pantry essentials. But those will pay off 100% of the time.

[Scott Trench]

What do you spend every month on. On food?

[Jackie Mitchell]

We spend $80 a week on our groceries. So I guess that would be 20 or. Yeah, $240 a month.

[Scott Trench]

That's pretty good. I don't know anybody else is doing that. We've been doing the show for a long time, so that, that may be the best ever for two that, that I've ever heard. And does that include all takeout? Everything? Like your food budget is, is 240 to 300 bucks?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah. So we always say we don't go out to eat unless it's a special occasion. And, you know, that's just the way we've set up our lives. We like having people over, so if someone's going to hang out with us, we're Always willing to have them bring over an extra pound of ground beef or whatever, or splurge to buy an extra little bit of ingredients for friends. But other than that, it's just the two of us. We cook every meal at home because of that. Yeah, we're. We're down to $80 a week. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Like I said, we eat dinners and then we pack leftovers for lunch the next day, and then we prep breakfast, grab and go items. So something like oatmeal bars, overnight oats, eggs, something easy fruit that you can just kind of grab and go and not have to worry about.

[Scott Trench]

So you, you bought a house. Would you mind sharing a little bit more about the house? Is this like, you know, could you give us like, like, mortgage payment or some. Some sort of idea of. Of how much house we're talking about?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, absolutely. So this is a three bed, two and a half bath in Columbus, Ohio. We spent just over 300,000 and our mortgage is about 2300amonth. So, you know, for us, that was right around what we were looking for. It was a mad dash in Ohio for the real estate market. So we kind of bought the first house we set eyes on and liked, and it worked out for us.

[Scott Trench]

Awesome. And what is your mortgage rate on the house?

[Jackie Mitchell]

We are at 6.325, I believe.

[Scott Trench]

Got it. Okay.

[Mindy Jensen]

That's great for the current interest rate environment.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Better than I thought. Better than I thought when I was getting some estimates. So I'm happy for that.

[Scott Trench]

And the last question here, and I'll tie it all together with why I'm asking these in a second. What. What is your. What do you do for your cars? Your. Do you have one? Do you have two?

[Jackie Mitchell]

We have two cars that we have both owned since we were teenagers. Hand me downs of. Hand me downs. And we've put a new motor in one. They're not pretty, but they're functional and they get us to work. So that's where we're at with our cars right now.

[Scott Trench]

All right, we got to take one final break, and then we'll be back with more.

[Mindy Jensen]

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[Mindy Jensen]

Thanks for sticking with us. Now back to Jackie.

[Scott Trench]

Awesome. So you have two 10 plus year old cars that are paid off and then you're going to emerge in six, seven years. It's going to be faster than that. I'll bet you anything with a paid off house and you know, maybe you replace one of the cars or whatever during that time period and you keep this budget, this food budget that low, you're going to have every option in the world. And it's because you're, you have such tight control over the big three here. I mean the house, you got to have a house and he decided to go that route with, with purchasing. I think that's almost certainly the right call in a place like the Midwest, like in Columbus where you're at, I believe. And then you have the paid off cars. I mean you're gonna be able to save 50, 60, 70% of your income while Once that that house is paid off. And I imagine you're not blowing all the money somewhere else on this. So you're like, what a fantastic situation to find yourself in at 27 here. One of the burning questions I think that folks might have though is why are you paying off the mortgage instead of investing? And I agree with your, by the way, just to just, I, I just feel like the question needs to be asked.

[Jackie Mitchell]

No, I appreciate it. You know, this is my most controversial take is that I am throwing extra at the mortgage. Although we do invest and we both have retirement accounts, you know, for us the non monetary value we place on not having any debt is huge. Part of that is personal. Part of that is, you know, my, myself watching my parents pay off their house when I was growing up, that was huge for me. And you know, just hearing what a relief that is. Even though sure, you can, you can gamble and not even really gamble, there are good methods of, you know, investing that then can yield some returns. To us, it's always been about eliminating our debt and we include the house in that. So again, while there are other ways to invest and I think that's great for people that want to do that, I like to say that, yeah, it's a, it's a non monetary value that we hold to be completely debt free. And this is the fastest way to go about it. And I sleep easier every night when that mortgage goes down little by little. So.

