Student Loan Challenge (2016 Edition)

[wintertell]

The husband's first paycheck at the new job overlapped his last check at the old job, so we had a ton of money to throw at this last loan. It's looking like we can get rid of it one check sooner than planned, especially if he keeps getting this much overtime.

Loan 1: $5242; Pay off goal: August 5, 2016

It seems like it's bad form on this thread to post more than once a month, but I'm trying to maintain my momentum, so I'm posting anyway. Today was payday, and we threw another $2000 at the loan!

Loan 1: $3263; Pay off goal: August 5, 2016

Don't worry Lanthiriel -- Over on my journal, I'm posted every payday this month since I'm hoping to pay off my mortgage by that Aug 5th date as well. I get so excited when it gets down this close!!!

Go you!

[Lanthiriel]

Don't worry Lanthiriel -- Over on my journal, I'm posted every payday this month since I'm hoping to pay off my mortgage by that Aug 5th date as well. I get so excited when it gets down this close!!!

Go you!

Thank you! I'm jealous of your almost mortgage-free status! We'll have to have a little Interwebs party on August 5.

[NV Teacher]

Keep up the great work everyone!  I joined a challenge a few years ago to kill my student loans and it was just what I needed to get them behind me.  I still get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I hear the words 'student loan' and know that mine are done.  One step at a time and you'll get there too!

[Lanthiriel]

I couldn't help myself. I killed the student loans today. Will have the emergency fund back up to its former glory in about a week and a half. It feels good :)

[wintertell]

I couldn't help myself. I killed the student loans today. Will have the emergency fund back up to its former glory in about a week and a half. It feels good :)

Congratulations Lanthiriel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am living vicariously through your success!

[ontheroaderic]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)
1/11/16: $47,557.16 (-2600)
2/7/16: $47,557.16 (-376.81)
3/7/16: $47,451.50 (-376.81)
4/7/16: $45,531.28 (-1941.73)
5/16/16: $$43,161.09  (-2600)
6/8/16: $40,746.42 (-2600)
7/8/16: $38,328.00 (-2600)

Love the the psychological victory of crossing into another 10K bracket - now in the 30s! One more payment and we’ll be past the half way point.

[ptgearguy]

June was a great month as I was able to save about 10 grand over the past few slow months. My daily interest rate is now down to 1.82 a day. Starting to get this beast down to a much more manageable chunk!

WOW!! Great progress! I'm a bit embarrassed that almost the same amount took me a good 3 years. When do you predict you'll be done?

Id like to be free in clear by November if possible :)

[ptgearguy]

June was a great month as I was able to save about 10 grand over the past few slow months. My daily interest rate is now down to 1.82 a day. Starting to get this beast down to a much more manageable chunk!

WOW!! Great progress! I'm a bit embarrassed that almost the same amount took me a good 3 years. When do you predict you'll be done?

Id like to be free in clear by November if possible :)

your progress is coming along nicely, keep up the good work sir!

[arpies]

I have officially slain mine! I actually did so two weeks ago, but forgot to post.

Everyone's doing awesomely at beating these debt beasts. Keep fighting the good fight!

[Archivist]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

[AlwaysLearningToSave]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

I understand the emotional appeal of killing the loans, but since they are at a very low interest please carefully consider not paying them off early.  You will be almost certainly be mathematically better off paying the minimum on the loan and investing the difference, especially if you still have room in your tax-advantaged savings accounts.  You will be better off both short term and long-term.  In the short term you are better off because you have a lower cash flow requirement and can build an adequate emergency fund, reducing the chances of needing to utilize higher-interest credit.  If you run into a financial hardship, you can put the loans into deferment (assuming they are federal loans) to reduce your cash flow needs even further.  Long term, your investment gains will probably be significantly greater than the interest you pay on the student loans. 

We did a similar thing with my wife's student loans-- we pushed hard to get rid of the 6.8% interest grad school loans and paid the minimum on her low-interest undergrad loans.  When we continue to pay the minimum on the low interest undergrad loans even though we have paid off the higher-interest graduate loans and do not intend to pay anything more than the minimum on the undergrad loans. 

[Archivist]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

I understand the emotional appeal of killing the loans, but since they are at a very low interest please carefully consider not paying them off early.  You will be almost certainly be mathematically better off paying the minimum on the loan and investing the difference, especially if you still have room in your tax-advantaged savings accounts.  You will be better off both short term and long-term.  In the short term you are better off because you have a lower cash flow requirement and can build an adequate emergency fund, reducing the chances of needing to utilize higher-interest credit.  If you run into a financial hardship, you can put the loans into deferment (assuming they are federal loans) to reduce your cash flow needs even further.  Long term, your investment gains will probably be significantly greater than the interest you pay on the student loans. 

We did a similar thing with my wife's student loans-- we pushed hard to get rid of the 6.8% interest grad school loans and paid the minimum on her low-interest undergrad loans.  When we continue to pay the minimum on the low interest undergrad loans even though we have paid off the higher-interest graduate loans and do not intend to pay anything more than the minimum on the undergrad loans.

I know the math works out better to invest the money and get higher returns than the interest working against us, but ultimately, getting rid of this debt makes me happier than earning a little bit more money. Plus, we already have a 6-month emergency fund built up and have no cash flow worries for the near future. Basically, in the last 3 years my financial situation has done a 180. I went from being single, in debt, and earning entry-level salary, to being married with both of us earning promotions in the last year. That's why I'm suddenly able to pay off debt where I hadn't been able to for years.

[ptgearguy]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

I understand the emotional appeal of killing the loans, but since they are at a very low interest please carefully consider not paying them off early.  You will be almost certainly be mathematically better off paying the minimum on the loan and investing the difference, especially if you still have room in your tax-advantaged savings accounts.  You will be better off both short term and long-term.  In the short term you are better off because you have a lower cash flow requirement and can build an adequate emergency fund, reducing the chances of needing to utilize higher-interest credit.  If you run into a financial hardship, you can put the loans into deferment (assuming they are federal loans) to reduce your cash flow needs even further.  Long term, your investment gains will probably be significantly greater than the interest you pay on the student loans. 

We did a similar thing with my wife's student loans-- we pushed hard to get rid of the 6.8% interest grad school loans and paid the minimum on her low-interest undergrad loans.  When we continue to pay the minimum on the low interest undergrad loans even though we have paid off the higher-interest graduate loans and do not intend to pay anything more than the minimum on the undergrad loans.

