Author Topic: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans  (Read 5241 times)

diggingout

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Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« on: June 12, 2017, 05:27:32 PM »
Well, I made a journal around the beginning of last year.  I originally wanted to accomplish the goal of paying down as much as I could within a year, but my now husband and I got engaged 9 days after I made that journal post.  Suffice it to say, the wedding ate up a bit of my funds (and set me four months back from my year-end goal), so I made the new goal to pay down as much as I could before we got married since he was coming into our marriage completely debt free!

On January 20, 2016, I was $62,300.44 in debt (including a bit of credit card debt: $5,450-ish).  I believe I had close to 57k in student loan debt alone.

As of May 1, 2017 (our wedding was May 20, 2017), I was down to $15,000 in student loan debt (no other debt).  I know I still have a ways to go, but man, it still kind of feels like winning the lottery after paying down $47,300 un under 14 months...and managing to pay for a wedding and honeymoon on top of all of that.

Note: I am not a high earner...I just started a new job making $65k...I was making $55k prior to April 2017.  I also only had ~$12,845 saved prior to making this "goal."

All I have left to say is, "hooray"!!  I am so glad I found this community :) 

SwordGuy

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2017, 06:34:48 PM »
Bravo!  (On the savings and the new hubby!)

Keep up this pace for a few years and you and your hubby will be set for life.   Awesome!

cytvta

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2017, 09:38:13 AM »
Congrats, my story was very similar. You are doing a great job, and you won't even miss the amounts you are putting on your loans, so it will be easy to switch to savings once the loans are paid off.

Congrats on the engagement as well.

Kapiira

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2017, 10:06:25 AM »
Nice work!

FamilyGuy

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2017, 11:55:28 AM »
This is an achievement!

economist

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2017, 01:47:23 PM »
Awesome! It feels so good to see those balances go down or completely eliminate individual loans. My first 1-1.5 years out of college I was focusing everything on taking out as much of my student debt as possible. It's definitely a relief when you can get it down to a level that feels manageable. 

Sarah Saverdink

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2017, 01:49:40 PM »
Great work!! Keep it up!

SingleMomDebt

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2017, 09:24:56 AM »
SLs are such pesky critters. Congrats on really focusing your funds towards paying it down!

jed2009

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2017, 12:43:11 PM »
AWESOME!  I am happy for you.  43 grand in just over a year?  That is incredible.  The next 15 will be quick, and then thing where that extra ~40k a year can go!  I am in the same boat but with smaller SL balances.  Slowly but surely!

Closer2theSKY

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2017, 06:52:54 AM »
Great job!!!  So happy for you!! And congrats on your recent marriage.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2017, 07:11:38 AM »
That is incredible debt reduction. Congratulations! Are you investing for retirement too or are you focusing solely on paying off the student loans until they are gone first?

diggingout

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2017, 02:50:00 PM »
That is incredible debt reduction. Congratulations! Are you investing for retirement too or are you focusing solely on paying off the student loans until they are gone first?

Thank you!  I only started investing this year.  I made some foolish mistakes in my 20s, so really focusing on building the stash in my 30s.  Unfortunately, I'm only contributing 6% to get the 6% match my company offers while we save for a house and rebuild our emergency fund.  It's always something! 

diggingout

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #12 on: August 10, 2017, 02:51:25 PM »
Awesome! It feels so good to see those balances go down or completely eliminate individual loans. My first 1-1.5 years out of college I was focusing everything on taking out as much of my student debt as possible. It's definitely a relief when you can get it down to a level that feels manageable.

I wish I made enough to even make that a focus when I got out of college.  But a relief is a relief no matter the time it occurs.  Thank you for the kind words!

MsMonopolyDog

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2017, 12:19:37 PM »
Well, I made a journal around the beginning of last year.  I originally wanted to accomplish the goal of paying down as much as I could within a year, but my now husband and I got engaged 9 days after I made that journal post.  Suffice it to say, the wedding ate up a bit of my funds (and set me four months back from my year-end goal), so I made the new goal to pay down as much as I could before we got married since he was coming into our marriage completely debt freee

I have 55K in student loans right now and am losing my mind! My plan is to refinance with SoFi; what else do you suggest??

nouveauRiche

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2017, 01:28:00 PM »
Well, I made a journal around the beginning of last year.  I originally wanted to accomplish the goal of paying down as much as I could within a year, but my now husband and I got engaged 9 days after I made that journal post.  Suffice it to say, the wedding ate up a bit of my funds (and set me four months back from my year-end goal), so I made the new goal to pay down as much as I could before we got married since he was coming into our marriage completely debt freee

I have 55K in student loans right now and am losing my mind! My plan is to refinance with SoFi; what else do you suggest??

Debt snowball.

diggingout

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2017, 01:28:23 PM »
Well, I made a journal around the beginning of last year.  I originally wanted to accomplish the goal of paying down as much as I could within a year, but my now husband and I got engaged 9 days after I made that journal post.  Suffice it to say, the wedding ate up a bit of my funds (and set me four months back from my year-end goal), so I made the new goal to pay down as much as I could before we got married since he was coming into our marriage completely debt freee

I have 55K in student loans right now and am losing my mind! My plan is to refinance with SoFi; what else do you suggest??

Debt snowball.

Agreed with the debt snowball and refinancing should help in the long term.  Honestly, I know it's highly unconventional for someone my age, but at 29 (now 30) we moved in with my fiance's mom.  We were paying $20k per year just to rent with utilities and saw it as a huge waste of money since we had a wedding to pay for and my student loans to diminish significantly.  I was lucky my job paid me overtime, so I increased my income by working overtime for that entire 14 month period.  I highly considered getting a second part-time job to bring in extra income, but didn't end up finding the time to do so.  Obviously, I didn't buy much of anything besides necessities during this time period.  I hope this helps & best of luck!

highplainsdrifter

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #16 on: August 19, 2017, 07:03:56 PM »
Wow congratulations on banging out the student debt! Very impressive pay down rate. I hope to have mine paid off by February. F**k you student loans!

FIREby35

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #17 on: August 20, 2017, 07:37:14 AM »
Well, I made a journal around the beginning of last year.  I originally wanted to accomplish the goal of paying down as much as I could within a year, but my now husband and I got engaged 9 days after I made that journal post.  Suffice it to say, the wedding ate up a bit of my funds (and set me four months back from my year-end goal), so I made the new goal to pay down as much as I could before we got married since he was coming into our marriage completely debt freee

I have 55K in student loans right now and am losing my mind! My plan is to refinance with SoFi; what else do you suggest??

Debt snowball.

Agreed with the debt snowball and refinancing should help in the long term.  Honestly, I know it's highly unconventional for someone my age, but at 29 (now 30) we moved in with my fiance's mom.  We were paying $20k per year just to rent with utilities and saw it as a huge waste of money since we had a wedding to pay for and my student loans to diminish significantly.  I was lucky my job paid me overtime, so I increased my income by working overtime for that entire 14 month period.  I highly considered getting a second part-time job to bring in extra income, but didn't end up finding the time to do so.  Obviously, I didn't buy much of anything besides necessities during this time period.  I hope this helps & best of luck!

It's not unconventional. Everyone who earns/saves a fortune or pays off all debt has to do SOMETHING that seems a little radical. I commend you for doing it :)

vatacvalves

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Re: Paid down a huge chunk of my student loans
« Reply #18 on: September 01, 2017, 03:05:05 AM »
You did a great job