[Scott Trench]

So here's another way of looking at it. In defense of your decision here, for all the folks saying that you should be investing on that, you pay taxes. I don't know what your household income is, but let's call it with the. Let's imagine you had 120k in household income here. You would be paying taxes at a 22% federal bracket, 22 to 24% and you throw in Ohio. I don't know what Ohio taxes are like from a state perspective, but you're probably paying 25% blended income tax on that, that income. If you were to get gains on an investment in the stock market, you'd have to get a materially higher rate of return than 6.325% in order for it to actually on an after tax basis beat the early payoff of your mortgage on there. And so it's not that big of a spread. It's not like 6.3 to 5% versus 10% you could get in the stock market, for example. It's probably closer to a 2% potential spread. And the peace of mind from having a paid off mortgage is absolutely worth it for tens of millions of people compared to that 2% spread on there. And you'll be able to stockpile as much wealth as you want into investments without that, you know, a big, the Lion's share, that 2300amonth payment that you're making. So I think it's a great call. And that used to be clear cut. I would have thought you about it three, four years ago, even though it's a feelings call. But I would say it's, it's like the math is definitely not, not saying don't do this at this point. So you ever need that argument for somebody who's asking you about it, I think you got it. You're, you're making a really great decision with paying off mortgage.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Good. Okay.

[Mindy Jensen]

And what I'm hearing her say is this is a decision that she has chosen consciously. She's not just throwing extra money at her mortgage because she doesn't have anything else to do with it. She's not just throwing money at her mortgage because somebody somewhere said maybe that was a good idea. She looked at it, she looked at her husband, she looked at their mindset about having debt and said, we don't want to have the debt. It's not just, it's not just this off the offhanded decision. So that's, I mean that's the most important. Jackie's money is Jackie's money. So Jackie can do what she wants with it. But Jackie should be doing it consciously, which she absolutely is.

[Scott Trench]

But this is a finance podcast and we're going to get YouTube people commenting on and why Jackie's might make decision on it. So we had to fend it off.

[Mindy Jensen]

Yeah. No, I love that you are defending that. And if anybody has an issue with it, you can email mindyggerpockets.com and we can have a nice little conversation.

[Scott Trench]

I do have one more question though. You said you were contributing to like retirement accounts. On top of that, could you walk us through how far you go? Are you taking matches and then everything else goes to the mortgage?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, so we are taking our matches. My husband handles the retirement actually, so I have little to. No, but I'll just give you the broad overview of what I know is that we do take our matches because that to us is free money. And then beyond that, we're contributing just. Yeah, I think up until our match, I believe.

[Scott Trench]

Last question here. Is everything on top of that going to prepaying the mortgage?

[Jackie Mitchell]

No.

[Scott Trench]

Okay. Where does the rest of it go.

[Jackie Mitchell]

So I just started grad school. So some of it goes to grad school, some of it goes to long term savings. For us, a car is definitely in our future, like I said. And then that, that's all high yield savings. And then some of it goes to travel savings, like I said. For us, we don't spend a lot day to day. We don't spend a lot month to month and we're pretty boring. We eat every meal at home and we like to do things for free. So we'd like to splurge on travel, like I said, you know, that is important to us, especially at our age. So that's an expense. And then, yeah, you know, in the next year or so that'll look like maybe contributing to some 529 plans with the hope of eventually having children.