Humans by nature are not built for pure logic. If they were, debt and so many problems simply would not exist. The problem is that when people don't pay off debt they usually end up putting it to less desirable things. Theory is always really good and pure but rarely works as intended when put to practice. Just something to think about.

[Lanthiriel]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

I understand the emotional appeal of killing the loans, but since they are at a very low interest please carefully consider not paying them off early.  You will be almost certainly be mathematically better off paying the minimum on the loan and investing the difference, especially if you still have room in your tax-advantaged savings accounts.  You will be better off both short term and long-term.  In the short term you are better off because you have a lower cash flow requirement and can build an adequate emergency fund, reducing the chances of needing to utilize higher-interest credit.  If you run into a financial hardship, you can put the loans into deferment (assuming they are federal loans) to reduce your cash flow needs even further.  Long term, your investment gains will probably be significantly greater than the interest you pay on the student loans. 

We did a similar thing with my wife's student loans-- we pushed hard to get rid of the 6.8% interest grad school loans and paid the minimum on her low-interest undergrad loans.  When we continue to pay the minimum on the low interest undergrad loans even though we have paid off the higher-interest graduate loans and do not intend to pay anything more than the minimum on the undergrad loans.

I know the math works out better to invest the money and get higher returns than the interest working against us, but ultimately, getting rid of this debt makes me happier than earning a little bit more money. Plus, we already have a 6-month emergency fund built up and have no cash flow worries for the near future. Basically, in the last 3 years my financial situation has done a 180. I went from being single, in debt, and earning entry-level salary, to being married with both of us earning promotions in the last year. That's why I'm suddenly able to pay off debt where I hadn't been able to for years.

I think that the psychological win is going to be worth the minor financial loss. Good luck knocking out that last bit -- you're so close!

[AlwaysLearningToSave]

I'm joining this challenge half-way through the year. At the beginning of this year, I wasn't planning to pay off all my loans this year because it seemed too big and it would take so much away from other savings goals I had. But after I paid off one, it felt so good to eliminate it, that I went for another and another, and now I'm on track to finish the last one off by the end of the year!

Max total loans: $53,000 in 2013
Paid so far this year: $23,359
Left to go: $9,204

My debt was a combination of undergrad (which I've had since 2005) and graduate school (since 2012). The $25,000 from undergraduate school has barely had a dent made in it since 2005 until this year. I've also left it for last because it had a very low interest rate. Over the last few months as I've started paying this particular debt down, I have been surprised at how emotional it made me feel. I think that after 15 years, part of me believed this debt would always be hanging over me. Knowing that's it's being eliminated and never coming back is sort of shocking and really exciting.

I understand the emotional appeal of killing the loans, but since they are at a very low interest please carefully consider not paying them off early.  You will be almost certainly be mathematically better off paying the minimum on the loan and investing the difference, especially if you still have room in your tax-advantaged savings accounts.  You will be better off both short term and long-term.  In the short term you are better off because you have a lower cash flow requirement and can build an adequate emergency fund, reducing the chances of needing to utilize higher-interest credit.  If you run into a financial hardship, you can put the loans into deferment (assuming they are federal loans) to reduce your cash flow needs even further.  Long term, your investment gains will probably be significantly greater than the interest you pay on the student loans. 

We did a similar thing with my wife's student loans-- we pushed hard to get rid of the 6.8% interest grad school loans and paid the minimum on her low-interest undergrad loans.  When we continue to pay the minimum on the low interest undergrad loans even though we have paid off the higher-interest graduate loans and do not intend to pay anything more than the minimum on the undergrad loans.

I know the math works out better to invest the money and get higher returns than the interest working against us, but ultimately, getting rid of this debt makes me happier than earning a little bit more money. Plus, we already have a 6-month emergency fund built up and have no cash flow worries for the near future. Basically, in the last 3 years my financial situation has done a 180. I went from being single, in debt, and earning entry-level salary, to being married with both of us earning promotions in the last year. That's why I'm suddenly able to pay off debt where I hadn't been able to for years.

Fair enough.  Given your low number of posts I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the math so you can go in with eyes wide open.

[therethere]

As someone who is doing is the mathematically correct way, I wish I didn't. 10 years of extreme payoff and now I can't have a party and scream from the top of the rooftops that I AM DONE. Instead. I will pay the minimum payments for the next 9 years haunted even longer by the excessive amount of money I wasted on school. And for the immediate few years I have to just hope the market doesn't go down! I now check the market multiple times a day talk about crazy. For what? The potential to have 10-20k more dollars ten years from now? "Forced" savings?

Oh, and not be tempted to raid the loan payoff brokerage account for a round the world trip, sabbatical, downpayment, or whatever. Ahhh. Don't get me wrong it feels good to have a money cushion for the first time in my life. But it does make the payoff more like walking on eggshells rather than the huge victory and relief it should be! I mean this month with the market upswings we "technically" met the threshold where the brokerage account passed the loan balance. But we can have no celebration because if the market goes down 1% we are under again! Way to stressful and anticlimactic for the amount of sacrifice we've had. Now that I'm at the "end" I really wish I was actually just done. I'm completely over it!

I started this approach roughly 1/2014. Today we are ahead $2,523 versus paying down our loans. Flashback just four months ago on paper we "lost" $2,640 with this approach. Everyday I talk myself out of cashing out the account! But I feel I have to stay committed because its the "right" way.

That was a long way to say GO FOR IT AND PAYOFF THAT SUCKER who cares what the interest rate is!

[b-rad]

I'm in!  I'm a long-time lurker who decided to make this my first post.  Me and my SO decided to make my graduate school debt (our only debt) our primary goal this year.  Our combined net income for 2016 is projected at around $129k and we live in NYC.

As of 1/7/16 my loan total was= $132,297.15 @ 6.75%.  Ouch!

So far this year we have made the following payments:
1.  $218.40 (1/3/16)
2.  $20,000 (1/7/16) Cashed out all but $3K from our Savings Acct
3.  $62,500 (1/8/15) Cashed out our Vanguard Brokerage Acct
4.  $1,705  (1/13/16)
5.  $2,000 (1/25/16) 
6.  $218.40 (2/3/16)
7.  $3,985 (2/12/16) 

Student Loan Debt remaining: $41,670.35

We are planning to devote $6500/mo, a third paycheck in July, and any other savings we can manage toward this to be done by July or Aug 2016! 

