Student Loans: The Great Payback

If you have ever met me, or have read back any amount of posts, you will know that I am obsessed with money and my student loans.  Well I am glad to finally tell you that the day has finally arrived, my students loans are paid off.

Can we just take a minute here.  I mean really.

You can bet I ate a huge cupcake for dinner after that.  And then dinner.  And then a dairy free soy based ice cream.

So for anyone who may also be struggling under the weight of bad decisions when you were 19, here is a quick breakdown of how I paid off my student loans 6 years early.

First being a VISTA helped- tremendously.  I don't make a lot of money monthly, but at the end of my service I will be awarded an additional Education Award.  That's $5,500 towards my student loans. So technically I still have a balance of $5,500 in my Sallie Mae account, but it's been deferred with no interest on my part. Then when my service is officially over, that extra check will be mailed in my name straight to Sallie Mae.  I make less each month sure, but that money would have been going towards my student loans anyway, so it all works out in the end.

Me in my VISTA getup

Second, three years ago I opened a savings account with paying back my loans specifically in mind.  Every time I had extra cash, or thought I had extra cash (I'll get to that in a second) I put it in that savings account.  Then each month, or every couple of months I would make additional payments to my loans out of this savings account.  These payments never replaced a regularly scheduled payment, they were additional payments.   Sometimes I would wait until I had a huge chunk of change and make one big payment, but sometimes little bits would turn into bigger bits really fast and I would make as many as 6 extra payments a month if I took on odd jobs or something.

Third, I got into the habit of spending money on myself.  When I had money burning a hole in my pocket or I got the hankering to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, I would ask myself how much I was willing to spend on that item.  Would I feel comfortable spending $200 at Target right now?  Then that meant that I had too much money in my bank account and I would transfer that money into my savings.  Sure it sucked sometimes, but reality checks like that really helped turn my head around and got me to refocus my attention.

Finally, when the going got tough, I got a little crazy.  There for a few months, before I started as a VISTA, I had a goal of putting $1,000 a month towards my debt, and I got a little crazy.  I took on odd jobs, I had two yard sales, baby sat, baked, anything I could think of.  The purging helped me really look at what I was spending my money on, and the selling really helped me reach those goals.  Sometimes you just gotta dig deep and find the motivation to keep going, and if you dig up some cool stuff while you're at it, all the better.

Was it easy?  Nope.  I am very fortunate to have a wonderful husband who took on most of our financial responsibilities while I focused on my debt, and not everyone has that chance.  But slowly, very slowly, I was able to hack away at it.  And now, 4 years and a few months after I graduated with my degree I'll probably never use, I can finally say it's all over.

And now it may be time for a second cupcake...

Trying to Stay Motivated

I am half way through my second month of our debt pay off scheme and I'm still about $400 shy of this month's $1,000 goal.  It has taken a lot of work and effort and sewing to get this far and right now, I'm feeling really really far away from where I want to be.  We have planned another yard sale (the first one was average, but I was a little disappointed) and I don't know how well are booth is doing at the Antiques Depot, but I know that neither of those avenues will bring in the cash I need to make the kind of payment I want to make this month.

I am trying to stay motivated and grateful.  I am looking at all of the money we are saving this month and looking for ways to make next month better already.  But at the same time, I'm a little tired and I could really use some ice cream.

Until the final numbers roll in this month I'm going to keep looking at this poster found on And Then We Saved.  The next 6 months are going to be hard, but we are both looking forward to celebrating our success.

I am trying to just keep my head down and keep going.  Paying off debt, it turns out, is a lot like running.  At some point, you're going to find your threshold, or things won't go exactly as you plan, but you just have to keep going.

What are you doing that you could use a little motivation for?

One Payment Down

Well the first month of our "Oh My Heavens We Are Going To Get Out of Student Loan Debt If It Kills Us Both" is officially over.  And I am so so so proud and excited to say that we have accomplished our first goal.

This month we put a total of $1,347.16 towards our debt- that officially puts us at our new debt total of $8,372.31 .  Y'all, I am not going to say it was easy.  Seeing that much money move out of the bank account and into the great abyss that is my student loan debt was pretty horrifying.  But we are only one month in and that means plenty of practice while we keep chugging along these next 8 months.  I am already 1/3 of the way to our next months goal and we still have 26 more days to go!  So let's talk a little bit about how things are going shall we?

I gotta be honest, I really think things are going really, really well.

My super strict grocery budget has made for some last minute Pinterest menus lately (What does one DO with 4 eggs, a little broccoli and 3 lbs of asparagus we forgot to broil for Easter??)  but I am still right on target and saving big bucks.  Going veg 4 nights a week has developed into 5 and that is saving tons of cash too.

I have spent a few afternoons (during my afternoon tea break) rummaging through a few more long forgotten boxes and unused parts of the house and I am still finding things to sell at our antiques booth or via Craigslist.  I have got to say, I love the openness of the house now.  There is something to gratifying about being able to actually use the things that I love and have collected over the years.

And as for the big picture of seeing that number shrink by over $1,000?  That is completely worth any number of unbought ice creams or yards of fabric.

Setting Debt Goals

At the beginning of this year, Marco and I set a few goals for ourselves.  You know, regular stuff like, "be healthier" and "participate more intentionally."  This has led to a few guidelines in our home that we have been working on over the last few months.  The guidelines are not rules- they're more like guidelines, but their purpose is to help us achieve our goals.  For instance, "be healthier" means move more; eat more slow foods; listen and take control over your body.