[Mindy Jensen]

Yeah. Again, Scott, I hear intentionality in this spending and in the way that her money is working for her. And that is absolutely the best way to go about it, is doing it because you're doing it on purpose. Jackie Our audience is mainly focused on the fire movement, financial independence, retire early. Do you identify with any parts of the fire movement?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Definitely, to some degree. I think I'm not on fire as much as some fire people would like me to be, but I'm somewhere in the middle. Certainly paying off our house early falls in line with that. When it comes down to retiring early, I could see us retiring either myself or my husband, but not both, I believe is kind of our goal right now, or at least allowing one to stay and if we have children, God willing, you know, stay with the kids. So that's kind of our long term goal. But again, I enjoy my day job and I enjoy my side hustles. So to me, like I, I, I see myself as a person who always will be working in some capacity. So to retire early may not be the choice for me, although I think it's a great goal for many people. I am just someone who deeply enjoys working. I mean, I don't know why, but even I worked at a restaurant in the evenings up until about two years ago and I loved that and missed that and didn't know what to do with my evenings when I was done with that. So for me, I think there's always work in the future, but not out of necessity, but out of a love to do it.

[Scott Trench]

I think what is the driving kind of philosophy behind the way you're approaching your finances and what, what, what it be like? You know, you mentioned kids, you mentioned all these things. Is it Just this kind of notion of flexibility or is there a more specific goal 10, 15 years down the road?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, I mean, broad view, just to be honest, like a lot of this is just stewarding what we have. Well, that's something we take very seriously in our personal lives. My husband and I, out of partially religious beliefs and just our, our own personal mantras. So, you know, long term goal is not to maybe, is not to maybe accumulate more and more, but to be comfortable and be paid off so that everything would be paid off, that we would have a comfortable monthly income and that we would be able to provide for a future generation, I would say is our long term goal.

[Scott Trench]

I think that that is going to happen, Jackie, based on what I'm hearing here. So I think you're going to be way past that and you're gonna have really fun, fun, fun situations and about fun problems and, and opportunities in about 10 years.

[Mindy Jensen]

Jackie, what advice would you give our listeners who are looking for creative ways to get their finances in order for the new year?

[Jackie Mitchell]

So I think there are two categories of, of work. And if you can find the second category, I think that's where your, your money is and your longevity is. You can always work for money and there's always going to be side hustles, there's always going to be extra jobs, evening jobs. Right. So in terms of like, could you get a job waitressing? Could you get a job doing xyz? Absolutely. I encourage people for longevity to find something that they at least somewhat enjoy. And I know that's hard to say when it comes to work. So I'd like to simplify that by saying you have to understand what it is about completing a task that you enjoy. Do you like being on your feet? Do you like checking off checklists? Or do you like being left alone and being creative? I mean, these are some big questions you have to ask yourself that I think have guided me into realizing things that I do like and things that I don't like that helped me on my side hustle journey. That helped me just in life as well. And then, you know, the Internet is a great resource for research as well. I'm, I'm always a big proponent of Reddit. I know the FIRE community has a great Reddit resource page and a lot of resources. The same is true for a lot of side hustles. There's one in particular that I used a lot during my side hustle challenge. I think that's called R, slash beer money. And it's just that it's Just little extra bits of money, you know, it's not going to pay maybe your entire mortgage, maybe it will, but it's just beer money. And that's a great resource to find sites that I use for my hundred day challenge that, you know, maybe pay 25, $30, $50 a day that you can stack. So if you want to do something like me, it's always worth searching on Reddit. Um, people are always willing to give more information, I think, than you think. But you have to know the questions to ask.

[Mindy Jensen]

I love it. Okay, Jackie, our listeners who do not yet follow you on TikTok, where can they find you?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Yeah, you can find me on TikTok at Jackie Mitchell. Um, I believe there's an extra L there. So it's J, A, C K I E M I T C H E L, L, L. But if you search Jackie Mitchell, I should come up. And I'm on TikTok and I've got a. If you're interested, a weekly newsletter where I send out all the recipes that I use on $80 a week, along with some side hustle reviews, some thrifting reviews, budget reviews, it's called Thrifty Weekly. And we just kind of talk life budgeting and how to make things work on even the smallest of incomes.

[Mindy Jensen]

Okay, and how do I sign up for that newsletter?