Things we love and will continue: no cable, keeping utility bills crazy low, making most of our meals/drinks for the week at home, public transportation and walking almost everywhere, fewer things.
Things we miss: travel(!!!), non-work hobbies, free time.
Things we dislike: working two jobs (me), working an unfulfilling career (SO), having a roommate.
Plans for after: rebuilding savings, save for financial independence, save for bikes, frugal travel, reimagine work/careers.

*Figured it was time for an update.  We're making progress!  On track with scheduled payments and putting down extra when we're able. 

Student Loan Debt remaining: $29,304.42

**Made our final May payment today and down to $15,692.  Still on track for being done by the end of July!!!

***Paid off the remaining balance of my loans moments ago!  A big thanks to everyone posting here and throughout the forums, you are an inspiration and a daily motivator.  Keep fighting the good fight!  Words cannot describe how good it feels to be out from under debt!!!!  Now onto building a seriously cool 'stache...

[Lanthiriel]

WOW, b-rad! That's commitment. Congrats!

[marble_faun]

I made my last student loan payment about a week ago!  Soon after finding this web site, in fact.

I was fortunate to have started out with a low amount of loans (four figures).  I'd been chugging along with monthly payments for about a decade.  Occasionally dropping in larger sums. But last week I thought: "Today's the day I knock it out for good!'

It turned out that I only had a few hundred dollars left to pay.  BOOM! Gone.

I didn't celebrate or say anything publicly since so many of my friends are still drowning in student loan debt (including one who is more than $100,000 in the hole).

But it's such a relief not to be in debt for the first time in my adult life!

[ptgearguy]

Another new benchmark for July: Under 10K! I was able to put down a little over 4k for the month of July. If all goes well I estimate I will finish off the loan in the month of October :)

December 2015: 50200
January 2016: Start of Jan 47621; End of January at 42,185
Feb 2016: 36355.42  (5830 payed off principle)
Mar 2016: 26091.37
Apr 2016: 23014.68
May2016: 22888.13
June 2016: 12778.59
July 2016: 8612.85

[frugalfanny]

I'm in!

Loan balance as of December 2015: -$35,514

Goal for December 2016:  -$24,192

Feb Balance: -$33,682

At the current pace I have 33 months to go. Seems like forever!

August Balance: -$27,966
Threw in an extra $100 for total payment of $1,201.63 in August.
28 months to go.

[MinimalistMark]

I'm in!
Dec 2015: 20k
Aug 2016: 13k

Plan is to hit single digits by Dec, and hope to knock it all out next year!

[ontheroaderic]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)
1/11/16: $47,557.16 (-2600)
2/7/16: $47,557.16 (-376.81)
3/7/16: $47,451.50 (-376.81)
4/7/16: $45,531.28 (-1941.73)
5/16/16: $$43,161.09  (-2600)
6/8/16: $40,746.42 (-2600)
7/8/16: $38,328.00 (-2600)
8/10/16: $36,104.98 (-2600)

Past the half way point!

[minimos]

August Update ....

Loan1a - $60,511 @2.45%
Loan3 - $6,238 @2.35%
Loan5 - $34,119 @2.35%


Total: $100,868

That means next month we should finally see five figures!  How to celebrate a small milestone?  Do a little dance, then keep chugging :) 

[ptgearguy]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)
1/11/16: $47,557.16 (-2600)
2/7/16: $47,557.16 (-376.81)
3/7/16: $47,451.50 (-376.81)
4/7/16: $45,531.28 (-1941.73)
5/16/16: $$43,161.09  (-2600)
6/8/16: $40,746.42 (-2600)
7/8/16: $38,328.00 (-2600)
8/10/16: $36,104.98 (-2600)

Past the half way point!

Congrats!

[pharmmm]

Cash on hand: $62,513

Investments (roth/tsp/403b): $58,577

Mortgage: $276,784 (4.01%)
Monthly payment: $1,700

DW's loans:
$132,088 (6.55%)
$19,797 (2.5%)
$19,710 (2.38%)
$2,236 (2.08%)
$3,814 (2.07%)
Total: $177,645

My loans:
$31,326 (7.65%)
$25,500 (6.55%)
$122,924 (6.55%)
Total: $179,950
Note: through PSLF, my debt will be forgiven tax free after 8 more years (96 more payments) of ~1,000/month. This will fluctuate with my adjusted gross income and family size, but I do not anticipate any significant changes, at least while we're focusing on DW's loans. Only huge emergency would be if PSLF would be repealed or I'd lose my government/nonprofit position and couldn't get another one.

Net worth:
-$182,837

Total debt:
$634,379

Paid 2 big chunks (25k and 40k) on DW's big loan since last update:

Cash on hand: $42,424

Investments (roth/tsp/403b): $76,743

Mortgage: $274,532 (4.01%)
Monthly payment: $1,700

DW's loans:
$58,065 (6.55%)
$19,085 (2.5%)
$18,995 (2.38%)
$2,089 (2.08%)
$3,563 (2.07%)
Total: $101,797

My loans:
Total: $179,754 (will be forgiven tax free in 5/2024 after 100 more monthly payments of ~1k on PAYE/PSLF.)

Net worth:
-$118,647

Total debt:
$558,847

Spring update: another $20,000 down.

Cash on hand: $38,395

Investments (roth/tsp/403b): $93,389

Mortgage: $273,009 (4.01%)
Monthly payment: $1,747

DW's loans:
$37,187 (6.55%)
$18,892 (2.5%)
$18,801 (2.38%)
$2,026 (2.08%)
$3,455 (2.07%)
Total: $80,361

My loans:
Total: $179,754 (will be forgiven tax free in 5/2024 after 97 more monthly payments of ~1k on PAYE/PSLF.)

Net worth:
-$83,183

Total debt:
$540,545

Summer update: almost done with DW's high interest loan:16k left.

Cash on hand: $38,762

Investments (roth/tsp/403b): $109,595

Mortgage: $271,294 (4.01%)
Monthly payment: $1,747

DW's loans:
$16,274 (6.55%)
$18,368 (2.5%)
$18,460 (2.38%)
$1,962 (2.08%)
$3,346 (2.07%)
Total: $58,410

My loans:
Total: $179,754 (will be forgiven tax free in 5/2024 after 94 more monthly payments of ~1k on PAYE/PSLF.)