Well one of the guidelines for "participate more intentionally" is to pay off my debt- which I shared on Monday.  *I know, I know, will she ever stop talking about her debt?!  Not until it is gone.*

But what I want to share today, are a few of my (our) guidelines for how we are going to get there.  Honestly, right now I am only thinking about my personal student loan debt, but I can see this becoming fairly addictive (mortgage debt?!).  So these are a few things I do to make sure this is a positive experience that still leaves plenty of time (and money) for playing.

Guideline #1:  Set A Debt Spending Goal.  Each month, I am trying to put $1,000 towards my debt.  Oh yeah, it's serious.  This means that sometimes I have to get a little creative in my endeavors  and sometimes I make a few sacrifices  but it really helps me see a smaller, more achievable goal than just the grand total looming over me.  I picked $1,000 because it is roughly 3 times my minimum payment and it is large enough for me to push myself each month, but small enough to actually be achievable.  If you are planning your own debt free plan, you may want to pick a different number, but $1,000 is perfect for me.

Since I am not making tons of cash yet with Oxford Handmade, meeting my $1,000 goal pushes me to promote myself more (you can check out upcoming classes here), sell more, and produce more (to promote and sell).  This also means that I am going to host a sample sale in a few weeks- cleaning out samples/seconds will free up some closet space and make a little cash to help me with my goal next month.

Guideline #2:  "Found" Cast Goes Straight to the Debt.  My income tax return?  Straight to the debt.  A refund for a service I never received?  Straight to the debt.  Stuff that I find in my house that we no longer want/need that I can sell on Craigslist or via a Facebook Resale page?  Straight to debt.  This month alone I have "found" over $200 in stuff to sell on line or at my booth at the Antiques Depot.  Again, easy money and spring cleaning all rolled into one.

Guideline #3:  Trim the Fat.  I decided several months ago that there were areas that I was willing to cut back on in order to have more money for my debt.  One of them being new clothes- this was easy since my friends and I have clothing swaps about once a month and I really like my clothes anyway.  But another area was groceries.  Y'all know I like a challenge right?  So I made the personal goal of only spending $100 a month on groceries.  I have been following www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com for several months now, and you know, so far so good for us.  I know that we have a little extra lenience if necessary, but my goal has been $100.  There has only been once when I went over- and that was because our favorite salsa was on sale... The extra money that is left over from the grocery budget goes straight back to my debt.  So I have incentive (other than personal stubbornness) and a built in safety to help meet my $1,000 a month.


And finally Guideline #4:  Have an End Date.  My goal is to pay off all $9.000+ of my student loan debt by December 31st.  That means roughly 9 months of payments (I am counting March in those months).  With a goal of $1,000 a month I should just be able to make it.  Does the acid in my stomach boil as I worry about whether or not I will be able to make it?  Yep.  But I am bound and determined.  And once January 1st rolls around, that will be an extra $1,00 a month in our pockets!


Is anyone else trying to tackle a demon like debt this month?  I am all sweaty just thinking about it, but I know I will feel so much better this time next year.

Getting Real Real

I find that sometimes, in the blogiphere, people forget that real life happens to real people.  Yes, a very large part of my life right now is growing vegetables, sewing children's clothes and cooking new (to me) foods, but there are other parts as well.  In an attempt to become "more" in my blog voice, more realistic, more honest, more open, I am going to start talking about a few things that are also very real to me every day.  The first is debt.  Come along won't you?


If you have ever spoken to me for longer than 4 minutes, you know that I have student loans from my time at University.  It was stupid- I didn't even need them, but I felt, at the time, like I would be guaranteed a job after I graduated and I could just pay them back.  Plus I'd have real live credit!  And a credit score!  At 20 years old I thought this was a win-win-win situation.

Now those student loans haunt my sleep.

It's not even "a lot" of money, $9,686.42 to be exact.  This amount is broken down into several smaller, individual loans that I have been paying more than the minimum on for the last 18 months.  Now it is time to get serious.

I cannot think about these loans any more.  I am determined to get myself, and my family out of debt while simultaneously trying to build my small business.  I took a huge pay cut (ahem, like 99%) when I chose to leave my job at the public library, but I am still able to pay on my debt each month.  Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who provides for our family and is so wonderfully patient and understanding as we learn these lessons together, but the debt I pay comes directly from me each month.

So far I have been able to make enough cash each month by selling my dresses in my Etsy shop, taking on "remake" or alteration clients, selling items I find or no longer use at our booth at the Antiques Depot here in town and by doing the odd babysitting job or custom sewing.

Plus, any and all extra money I come into each month going directly to my debt as well.  In fact, I am about to pay off $1,200 of my debt in just a few minutes- the entire amount of my tax return, directly to my debt.

Why am I suddenly confessing all of this??  Maybe because I've been closely reading several money based blogs lately- CarefulCents.com, MoneyVsDebt.com, AndThenWeSaved.com are my current favorites- but also because I realize that several of my (our) life decisions are based upon the way we spend money and the way we want to spend money.

Marco and I are not going to be able to make it to Italy in June this year because we are choosing instead to finish a few projects on the house.  We have not been having date night dinners out because we are choosing to put more money into our savings.  I have not bought some things because I am choosing instead to dig myself out of debt.

It is all a matter of perspective and preference.  I prefer to make sacrifices now, so that I know later, we will have the freedom to "live a little."  There is nothing wrong with the way we live now- it is merely our current choice and we still drink plenty of wine and have wonderful adventures together.  But I say all of this to help shed some light on a few new topics that I will be bringing up over the next few months.  This will be my own Debt Pay Off Year and I thought I would share some of that journey here.  The decisions to buy/not buy/DIY are where many of our ideas for our home/garden/lifestyle come from, so I think the beginnings are equally as important as the endings.

I say all of this with the hope that you will come along and encourage.  Maybe you will find your own debt and be inspired to pay it off as well.  Here's to the next 9 months of debt down payment.