[Jackie Mitchell]

Because I want to get that in TikTok. My link is in my bio.

[Mindy Jensen]

Awesome. Jackie, it is always so much fun to talk to you. I'm so thankful that you had time for us to share what you've been doing and where you're going next. I'm super, super excited for your future because I know it's going to be an absolute rockstar future. So, Jackie, thank you. All of the other things that I just said before, thank you so much. I really, really appreciate your time and we'll talk to you soon.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Thank you guys for having me. It was great to be on again.

[Mindy Jensen]

Scott, that was Jackie Mitchell and that was so much fun. I loved hearing about her side hustles when she was halfway through. And I really, really think that side hustling, especially when you're younger, can just be the difference between being in debt forever and paying off that debt, saving up your. Your emergency fund and even saving for a house. I am so happy that she came on the show today. What did you think of the episode?

[Scott Trench]

I thought, I think she. She's fantastic. You know, I think, I think that the headline is the side hustles. Right? As it should be. That's a really Cool experiment that she did that's going to inspire and help a lot of people. But the story is really one of all of the basic foundational principles that we talk about all day long here on BiggerPockets Money. And at this stage in a career, with her career and what they're doing, expense control is the number one thing that's going to make a difference in terms of how much wealth they're going to accumulate. It's not how they invest businesses or other things there. It's just, is there enough of a gap between income and expenses and is that being accumulated rather than blown? And they have such tight control with a very reasonable home purchase, with their food budget, $80 a week is absurdly good. And then their transportation with the paid off cars from childhood that they're, they're just going to be able to save an enormous percentage of that income. And that's only going to make the game super easy for them. At 35 with a paid off house, even if, you know, in a future state, there are kids in the picture around there, their intent to have one parent stay at home and the ability to control expenses on the food side is going to, is going to give them such flexibility for their entire life that it's just going to be a wonderful, wonderful set of options that they're never gonna have to compromise with her and her husband. So what a fantastic story. I love it. You know that if, if she wanted, fire would be well, well within reach in the next seven to 10 years as well, with the store, with this situation given and how things could compound. But she'll fire anyways one way or another in the next 10 to 15 years. So I loved it. I think it's an inspiring story and I think there's a ton to learn.

[Jackie Mitchell]

Well.

[Mindy Jensen]

And I just like the intentionality that she and her husband are living their life through. And they don't. And their mindset, they don't seem like this is a hardship. They don't feel like they're giving things up. They like cooking at home. They see how much they're saving versus their friends who aren't cooking at home. At every meal, they're seeing how much more they can put towards their mortgage with these little side hustles that she actually enjoys. I've done focus groups. I think they're a lot of fun. I haven't done them in, you know, several years, but I think a focus group is a super fun time for, you know, an evening you're talking to people that you don't know you're talking about products that you may or may not like. It's just, just, it's an interesting way to make a couple of hundred bucks really quickly. And she's, you know, she's enjoying things. She's not doing things that she doesn't want to do, or she's trying it out and saying, yeah, that's going into the no pile. But she's just having a really great time doing what she, what she wants to be doing while earning extra income that she's then putting towards her house. So to quote Dave Ramsey, live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later. I absolutely agree with your assessment, Scott, that fire is going to come for her. Even if she chooses not to retire early. She's definitely going to be financially independent.

[Scott Trench]

And Dave Ramsey is a key word there. If some, if someone wants to replicate some of her success, they should follow Jackie. But also Dave Ramsey, like, this is classic Dave Ramsey playbook, and it works. It's really, it's a really powerful system. I'd argue you can build more wealth a little faster with different plays layering in some of the real estate. But this is so certain of a path to success or, you know, among this high probability is paths you're ever going to find.

[Mindy Jensen]

All right, Scott, should we get out of here?

[Scott Trench]

Let's do it.

[Mindy Jensen]

That wraps up this episode of the Bigger Pockets Money podcast. He is Scott Trench. I am Mindy Jensen saying Happy 2025, and also cheerio. Followed Snow.