Net worth:
-$44,243

Total debt:
$512,077

[QueenAlice]

All my loans, except the Perkins loan, officially come out of deferment today :(

Loan	Rate	01/16	02/16	03/16	04/16	05/16	06/16	Current
Loan 1	1.72%	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18
Loan 2	6.8%	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$0	$0
Loan 3	6.8%	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00
Loan 4	5.6%	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00
Loan 5	6.8%	$1474.21	$1158.35	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 6	6.8%	$10452.30	$7444.83	$7485.15	$7498.36	$5041.39	$4667.37	$2693.51
Loan 7	6.8%	$2073.29	$2043.96	$1218.21	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 8*	5%	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00
Total		$33692.72	$30340.06	$28396.28	$27191.28	$24734.31	$22761.55	$20787.69

*Loans not currently accruing interest

Made my first official "minimum" payment today. I was able to knock out 4 of the 8 loans before repayment on my loans began. I think that is a win!

Loan	Rate	01/16	02/16	03/16	04/16	05/16	06/16	07/16	Current
Loan 1	1.72%	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2558.23
Loan 2	6.8%	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$0	$0	$0
Loan 3	6.8%	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5208.79
Loan 4	5.6%	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5213.10
Loan 5	6.8%	$1474.21	$1158.35	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 6	6.8%	$10452.30	$7444.83	$7485.15	$7498.36	$5041.39	$4667.37	$2693.51	$0
Loan 7	6.8%	$2073.29	$2043.96	$1218.21	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 8*	5%	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00
Total		$33692.72	$30340.06	$28396.28	$27191.28	$24734.31	$22761.55	$20787.69	$17980.12

*Loans not currently accruing interest

[boyerbt]

Date      Principal      Remaining Balance
1/1/2014      $80,522.05 Starting Balance
1/2/2014      $210.50       $80,311.55
1/5/2014      $256.68       $80,054.87
2/2/2014      $211.00       $79,843.87
2/5/2014      $257.59       $79,586.28
3/2/2014      $212.80       $79,373.48
3/5/2014      $265.87       $79,107.61
3/12/2014   $433.03       $78,674.58
4/2/2014      $213.40       $78,461.18
4/5/2014      $277.86       $78,183.32
4/14/2014   $898.99       $77,284.33
5/2/2014      $214.00       $77,070.33
5/5/2014      $288.61       $76,781.72
5/12/2014   $2,284.89    $74,496.83
6/2/2014      $215.74       $74,281.09
6/5/2014      $291.95       $73,989.14
6/9/2014      $739.52       $73,249.62
7/2/2014      $223.39       $73,026.23
7/5/2014      $294.84       $72,731.39
7/6/2014      $746.45       $71,984.94
8/2/2014      $217.43       $71,767.51
8/5/2014      $289.98       $71,477.53
8/6/2014      $1,160.51    $70,317.02
9/2/2014      $217.86       $70,099.16
9/5/2014      $296.28       $69,802.88
9/6/2014      $1,723.11       $68,079.77
10/2/2014   $225.44       $67,854.33
10/5/2014   $304.10       $67,550.23
10/6/2014   $1,197.90    $66,352.33
11/2/2014   $219.29       $66,133.04
11/5/2014   $306.86       $65,826.18
11/6/2014   $1,423.31    $64,402.87
12/2/2014   $226.84       $64,176.03
12/5/2014   $313.46       $63,862.57
12/7/2014   $1,263.49    $62,599.08
1/2/2015      $220.87       $62,378.21
1/5/2015      $318.45       $62,059.76
1/7/2015      $1,116.40       $60,943.36
2/2/2015      $221.83       $60,721.53
2/5/2015      $322.91       $60,398.62
2/7/2015      $1,149.61    $59,249.01
3/2/2015      $242.21       $59,006.80
3/5/2015      $327.62       $58,679.18
3/7/2015      $2,956.12    $55,723.06
3/11/2015   $1,325.79    $54,397.27
4/2/2015      $251.18       $54,146.09
4/10/2015   $1,433.78    $52,712.31
5/2/2015      $257.33       $52,454.98
5/10/2015   $1,344.95    $51,110.03
6/2/2015      $261.25       $50,848.78
6/4/2015      $1,458.92       $49,389.86
7/2/2015      $283.85       $49,106.01
7/5/2015      $1,843.54    $47,262.47
8/2/2015      $269.47       $46,993.00
8/5/2015      $1,598.77    $45,394.23
9/2/2015      $274.96       $45,119.27
9/7/2015      $1,588.43    $43,530.84
10/2/2015   $292.94       $43,237.90
10/7/2015   $2,189.60    $41,048.30
11/2/2015   $297.30       $40,751.00
11/7/2015   $1,895.90    $38,855.10
12/2/2015   $306.75       $38,548.35
12/7/2015   $1,753.03    $36,795.32
1/2/2016      $312.45       $36,482.87
1/7/2016      $2,582.51    $33,900.36
2/2/2016      $319.20       $33,581.16
2/7/2016      $1,910.95    $31,670.21
3/2/2016      $154.00       $31,516.21
3/7/2016      $6,000.21    $25,516.00
4/2/2016      $173.85       $25,342.15
4/8/2016      $3,307.45    $22,854.38
5/2/2016      $184.33       $22,670.05
5/8/2016      $3,295.00    $19,375.05
6/2/2016      $192.83       $19,182.   22
6/7/2016      $2,818.00    $16,364.22
7/2/2016      $201.03       $16,163.   19
7/7/2016      $3,130.00    $13,033.19
8/2/2016      $115.00       $12,918.19
8/7/2016      $10,000.00    $2,918.19

Jumping in right at the end here but only have one more month/payment and I am finished!

[therethere]

Desired Date Payoff Date: 5/21/2016 (10 years since graduation!)
53029.48  Loan Balance
38247.37  Payoff Account Contributions
14,782.11 Remaining.
14,482.11 Remaining -2150 1/11/2016
12,332.11 Remaining -800 1/21/2016 -395 Jan Payments
11,138.28 Remaining -2000 2/2/2016
9,138.28 Remaining --> 3/1/2016 Feb Payments
8,365.11 Remaining 3/30/2016 - 2707 +395 Mar Payments
5,261.28 Remaining 5/4/2016 - April Payments + $200 Earnest Referral + $300 extra payments
3,692.88 6/8/2016 - May and some June Payments
3,307.02 Remaining
2,155.24 Remaining as of 8/24 OR PAID OFF if count gains.


