Welcome to All of Our New Readers at Surviving a Teacher’s Salary!

Welcome to all of our new readers here at Surviving a Teacher’s Salary!! I am SO incredibly excited to see the growth we have had this past year and I really appreciate the support of those who have been readers for the past several years – we have really grown a lot! I have an “About Me” section at the top of the page that you can read for general information about me and my family but I really wanted to post a more personal WELCOME since we’ve had such tremendous growth the past few months.

My name is Crystal, and I started this site 3 1/2 years ago simply to have a place for the teachers at my husband’s school to go and find local deals on clearance. He was a public school teacher in central Florida for 7 years at a Title 1 school- lots of stress, little pay, purchasing supplies for 20+ students, transient students throughout the year….many times that didn’t speak English. He’s “been there done that”. Because of some autistic issues that my oldest son was having I stayed home and tried to help him through therapy and make ends meet in any way that I could for our family – and at the time it was by shopping every single week at the clearance sections of every place in town that I could find to scour for the best deals on school supplies and items he needed for his classroom in addition to watching other kids at my home. Every month was a struggle to keep up with bills, insurance, and just life in general. The teachers at his school quickly began to realize how little money he was spending on supplies compared to what they were and began hounding me begging me for clearance advice locally. I thought it would be easier for me to just post it on this site….long before I realized the opportunity I had to turn this URL into something more!

Soon I began to get google search traffic for things like “can I survive on a teacher’s salary?” or “is it possible to survive on a teacher’s salary”  and I quickly realized that I could help a LOT more than just a few teachers locally. I didn’t even know what a blog was back then and I started slow but I built a strong foundation blogging and sharing how our family was surviving on my husband’s teacher’s salary as well as other educational ideas and resources that have benefited my family. I have such a strong passion for educating our children about life and responsibility as well as building a strong family relationship. Whether it’s creating crafts with popsicle sticks, walking in the backyard, or buying holiday gifts you can create everything into a learning opportunity.

Last year our family needed a very serious change if we were going to keep functioning together and surviving life so my husband completed his master’s degree and we moved to the tiniest town I’d ever set foot in in Iowa so that he could become a principal in a small private farming community school. That drastic change was the best decision ever. The pay is even less than he made as a public school teacher, even though he is now a principal, but we are SO happy – money isn’t everything. 

My site has an obvious educational undertone in that the majority of the deals, reviews, and crafts that I post can be versatile and used in both the classroom or at home, but it covers life and everything we do to make it happen. Whether it’s entering contests to help your school raise money, crafts with your kids, inexpensive get together ideas with friends, money saving deals, fun and affordable travel ideas, or anything else along the way – there is really something for everyone. The first 2 years I started this site I did not make a penny, and although it has now provided a supplemental income for my family, I’ve always created this site and content for it for my readers. Whether you’re a superintendent at a school district, a stay at home mom, a grandparent, or have a career completely unrelated to education – WELCOME! EXPLORE! LEARN! SHARE!

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