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The reason you and I have put off paying student loans forever is that we don't have a plan; we don't want to make a plan and we keep putting it off. Once I make so 50k+. Once I own a house. Once I get a car. Once I lose weight. Once I date; once I'm single. Once I stop drinking. Just all these same excuses when we were supposed to reach our other goals. Right, no looks forward to paying bills, especially for something that we can't taste, smell, see, hear or touch. Well, you have two choices. 1) Continue to pay your monthly minimum while the interests add to your balance and continuously work to pay it. or 2) pay it off, and that's what I've chosen.
We don't want to pay it because we think we have to save up to $30k and then give it all away. But we don't have to. All we have to do is break it down. Once I realized that I decided to create an excel chart of how much I should pay. Full disclosure, I don't have kids and a mortgage to pay; I actually work 30 hrs/week and pay $450+ for rent; I might do a video of my monthly bills. Your situation shouldn't interfere with paying off your student loans if that's your goal. Even if I did, I would adjust the numbers to balance family finances and paying off student loans.
These are the steps I'm doing:
1. Must pay the minimum balance, in order to apply an overpayment directly to a specific loan.
2. List loans from highest interest to lowest for snowballing or highest amount to lowest amount.
2A. PICK ONE AMOUNT TO OVERPAY until it's paid off and then you move on to the next. You have to make the effort to specify which loan you're paying, whether it's online, mailing, or over the phone. You can't just pay your minimum of $100 and think when you spend $200 it'll go toward the lowest interest; it gets applied to all the loans if it's not specified.
GIVE YOURSELF CHALLENGES
3. 52-week challenge starting at $250 and drop $5 each week, or whichever amount fits you. It can be as low as $1, then $2, then $3 each week.
2. Do an additional payment daily. I did $20/day and $100 on Friday. The reason I decided to do this on top was that I spent over $20 unconsciously 90% of the day. So I decided that I was going to be conscious paying $20 toward my student loans.
If this feels like a huge chunk of money and out of reach to pay, it can be done if you adjust the overpayment amounts accordingly to your comfort level. Maybe do $10/day = $3650, $20/day = $7300, $50/day = $18,250 more than enough. Let's say your loan is $30k and you want to pay it off in 5 years, that's (5*365) 1825 days = $16.43/day. If you just pay $16 a day, you can pay off your 30k student loan in just 5 years.
It doesn't have to be daily or weekly goals either. It can be like
- the bonus I get from work
- 10% of my paycheck
- $$ from reselling
- Money you were going to go on a trip with, but cancel it to pay your loans
I know $20 or $50 is a lot to pay daily as a single person, but if you can do $5 ($1,825) or $10 ($3650) a day, it will make a dent in your student loans. The reason why your loans aren't paid off is simply because you don't want to deal with them. The longer you ignore them, the higher your balance is only going, and there is no limit on that. How do you make that extra daily money? Side hustle; buy a $20 item from Wal Mart and resell it for $40; sell whatever you can. Shovel the snow. Mow the lawn. Grab a camera and do $50 sessions. Get another job; delivery drivers always needed. Loan your car. Rent a room.
I'll leave you with a few quote that motivated me to pay my student loans
1) It always seems impossible until it is done
2) Whether you can or you can't, you're right
3) Believe in yourself and you're halfway there
I hope this video inspired you to make a plan to pay off your student loans, whether it's in 1 year or 10 years. Student loans are not going to go away...unless you become physically disable, maybe pass your 10 year mark with on time payments, or work for the public service field for 10 years. I just feel like student loans is a financial obstacle to move on to the next step part of my life; buying a home or being able to work part time and pursue what I want. I don't want to be dependent on money and let money control what's in my life, so I've made it my goal to go from 16k to 6k or even paying all of it off this year, 2018. Comment below how you plan to pay off your student loans, or how you paid off your student loans. If this video was helpful, give it a like. If you're not subscribed, please do so :D
---just more thoughts
It can't be put off anymore. I refuse to allow myself to have other dreams and goals until this is out of the way. It just has to go. I can't let this be a part of my future family and kids. I don't want to be a mother that's miserable and my family end up with my bad attitude because I have to work at a place I don't like to keep a roof over their head. I don't want student loans to be my motivation to work. I want to work because not only will I be great at it, but I love it. I don't want to live for the weekends. Life is just so short, and even if I don't do this family thing, as an individual, I want to wake up every day knowing I have the power over the things in my life.
If you're still in school and your loans aren't due yet, I highly recommend that you do $10 or $20 toward it while the interest is on hold. You'll feel better when you graduate without debt. I feel so much more behind in my timeline of life graduating with debt than no debt without a degree. Of course, I am grateful for my education experience and the piece of paper that verified I am "above average" when it comes to jobs, but I feel so robbed and conned. It's no one's fault at all, I just wish I understood the consequences of the loans when I accepted them.
So yea, it's "2018," lets get rid of debt!
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