Parent Loan Balance
+ 28,854.17 3/15/2016(Parent's Remaining Loan Balance)
27,307 - 5/4/2016
26,806 Remaining
25,355 Remaining as of 8/24

A little late on the update so one of my payments is already accounted for. DH accepted a job to start after the summer so we may even have some extra money at the end of the year! Not much after maxing out retirement accounts. But for once the money will actually be OURS!

Technically, if I count the recent gains on the brokerage account, we are only short $750! I guess if I count that we are pretty damn close to my original net zero/payoff date of May 20 2016 (10 years after graduation). Foolish me is still dreaming about just cashing everything out and paying all the balances off. But, I don't want to pay any more taxes than I have to and if I can just get over it emotionally I know I'll be better off in the long run sticking to my original plan.

I've been enjoying summer and only paying minimums so I haven't updated in awhile. But with the recent gains in the market, the brokerage account is $2,267 more than the outstanding student loans!!!!!
Now here's the tricky part.... Do I call my loans paid off and have a party?? We can sustain a 4.3% drop in the market and still have the brokerage > student loans.... I'm already tempted to cash out the account and use a portion towards a downpayment on a house or a year off travel round the world (dreaming)... But then we'd go back to "having" student loans again. I really wish I didn't make this so complicated. Argh. The temptation is real guys!

On another note, we've been steadily paying $300/month towards the parent plus loan. At this rate there are 49 payments left (we will contribute ~16,000). I'm still pretty torn on this. But I know we should continue. I'm just more jealous/envious that his two siblings are living their lives the way they want and won't even think twice about the loan.

[darknight]

I just found this thread and I'm in!
I actually started on my own last year for a personal challenge to be debt free by the end of 2016.
Thankfully I graduated with only $12,500 in SL (more on this, it was over $20k with cc)
I know this is a student loan thread, but I'll give a couple more details. Last July I found the MMM and it completely changed me. I just started a new job, started paying minimum payments on SL (graduated Dec 2014), and living a terrible financial lifestyle. Not included with actual student loans was $12k in credit card debt that I used to carry us instead of  more student loans.. I know, terrible.
$12,500 SL
~$12000 CC (basically Student loans)
$3500 loan on ford expedition (11mpg)
=$28,000
-I was driving a 1 ton diesel (older and paid off) truck daily to an office, spending frivolously and going nowhere.
I sold the expedition, sold the diesel, and did a 180*. We bought a 92 toyota camry wagon (utility car for $900!!) I got a raise at my job and it still feels like we're broke as we have been working like mad to be debt free and have some FU money by the end of the year.
-Currently we have $5780 left!
By the end of Sept we should be down to $0!!
It's been a brutal year to turn around years of stupid decisions, but it's entirely possible. We had our second child and have spent less money with 2 than we did with 1 previously.

[ptgearguy]

I just found this thread and I'm in!
I actually started on my own last year for a personal challenge to be debt free by the end of 2016.
Thankfully I graduated with only $12,500 in SL (more on this, it was over $20k with cc)
I know this is a student loan thread, but I'll give a couple more details. Last July I found the MMM and it completely changed me. I just started a new job, started paying minimum payments on SL (graduated Dec 2014), and living a terrible financial lifestyle. Not included with actual student loans was $12k in credit card debt that I used to carry us instead of  more student loans.. I know, terrible.
$12,500 SL
~$12000 CC (basically Student loans)
$3500 loan on ford expedition (11mpg)
=$28,000
-I was driving a 1 ton diesel (older and paid off) truck daily to an office, spending frivolously and going nowhere.
I sold the expedition, sold the diesel, and did a 180*. We bought a 92 toyota camry wagon (utility car for $900!!) I got a raise at my job and it still feels like we're broke as we have been working like mad to be debt free and have some FU money by the end of the year.
-Currently we have $5780 left!
By the end of Sept we should be down to $0!!
It's been a brutal year to turn around years of stupid decisions, but it's entirely possible. We had our second child and have spent less money with 2 than we did with 1 previously.

Very cool stroy, thanks for sharing

[ptgearguy]

It is now September and my loan payments for August are complete. It is getting so close now I can almost taste it :)

December 2015: 50200
January 2016: Start of Jan 47621; End of January at 42,185
Feb 2016: 36355.42  (5830 payed off principle)
Mar 2016: 26091.37
Apr 2016: 23014.68
May2016: 22888.13
June 2016: 12778.59
July 2016: 8612.85
August 2016: 5233.65

[JustGettingStarted1980]

1/1/16 -$83265.16 in loans (his and hers combined)
4/1/16 -$75413.33 (7851.83 Paid off)
6/9/16 -$68071.59 (7341.74 Paid off)
9/5/16 -$43756.91 (24314.68 Paid off -DW loans are now completely paid off!!!)

JGS

[boyerbt]

Here are the FINAL numbers:
Time frame - 31 months

Balance as of August 31st - $2,795.45
September Auto-payment  - $111.09 ($104.36) going towards the principal
September's Extra Payment - $2,691.78 ($2691.09) going towards the principal)
Balance as of today - $0.00
Total Principal Paid - $80,522.05
Total Amount Paid - $87,307.05

[ontheroaderic]

3/5/15: $74,618.23 at 5.625% {Starting Balance}
3/5/15: $72,613.01 (- 2005.22)
3/7/15: $72,650.18  (-271.44)
3/9/15: $72,219.94  (-177.6)
4/9/15: $69,889.41 (-2600.00)
5/7/15: $67,086.58 (-3100.00)
6/12/15: $64,281.49 (-3100.00)
7/7/15: $61,917.04 (-2600)
8/7/15: $59,610.78 (-2600)
9/7/15: $57,385.37 (-2600)
10/7/15: $54,931.48 (-2600)
11/13/15: $52,325.25 (-2900)
12/9/15: $49,975.41 (-2600)
1/11/16: $47,557.16 (-2600)
2/7/16: $47,557.16 (-376.81)
3/7/16: $47,451.50 (-376.81)
4/7/16: $45,531.28 (-1941.73)
5/16/16: $$43,161.09  (-2600)
6/8/16: $40,746.42 (-2600)
7/8/16: $38,328.00 (-2600)
8/10/16: $36,104.98 (-2600)
9/8/16 $33,652.74 (-2600)

End is in sight! At the current rate - worst case we’ll done in 1 year. I’m going to make more of a concerted effort the throw some extra at it though, hopefully shave a couple of months off. Once we’re done we’ll divert this money into our retirement accounts . . . but first we’re going to take the honeymoon we delayed when we got married a couple of years ago.

