There really is no excuse for not keeping up with this, other than merely not wanting to talk about it so that maybe it would disappear ;) It is around 3 months shy of a year since I last wrote on this page and not a lot has really changed. In fact, I had ramen noodles and Kroger brand Doritos for dinner just the other night (I swear I remember graduating college 2 years ago). Anyway, as of February, I moved out of the townhouse that my college roommate and I rented right after graduating. I now live in an older house with 2 girls from my work. Adding a roommate and subtracting about a decade worth of visual appeal lowered my rent by $200 a month, so I guess operating outdated appliances and hearing every move either of us ever make is worth it. Now that we are all caught up, here is what I have been doing in regards to my private student loans....
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| Does It Pay to Start at Community College? Maybe |
Happy Last Month of 2015!
Hello out there. I figured it was time to check-in and provide an update or two on where I am these days J
I have a new job. Still corporate America, still a cubical, and still 8-5. BUT I like it a lot better than the previous one that I was at for the past 4 years. Although it was a lateral move, salary wise. There are budget saving aspects about it that will make it feel as if I got a pay increase for jumping ship:
- It is 4 minutes from my house. That shaves off approximately 40 minutes each way every day and saves a ton of gas. Also, no more interstates every single day; thank you, Jesus!
- They have a parking lot. That is free. No more having to give $65 a month to a crappy downtown parking garage to be able to park while at work. (Side note here, their parking spots are just a few steps away from the door which means no more elevators, escalators, stairs, and having to walk 1/3 of a mile outside just to get to your office. HUGE quality of life improvement!)
- They do not have any restaurants, grocery stores, and cafes in walking distance like the previous job. So no more breakfast, lunch and snack buying temptations; I eat what I bought to eat from the grocery store that week. Sadly, that means no more Starbucks either, so there’s $25 a month alone.
So, where am I at on my loans? I last updated y’all on my balance in mid-June; it was at $36k then. I am happy to report that now, approximately 5 and a half months later, my loan balance is at $26k. So 10 grand down from my last update J
I am still aiming to be debt-free by late next near.
Labels:
Dave Ramsey,
Debt-Free,
Private Student Loan Debt,
Progress,
Snowball
Be a Unicorn
Being normal is easy. Too easy. It is a path that is very alluring in every way. Want this? Well, buy it, finance it, or put it on a credit card and it’s yours. It will never stop; you will always want more. You will want what he has or what she has or what they have. It is a nightmare that will be on replay your entire life. I don’t’ want to live like that. However, a lot of my peers do and they don’t even realize it. I am not in any way perfect with my budget, and believe me, I have expensive wants, but I do feel that I have a sense of control over it. What first made me realize this was reading Dave’s slogan, “Debt is normal. Be weird.” It is SO TRUE. Everywhere you look, people are in debt. And the problem with that? They don’t see a problem!! Because? It’s normal!! Face palm. If that’s the norm, normal sucks.
Sure, there are people who have been and always will be financially responsible. I have a large amount of student loan debt to pay off. Some don’t. But working through my pay-off plan, I have stumbled across many other things I would have never stopped to take the time to research: 401k, stock options, Roth IRA, etc. I hope to be debt free and in retirement saving mode by the time I am 29, almost 30. Talk about a goal I never thought I’d never thought I’d have at 29! Are there people out there my age who are debt-free and already have a significant amount in the bank and in their retirement? You bet. But I’m also willing to bet it is not a huge percentage of folks. I want to join that small percent. I want to pass up the beautiful Michael Kors purse and matching wallet so that I can put that money towards financial freedom. And knowing that my TJ Maxx purse is a symbol of that, makes me feel not so ashamed toting it around town.
Debt snowballing is not really normal. There are people who know nothing about it and there are people who wholeheartedly disagree with it. But that’s okay. I know I am going against the grain here, and when I stop to think about where my motivation comes from to keep this going, it is precisely that; I’m not normal. I am doing something very few people are doing and I think that is cool. I am standing out in a crowd. I am a unicorn.
