Last month I finished paying $71k in Student Loans.
To me, that’s a tiny house. It’s a nice little startup fund. It’s about 18,000 cups of coffee. But - no regrets. I’ve also built a sweet career, met a lot of great people and saw a bunch of wild places. I’ve been brewing (Get it? Coffee. Brewing. Heh.) on this whole ‘debt’ thing for awhile, and am finally sharing some ideas with the world.
If any of these things help you or a loved one be debt-free faster, it was well worth my time.
Smart Things I Did
Crunched the DIGITS
I know this 1st idea is pretty boring and expected, I promise there’s some better ones coming.
Anyway - You don’t need a fancy service to lay out your income, expenses and projections. I used Google Sheets (LMK if you want a copy) to record payments and timeline projections to $0.00. Initially I’d check on it monthly, but as I got down to a $30k balance I started updating that baby every pay period.
Do you know what date/year you’ll pay off your debt if you contribute $1,000 per month vs. $1,250 per month? Do you track which loan Interest Rates fluctuate the most? I did, because that ballin’ sheet!
Talked it out, all the time
All the great people in my life, especially Paul (awww), got me through times when I was overwhelmed with my debt. Early on in repayment I felt like I was tossing money in a mysterious black hole, and I was never satisfied with how snail-slow my balance declined.
The greatest part about real-life adult conversations like ‘debt’ is that you’ll realize you’re not so behind.
Realized that minimum payments are an absolute joke
Yeah sure you can pay a few hundred a month, but you’ll be in the same place in a decade. The sooner you crush your debt the better, only lenders benefit from minimum monthly payments.
Tried Freelancing
After a few years of working in my field (Marketing) I realized I could really easily help new small businesses get started online. At first I worked with some friends, then start helping new clients. I tried a bunch of small projects, and every job taught me something new. It was like a Work + Education double-whammy. Highly recommend.
What’s great too - it’s really reassuring to know how to freelance in an ever-changing society. What if your job goes kaput!?
Listened to Dave Ramsey, what a gem.
This man is so cut & dry with financial advice, it’s refreshing. Watch a couple of his videos https://bit.ly/2YHnVbt, and I bet you binge his whole channel.
Lived with Parents
Since college I’ve lived with parents for a couple years. If you do some vague math, that’s ~$20K that I didn’t pay in rent - and was instead shot at my debt. I’m lucky to have really awesome parents, so home time really wasn’t lame.
Roomed with my Boyfriend
Half the rent, double the fun. Highly recommend if you have a stable relationship.
Stopped buying so many clothes
When I was fresh out of college, I lived it up in Chicago and looked the part. I tried all the fashionzzz and eventually had a walk-in closet I could barely walk into. I used shopping as an excuse to explore. Over time I donated, sold & gave away most of my clothes while keeping only the basic, quality items I really loved. Now when I shop (mostly online), I add items to my cart then wait a day or two and if I still want it I’ll buy it. Most of the time I’ll forget about it all together.
Didn’t buy the new hot phone, let alone a car
In 15 minutes you can save 15% or more by not buying new expensive shit.
I’ve never been one to care about new tech so this one was real easy. No phone payment means more $$ going towards your debt every month. No car payment means more $$ going towards… you get it. If you have a commute and need a dependable car, that’s a different story. I’ve worked remote & used public transit for years.
Made at-home cooking a priority
Make your own chicken sandwich. Ingredients can be cheap, ordering out is not.
On top of that - When you eat more fresh & simple, you’ll notice your body works better. A recent example I’ve found on this, BREAD. This year I started baking my own bread from scratch. Each bag of flour ($5) allows me to make at least 5-6 artesian style sourdough loaves - that’s $1 each for delicious fresh baked loaves with fermented starter that makes my gut happy. YES please.
Cancelled subscriptions
Screw Amazon. Screw Netflix. Cancel those random $1 app payments. All those charges add up, and it’s funny how after you get over the ‘now what do I do’ hump you’ll realize you never really needed it in the first place.
Not-So-Smart Things I did
I never consolidated
I was a total dum dum and never took this step. Throughout the lifespan of my loans, they got sold off to a couple different companies so for some reason I had it in my head that consolidation would be a hassle. Also, as I finally decided to consolidate my loans in this last year of repayment, the quoted Interest Rate was about even with the average of my collective loan rates (because I focused on the highest-rate loans first) so I just didn’t pull the trigger. If you’re early in your loan repayment though - do it! I’ve heard great things.
I invested (A lot) In my side business
I started a Coffee Roasting company as a passion project a few years ago (look what site you’re on, hah!), and it’s been a real money suck. I wouldn’t change a thing because I swear my heart is made of coffee, but it definitely detracted from my Student Loan repayment progress. Equipment, SO MUCH Coffee, Brew Gear, Filters, Boxes, Subscriptions, Labels, Cups,
I moved across the country, then back in the same year
Rookie mistake, but only kind of. As Paul and I moved out to the Pacific Northwest we road tripped our little hearts out, and really had the greatest time of our lives (so far). Throughout everything we could have saved around $8K if we didn’t make the move - but all in all I’m cooler person because of it so it was a solid investment if ya ask me.
On top of moving, I traveled ALl the time
Europe a few times, Mexico, South Korea among so many spur-of-the-moment road trips - This all added up to a wild total I’ll never ever calculate. But, traveling gave me so many different experiences. I’ve felt deep, scary culture shock. I’ve climbed a mountain barefoot in knee deep mud and horse shit with a smile on my face. I’ve perfected my camp setup. And I WON’T STOP. Just try and fight me on this.
I took on too much Student Loan debt in the first place
I attended a community college one year, and a University for my last three - and paid/borrowed my own way through. Community was cheap as hell, and I worked a lot but was most definitely depressed with serious FOMO. The last three years were the opposite. I took out loans to cover school, housing and my lifestyle so I could “focus on school”. Hindsight I should have just got some throwaway job right when I got to University to cover rent and living expenses. Maybe if I did my GPA wouldn’t have been as great and I would have had less free time, but NOBODY cares about your GPA after your first job and free time just means you party more.