[sweetkerryline]

$67,000 66,000 63,000, 59,998 58,715 at 3.05% interest (Began at 90K in late 2013 when grace period ended and had not yet found MMM)

My February update. Hoping to throw an additional bit of money in this month, but we will have to see.

Welp. I fell off on payments as I am trying to buy a house, but I am now down to 50,372. I'm hoping to pick up the pace and throw an extra paycheck at my debt this month ($4200) and then throw part of my bonus at it. I need motivation.

[wintertell]

Goals for 2016 are to pay off the 6.55% loan before August and to get the 6.16% down to under 10K before December. Aiming to get all student loans below 69K by the end of the year.

A super stretch goal for the student loans would be to get to the 50% paid mark (66,548) by Jan 2017. That would be 50% in exactly 2.5 years.

We had a close family member pass away and so this shook things up for us. It took a year off of our student loan repayment. Down from 10 loans originally in July 2014, we are down to two student loans + a small mortgage and a car loan. Our small mortgage (currently 25K) has the highest interest rate at 5.4% now. We will just pay the minimum on the student loans until the mortgage is paid off.

Hopefully see you in late 2016 / early 2017 to attack the 5.16% loan!!

We recently received a windfall as a result of the family member passing away. I was able to pay off my loans entirely! We are now student debt free! 

We also have used our cash flow to pay off the mortgage and so only have the small auto loan left.

Pay off history:
Jul 2014: 133,097
Jun 2015: 110,145 (-22,952)
Jul 2015: 109,587 (-558)
Sept 2015: 107,118 (-2,469)
Oct 2015: 99,967  (-7,151)
Nov 2015: 97,397 (-2,570)
Dec 2015: 96,867 (-530)
March 2016: 62,807 (-34,060)
September 2016: 0 (-62,807)

[daurelia]

OK! Hi everyone. This is literally my first post on MMM. I AM JOINING THIS CHALLENGE! Reading all your posts were inspiring to me.
I recently read the Simple Path to Wealth. For those of you more seasoned money people, it's pretty basic. But for me, it inspired me and got me excited to think about what the future might hold.
The sucky thing is, student debt.
I've never had any debt aside from a mortgage, but I met my husband eleven years ago with him being $87,000 in student debt and not huge earning potential. (please don't say disparaging things about my choice of mate, he's the best and most amazing person, husband, and father; also other than the student debt he is very financially responsible). We work in the nonprofit sector, but we can't do the public service forgiveness thing because he consolidated his loans with a private company before that was law. The interest rate on his loans is SO HIGH that we checked the balance after paying for the last eleven years, and it was $71,000!!!
I've always been our money manager and a careful saver... we've never made huge salaries and we've always saved 10-15% of our income and maxing out 403(b) plans... but I didn't really think about the potential to reduce our overall interest in the long run by paying off the student debt sooner. We've just dutifully paid the monthly payment. I considered it a small price to pay for my amazing hubs, but now we have our eyes on something bigger.

But one year ago we moved to a LCOL area (low cost of living), and we both got jobs that pay 10k more than our jobs before. So we have decided we are going to DESTROY that 71k in 2-3 years.

I just threw some savings at it, so it's now at $62,000. Here are our stats:

My job  before taxes    $75,000.00
husband's job before taxes    $64,000.00
Total salaries:    $139,000.00
so our post tax take home pay:   about  $100,000.00

Monthly expenses:
Mortgage, home insurance, property taxes, average utilities: $1,815
Sinking fund for home maintenance (our house is a fixer upper): $400
Cable and internet    $122.66 (husband is also a part time sports writer so we need this. His website doesn't bring in more than $1,500 a year, but we can deduct this from our taxes)
our cell phones    $178.88 (I really, really love my iphone, I know there are cheaper plans, but I love it).
monthly bill to the student loans:  $528.42
Childcare    $980.00
car insurance    $75.00
Cleaning lady     $270.00
Gym program    $12.50
Groceries    $400.00 (we like fancy groceries but we are trying to keep it low!)

We also like to travel, but if we take two years off trips, we could throw that money into student loans.

My budget spreadsheet tells me that we could potentially put 35k in it a year, so hopefully be done with the student debt by July 1, 2018, or maybe even sooner!

[wintertell]

OK! Hi everyone. This is literally my first post on MMM. I AM JOINING THIS CHALLENGE! Reading all your posts were inspiring to me.
I recently read the Simple Path to Wealth. For those of you more seasoned money people, it's pretty basic. But for me, it inspired me and got me excited to think about what the future might hold.
The sucky thing is, student debt.
I've never had any debt aside from a mortgage, but I met my husband eleven years ago with him being $87,000 in student debt and not huge earning potential. (please don't say disparaging things about my choice of mate, he's the best and most amazing person, husband, and father; also other than the student debt he is very financially responsible). We work in the nonprofit sector, but we can't do the public service forgiveness thing because he consolidated his loans with a private company before that was law. The interest rate on his loans is SO HIGH that we checked the balance after paying for the last eleven years, and it was $71,000!!!
I've always been our money manager and a careful saver... we've never made huge salaries and we've always saved 10-15% of our income and maxing out 403(b) plans... but I didn't really think about the potential to reduce our overall interest in the long run by paying off the student debt sooner. We've just dutifully paid the monthly payment. I considered it a small price to pay for my amazing hubs, but now we have our eyes on something bigger.

But one year ago we moved to a LCOL area (low cost of living), and we both got jobs that pay 10k more than our jobs before. So we have decided we are going to DESTROY that 71k in 2-3 years.