Oh so sorry I have not been blogging.
There really is no excuse for not keeping up with this, other than merely not wanting to talk about it so that maybe it would disappear ;) It is around 3 months shy of a year since I last wrote on this page and not a lot has really changed. In fact, I had ramen noodles and Kroger brand Doritos for dinner just the other night (I swear I remember graduating college 2 years ago). Anyway, as of February, I moved out of the townhouse that my college roommate and I rented right after graduating. I now live in an older house with 2 girls from my work. Adding a roommate and subtracting about a decade worth of visual appeal lowered my rent by $200 a month, so I guess operating outdated appliances and hearing every move either of us ever make is worth it. Now that we are all caught up, here is what I have been doing in regards to my private student loans....
I was in The Wall Street Journal!
|
| Does It Pay to Start at Community College? Maybe |
Happy Last Month of 2015!
Hello out there. I figured it was time to check-in and provide an update or two on where I am these days J
I have a new job. Still corporate America, still a cubical, and still 8-5. BUT I like it a lot better than the previous one that I was at for the past 4 years. Although it was a lateral move, salary wise. There are budget saving aspects about it that will make it feel as if I got a pay increase for jumping ship:
- It is 4 minutes from my house. That shaves off approximately 40 minutes each way every day and saves a ton of gas. Also, no more interstates every single day; thank you, Jesus!
- They have a parking lot. That is free. No more having to give $65 a month to a crappy downtown parking garage to be able to park while at work. (Side note here, their parking spots are just a few steps away from the door which means no more elevators, escalators, stairs, and having to walk 1/3 of a mile outside just to get to your office. HUGE quality of life improvement!)
- They do not have any restaurants, grocery stores, and cafes in walking distance like the previous job. So no more breakfast, lunch and snack buying temptations; I eat what I bought to eat from the grocery store that week. Sadly, that means no more Starbucks either, so there’s $25 a month alone.
So, where am I at on my loans? I last updated y’all on my balance in mid-June; it was at $36k then. I am happy to report that now, approximately 5 and a half months later, my loan balance is at $26k. So 10 grand down from my last update J
I am still aiming to be debt-free by late next near.
Be a Unicorn
Being normal is easy. Too easy. It is a path that is very alluring in every way. Want this? Well, buy it, finance it, or put it on a credit card and it’s yours. It will never stop; you will always want more. You will want what he has or what she has or what they have. It is a nightmare that will be on replay your entire life. I don’t’ want to live like that. However, a lot of my peers do and they don’t even realize it. I am not in any way perfect with my budget, and believe me, I have expensive wants, but I do feel that I have a sense of control over it. What first made me realize this was reading Dave’s slogan, “Debt is normal. Be weird.” It is SO TRUE. Everywhere you look, people are in debt. And the problem with that? They don’t see a problem!! Because? It’s normal!! Face palm. If that’s the norm, normal sucks.
Sure, there are people who have been and always will be financially responsible. I have a large amount of student loan debt to pay off. Some don’t. But working through my pay-off plan, I have stumbled across many other things I would have never stopped to take the time to research: 401k, stock options, Roth IRA, etc. I hope to be debt free and in retirement saving mode by the time I am 29, almost 30. Talk about a goal I never thought I’d never thought I’d have at 29! Are there people out there my age who are debt-free and already have a significant amount in the bank and in their retirement? You bet. But I’m also willing to bet it is not a huge percentage of folks. I want to join that small percent. I want to pass up the beautiful Michael Kors purse and matching wallet so that I can put that money towards financial freedom. And knowing that my TJ Maxx purse is a symbol of that, makes me feel not so ashamed toting it around town.
Debt snowballing is not really normal. There are people who know nothing about it and there are people who wholeheartedly disagree with it. But that’s okay. I know I am going against the grain here, and when I stop to think about where my motivation comes from to keep this going, it is precisely that; I’m not normal. I am doing something very few people are doing and I think that is cool. I am standing out in a crowd. I am a unicorn.
