Mom Overwhelmed with $30K in Debt Finds Creative Side Hustle That Helps Her Dig Out of Hole (Exclusive)

Alea Hunt, 27, Tennessee-based wedding photographer and furniture flipper, talks with PEOPLE about her debt payoff journey

NEED TO KNOW

• Alea Hunt used her thrifting hobby to create a side hustle and pay off $30,000 in debt
• She has since gained nearly 15,000 followers by sharing her journey and inspiring others with her debt payoff strategies
• Hunt emphasizes staging and presentation as key to selling thrifted items successfully online

When Alea Hunt looked at her credit card debt, the amount felt almost impossible to tackle.

The 27-year-old mom of two from Franklin, Tenn. — who works in wedding photography alongside her husband — says she and her family had been more than $30,000 in debt for years.

“We had like $30,000 worth of debt just kind of sitting [there] not moving at all for a couple of years and that number felt so paralyzing,” Hunt tells PEOPLE exclusively. 

She says the debt felt especially heavy given her age and the goals she and her husband had for their family.

“I know it’s very common for people to have a lot of debt, but for us — being 27 and [when considering] our goals in life — it felt embarrassing,” she says.

“Like it’s too big of a number for me to even chip away at. I was like, ‘There’s no point. We’ll just do minimum payments.’”

But in January, Hunt decided she wanted her finances to look different in 2026, which is where her thrifting hobby came into play.

Hunt says she started getting into thrifting the previous summer after moving into a new home and trying to fill the space — pieces of furniture quickly became her favorite category.

“I just started seeing like all these items that I loved [and it was] killing me to leave them at the store,” she says.

“I just loved these pieces, and I realized that I really had an eye for it and it just became a passion of mine — it was like going on these like treasure hunts.”

Then, while scrolling through Instagram, Hunt came across a video from a woman who said she was making hundreds of dollars a week by thrifting, and since Hunt was already visiting thrift stores multiple times a week, the idea clicked.

After looking into the woman’s account and purchasing her thrifting guide, Hunt decided to give it a shot.

“Within the first like 24 to 48 hours, I had made $250 already,” she says.

From there, she gave herself one rule: every dollar she made from reselling would go toward the debt. 

Hunt began keeping a log in her notes app, tracking what she bought each week, how much each piece sold for and how much profit she made. But after doing it for about two months, she decided to start sharing her journey online.

She eventually began posting weekly videos breaking down what she bought, what sold and how much profit she made.

The response from her followers surprised her as Hunt emphasizes how “thankful” she is to see them be “so inspired.”

Today, Hunt has garnered nearly 15,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, posting weekly videos that break down her thrifting process.

“It’s overwhelming the amount of messages I’ve gotten from people I don’t know that kind of flocked to my page saying ‘Thank you,’” she says.

“I’ve been praying for a way to do this, like to pay off my debt or just a way to feel inspired.”

As her hustle grew, Hunt says her relationship with money began to change. For her, the goal was never about stripping her and her family’s life down to the bare minimum, but to create another income stream so she could aggressively pay off her accumulated debt.

“A lot of debt payoff strategies [seem like] you have to like to squeeze your life dry,” she continues, noting how she wanted to maintain as much of her family’s lifestyle as possible while still making serious progress.

“You have to start small,” she says. “Even if it’s ‘I’m gonna get two less coffees a week.’”

As for what makes her pieces sell, Hunt says presentation is everything, which is fitting given her background in photography, helping her understand how important visuals are when listing items online.

“The biggest thing is staging,” she says. “I see so many pieces on Facebook Marketplace that are still up and not selling because it’s just a random shot in a garage.”

Her advice to beginners is to help buyers imagine the piece in their own home. 

“For someone who’s just starting, staging [the piece] in your house — where it would be in someone else’s house — and like adding a flower, a plant [or] a candle, that’s the number one way.”

During her interview in May, Hunt said she was nearly halfway to her goal, having taken the original balance down from $30,300 to almost $15,000, but everything quickly changed a month later.

In June, the Tennessee-based wedding photographer updated PEOPLE, sharing that she has since paid off her debt in full, and hit 10,000 followers on Instagram the same day.

“I am on Cloud 9,” she says. “It feels incredible to have seen a goal through in my real life and to have inspired others while doing so in my online life, achieving a goal there as well!”

Read the full article here