I just threw some savings at it, so it's now at $62,000. Here are our stats:

My job  before taxes    $75,000.00
husband's job before taxes    $64,000.00
Total salaries:    $139,000.00
so our post tax take home pay:   about  $100,000.00

Monthly expenses:
Mortgage, home insurance, property taxes, average utilities: $1,815
Sinking fund for home maintenance (our house is a fixer upper): $400
Cable and internet    $122.66 (husband is also a part time sports writer so we need this. His website doesn't bring in more than $1,500 a year, but we can deduct this from our taxes)
our cell phones    $178.88 (I really, really love my iphone, I know there are cheaper plans, but I love it).
monthly bill to the student loans:  $528.42
Childcare    $980.00
car insurance    $75.00
Cleaning lady     $270.00
Gym program    $12.50
Groceries    $400.00 (we like fancy groceries but we are trying to keep it low!)

We also like to travel, but if we take two years off trips, we could throw that money into student loans.

My budget spreadsheet tells me that we could potentially put 35k in it a year, so hopefully be done with the student debt by July 1, 2018, or maybe even sooner!

Good luck daurelia! I look forward to your updates! Also, you should consider starting a journal and writing a case study in the Ask a Mustachian thread ... both are really great I think for keeping on track and learning from fellow forum members! I would definitely read your journal!

[Lanthiriel]

Goals for 2016 are to pay off the 6.55% loan before August and to get the 6.16% down to under 10K before December. Aiming to get all student loans below 69K by the end of the year.

A super stretch goal for the student loans would be to get to the 50% paid mark (66,548) by Jan 2017. That would be 50% in exactly 2.5 years.

We had a close family member pass away and so this shook things up for us. It took a year off of our student loan repayment. Down from 10 loans originally in July 2014, we are down to two student loans + a small mortgage and a car loan. Our small mortgage (currently 25K) has the highest interest rate at 5.4% now. We will just pay the minimum on the student loans until the mortgage is paid off.

Hopefully see you in late 2016 / early 2017 to attack the 5.16% loan!!

We recently received a windfall as a result of the family member passing away. I was able to pay off my loans entirely! We are now student debt free! 

We also have used our cash flow to pay off the mortgage and so only have the small auto loan left.

Pay off history:
Jul 2014: 133,097
Jun 2015: 110,145 (-22,952)
Jul 2015: 109,587 (-558)
Sept 2015: 107,118 (-2,469)
Oct 2015: 99,967  (-7,151)
Nov 2015: 97,397 (-2,570)
Dec 2015: 96,867 (-530)
March 2016: 62,807 (-34,060)
September 2016: 0 (-62,807)

Wow, huge congrats!! Your monthly expenses are probably the stuff of my dreams :)

[daurelia]

OK! Hi everyone. This is literally my first post on MMM. I AM JOINING THIS CHALLENGE! Reading all your posts were inspiring to me.
I recently read the Simple Path to Wealth. For those of you more seasoned money people, it's pretty basic. But for me, it inspired me and got me excited to think about what the future might hold.
The sucky thing is, student debt.
I've never had any debt aside from a mortgage, but I met my husband eleven years ago with him being $87,000 in student debt and not huge earning potential. (please don't say disparaging things about my choice of mate, he's the best and most amazing person, husband, and father; also other than the student debt he is very financially responsible). We work in the nonprofit sector, but we can't do the public service forgiveness thing because he consolidated his loans with a private company before that was law. The interest rate on his loans is SO HIGH that we checked the balance after paying for the last eleven years, and it was $71,000!!!
I've always been our money manager and a careful saver... we've never made huge salaries and we've always saved 10-15% of our income and maxing out 403(b) plans... but I didn't really think about the potential to reduce our overall interest in the long run by paying off the student debt sooner. We've just dutifully paid the monthly payment. I considered it a small price to pay for my amazing hubs, but now we have our eyes on something bigger.

But one year ago we moved to a LCOL area (low cost of living), and we both got jobs that pay 10k more than our jobs before. So we have decided we are going to DESTROY that 71k in 2-3 years.

I just threw some savings at it, so it's now at $62,000. Here are our stats:

My job  before taxes    $75,000.00
husband's job before taxes    $64,000.00
Total salaries:    $139,000.00
so our post tax take home pay:   about  $100,000.00

Monthly expenses:
Mortgage, home insurance, property taxes, average utilities: $1,815
Sinking fund for home maintenance (our house is a fixer upper): $400
Cable and internet    $122.66 (husband is also a part time sports writer so we need this. His website doesn't bring in more than $1,500 a year, but we can deduct this from our taxes)
our cell phones    $178.88 (I really, really love my iphone, I know there are cheaper plans, but I love it).
monthly bill to the student loans:  $528.42
Childcare    $980.00
car insurance    $75.00
Cleaning lady     $270.00
Gym program    $12.50
Groceries    $400.00 (we like fancy groceries but we are trying to keep it low!)

We also like to travel, but if we take two years off trips, we could throw that money into student loans.

My budget spreadsheet tells me that we could potentially put 35k in it a year, so hopefully be done with the student debt by July 1, 2018, or maybe even sooner!

Good luck daurelia! I look forward to your updates! Also, you should consider starting a journal and writing a case study in the Ask a Mustachian thread ... both are really great I think for keeping on track and learning from fellow forum members! I would definitely read your journal!

Thank you so much Wintertell! I'm confused about this journal thing- first post and all. But I'd love to journal about this. I'd love to start one. How do I do it?  And how do I read others? Can I RSS them?

[AmandaS1989]

Make sure you're in the Journal sub-forum then you can go to the new topic button above the Replies/Views column on the right. If you like a journal, click notify on the bottom underneath the last post on a page. You'll get emails when there are new replies.

[wintertell]

In addition to what Amanda said, you can also go to "Show new replies to your post" in the top lefthand corner to see what threads have been commented after you wrote on them. This is how I look at a whole bunch of replies all at once. Since I tend to comment on journals, that's how I follow them.

[JustGettingStarted1980]

Hi Daurelia,

Just a couple quick recommendations for ya...

1. With good credit and the income as stated, you should really look into refinancing the education loans with SoFi (I did it) or another vendor. Rates these days are awesome. I got a 5 year variable rate at 1.9% initially 18 months ago, it has since only risen to 2.4%. Before refinancing, my loans per at 4.75%, so easy win there.

2. Get rid of the cleaning lady (or at least have her come less often). You spend >$3200 a year on this. There's 10% of your target right there. I know working couples that make >300K per year with kids at home and don't have someone in their home cleaning for them.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum. I also recommend a Case Study, it will definitely open up some options for you.

JGS

[daurelia]

Hi Daurelia,

Just a couple quick recommendations for ya...

1. With good credit and the income as stated, you should really look into refinancing the education loans with SoFi (I did it) or another vendor. Rates these days are awesome. I got a 5 year variable rate at 1.9% initially 18 months ago, it has since only risen to 2.4%. Before refinancing, my loans per at 4.75%, so easy win there.

2. Get rid of the cleaning lady (or at least have her come less often). You spend >$3200 a year on this. There's 10% of your target right there. I know working couples that make >300K per year with kids at home and don't have someone in their home cleaning for them.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum. I also recommend a Case Study, it will definitely open up some options for you.

JGS

Thank you JGS, this is excellent advice and very helpful.

As for refinancing, we have STELLAR credit and yet... when we looked into it, SoFi and Earnest were offering us higher interest rates! The current rate is 5.75, they offered us 6.25. That's garbage. So instead we are just trying to clobber the debt by paying it off as fast as possible.

As for your second point, the cleaning lady is on my short list of things to possibly get rid of or reduce (the iPhones, the cable bill, and the cleaning lady). Having a cleaning lady has been such a good thing in our lives- we get SO much value from it. It would be hard, but we are considering it. You mentioned people with kids who don't have it- it is really tough when we want to spend our precious few waking non-working hours with our son. And the thing is, it has been really great for our home life. My husband is a neat freak and will stay up all night scrubbing floors, and it creates some tension between us that evaporated when we got the cleaning lady.

Another idea would be to REDUCE the cleaning lady- the one we hired doesn't do once-a-month, so we'd have to get someone else. But I like the idea of having someone come once a month and just do basic stuff like bathrooms and kitchen for cheaper.

The biggest thing that frustrates me is the cable and internet. It makes me SO angry that they can get away with charging so much! There is only one provider in our area. And we need cable for my husband's website, so it's tax deductible but still it makes me crazy.

Anyway thank you for your comments and ideas.

[JustGettingStarted1980]

No problem, Daurelia!

[wintertell]

Wow, huge congrats!! Your monthly expenses are probably the stuff of my dreams :)

If we were better at constraining our variable spending : ). We've gotten our monthly bills pretty low though. Including electricity, phone, propane, lot rent, internet ,etc we are just at 1K. Whoo hoo!

[Slow&Steady]

I am so done with these stupid loans, this summer will be 10 years since I graduated.  I have been paying 7.5% interest on these damn things for 10 years.  I decided to take money out of savings and pay off the one that is not in deferment.  That means a few other things that really NEED to happen on the house might take a little longer but I have determined that we and the house can deal with the delayed schedule.  It will probably take me another 18 months before I finish grad school, so I have 18 months of 0% on Loan A, I THINK I can be happy just make a $100-150 payment each month since it will not be accumulating interest.

Loan A: $11,468.27 @ 7.5% - $11,277.68 @ 0%
Loan B: $5,036.89 @ 7.5% - $2950.99

Total: 2/18 = $16,505.16
            3/2 = $14,795.16
            4/2 = $14,359.70
            5/2 = $14,228.67
         5 /10 = $11,277.68

I haven't posted progress since May! I had asked for opinions on if I should keep paying the student loan that is in deferment until I finish grad school and got wonderful advice to set the payment aside to use as car fund if needed or to pay a lump sum to the student loan when deferment ended.  While my lovely SL company must check with my school monthly or something, I keep getting taken out of deferment and have to re-request it.  I have decided to just make payments on the loan to avoid missing a payment because I was taken out of deferment without know it.

Loan A: $11,468.27 @ 7.5% - $10,987.68 @ 0% (most of the time)
Loan B: $5,036.89 @ 7.5% - $2950.99

Total: 2/18 = $16,505.16
            3/2 = $14,795.16
            4/2 = $14,359.70
            5/2 = $14,228.67
         5 /10 = $11,277.68
          9/19 = $10,987.68

[Zaga]

As of yesterday we are below $30K!  $10K paid off so far in 2016.

Scheduled the payment that will put us below $25K next week.  I'm kind of amazed at how fast this is going after years of just ambling along!

$12K in the first 6 months, aiming for more than that the second 6 months!

Now at $19K exactly.  That's $21K paid off this year.  The original goal for 2016 was to pay off $20K, we have already beat that, hooray!  3 more months to go, plan is to pay off another $6k before the end of the year.

[QueenAlice]

Made my first official "minimum" payment today. I was able to knock out 4 of the 8 loans before repayment on my loans began. I think that is a win!

Loan	Rate	01/16	02/16	03/16	04/16	05/16	06/16	07/16	Current
Loan 1	1.72%	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2558.23
Loan 2	6.8%	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$0	$0	$0
Loan 3	6.8%	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5208.79
Loan 4	5.6%	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5213.10
Loan 5	6.8%	$1474.21	$1158.35	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 6	6.8%	$10452.30	$7444.83	$7485.15	$7498.36	$5041.39	$4667.37	$2693.51	$0
Loan 7	6.8%	$2073.29	$2043.96	$1218.21	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 8*	5%	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00
Total		$33692.72	$30340.06	$28396.28	$27191.28	$24734.31	$22761.55	$20787.69	$17980.12

*Loans not currently accruing interest

All my loans are accruing interest at this point, but on the bright side I have paid off more than 50% of the loan since the beginning of the year!

Loan	Rate	01/16	02/16	03/16	04/16	05/16	06/16	07/16	08/16	Current
Loan 1	1.72%	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2577.18	$2558.23	$2538.80
Loan 2	6.8%	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$1598.74	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 3	6.8%	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5271.00	$5208.79	$3171.89
Loan 4	5.6%	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5246.00	$5213.10	$5178.78
Loan 5	6.8%	$1474.21	$1158.35	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 6	6.8%	$10452.30	$7444.83	$7485.15	$7498.36	$5041.39	$4667.37	$2693.51	$0	$0
Loan 7	6.8%	$2073.29	$2043.96	$1218.21	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Loan 8	5%	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$5000.00	$4967.80
Total		$33692.72	$30340.06	$28396.28	$27191.28	$24734.31	$22761.55	$20787.69	$17980.12	$15857.27