+ Tips you can use to pay off your student loans faster!
This post is all about how I’m saving to pay off student loans.
Having student loans is considered normal these days, but nobody should like having student loans. The truth is, until you pay off student loans, it will be a burden in some way. But I actually think saving to pay off student loans can be a good thing in some ways.
Let me explain:
Everyone I know who has paid off their student loans has an immense sense of accomplishment from it. It’s one of the first big financial goals you can set for yourself and when you finally make it happen, that’s a HUGE accomplishment.
I’ve learned a lot from hearing other people’s stories about how they paid off their student loans, and since I’m almost done my journey of paying off student loans, I thought I’d share how I’m paying off my student loans this year.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to implement some of these tips!
Please note that this post is NOT financial advice and I am NOT a financial expert or advisor. I’m simply sharing my own experience!
This post is all about how I’m saving to pay off student loans.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll earn a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Our full disclosure policy is pretty boring, but you can read it here.
HOW I’M PAYING OFF STUDENT LOANS THIS YEAR:
First, I want to give you some context on my situation, because that matters a HUGE deal. So here are some FAQ’s to give you an idea of where I started.
FAQ’s about my financial situation
Did my parents help me pay for school?
Nope. I did have some family members help me out with general living expenses, so I won’t say my family DIDN’T help out. But my parents didn’t directly pay any of my tuition fees.
How much did I pay for rent while in school?
This part is a bit more complicated because I moved 3 times throughout my four-year degree.
- FRESHMAN YEAR: I paid $750/month for rent, plus utilities on top of that.
- SOPHOMORE YEAR: I lived with a family member during this time, so I didn’t pay rent, BUT I still covered my own living expenses like groceries, gas, phone bill, etc.
- JUNIOR YEAR: I lived with a family member for half the year, and then in the second semester I moved into my own apartment and started paying $1712/month for rent, plus utilities.
- SENIOR YEAR: I stayed in the same apartment, paying $1712/month for rent, plus utilities. My husband and I started living together when we got married in the summer before senior year, so we both contributed to rent and other expenses.
Did I work while in school?
Yes, but not much. I wasn’t saving a whole lot of money while I was in school, but was making enough money with my part-time job and doing some freelance work to cover my living expenses.
Did I work full time in the summers?
Again, yes and no.
- SUMMER BEFORE FRESHMAN YEAR: I worked full-time, making $16/hour.
- SUMMER BEFORE SOPHOMORE YEAR: I only worked part-time, about 5-10 hours/week making $20/hour. This was summer of 2020 so the full-time job I had hoped for didn’t pan out due to the pandemic.
- SUMMER BEFORE JUNIOR YEAR: I only worked part-time as I did a full-time course load throughout the summer. So, I worked about 5-10 hours/week making $20/hour.
- SUMMER BEFORE SENIOR YEAR: I worked two jobs. One was full-time making $20/hour for 30 hours/week, the other was part-time making $20/hour working about 10 hours/week.
Did I get financial aid or scholarships?
Yes! I’m very thankful that I qualified for financial aid each year, although the amount that I qualified for varied. A portion of the financial aid was a grant, and a portion of it was a loan. I also got small scholarships for freshman and sophomore year.
Did I have money saved up before I started college?
Yes. I was lucky enough to know a couple years in advance that I would be paying my own university tuition, so I got my first job at age 15 and saved as much as I could throughout high school.
I also took a year off school BEFORE starting college to work full-time. At that time, I worked about 35 hours/week making $16/hour and was able to save up money throughout that year.
Did I invest any money?
Yes! Like I said above, I worked throughout high school and worked full-time for a year before starting university, so I had a decent amount of money saved up before starting college.
I was given a student loan in my first year of college, but I didn’t need the loan. Rather than turning it down, I put that amount of money in an investment (since I already had enough saved to pay my full tuition that year).
I was able to repeat this same process for my sophomore year, so now the loan money that I invested has increased in value.
I think it’s important to note that I put these in VERY low-risk investments where I was guaranteed that I would receive the principal amount back at the end of the investment period. This meant that the money I invested only made a couple hundred dollars over the course of the 3-4 years, but it was important to me that the principal amount was guaranteed since they were loans.
How much student debt did I graduate with?
I graduated with $20,811 in debt.
When did I graduate and when will I be finished paying off my loans?
I graduated two months ago in June, 2023. My goal is to finish paying off my loans by May, 2024 but I’m currently on track to finish paying off my loans sooner than that.
Did this blog make me money?
Yes, but I haven’t taken a cent of the money this blog has earned. Everything this blog has earned has been reinvested back into it to grow my online business since the very beginning, and that will likely be the case for the next few months at least, if not longer.
So, I’m not accounting for any money made on this blog as it won’t be contributing to me paying off my student loans.
WHAT I’M DOING TO PAY OFF STUDENT LOANS:
The following is a list of things I’m doing (or not doing) to pay off student loans fast.
1. Stopped buying drinks at concerts & events
One thing about me is that I cannot say no to a good concert. My husband and I both love music, so we’ve made it our mission to go to as many great concerts as we can manage before we have kids or move out of the city.
So, obviously I won’t cut out spending money on concert tickets… but when I looked over our spending habits, I realized that we always end up spending more money than we want to at concerts and events.
Why?
Because we all know that at any stadium or venue, a $5 drink suddenly becomes a $14 drink. So, even if we just buy water or a “cheap” drink, we end up spending $30+ once you factor in the tip.
There’s no reason we need to spend that kind of money to enjoy music at a concert. We’ll enjoy the music regardless!
So, we’ve decided to stop buying drinks (even water) at concerts.
2. Redefine what I “need”
The other day I was grabbing groceries when I saw the cutest pair of earrings. They were only $8, and I thought, “Well I do need new earrings…”
Why? Why do I need new earrings?
The answer is, I don’t.
I’ve been trying to catch myself in those kinds of situations and redefine what I actually NEED. It’s not that I can never spend money on wants, but if it’s not in the monthly budget I set for myself, then it has to go back on the shelf.
If there’s something I really want, I’ll add the product link to a wish list that I’ve given to my close family members. That way, at Christmas or on my birthday, I might end up getting some of those items I really want!
3. Tracking every dollar I spend
I’ve always done this, but I’m especially trying to be diligent about tracking expenses now so that I always know where my money is going and I can stay on budget.
Here’s the budget tracker I use to track my spending each month.
This might sound overwhelming to you, but once you get in the habit, it becomes less and less intimidating. I actually really like tracking my spending because it motivates me to stay on budget!
4. Budgeting every month
I’ve also been doing this for years, but sticking to a budget is especially important now if I want to stay on track with paying off my student loans.
I recommend learning how to budget as early as you can because it will help you out so much in the long run!! Even if you don’t stick to your budget exactly, budgeting will help you build an awareness of your spending habits so you can be more financially responsible.
This is the budget planning template that I use for my monthly budgets. You can download it for free here.
5. Continuously learning about finances
Even though I’m on this journey of paying off student loans in full, I definitely don’t know everything about finances or budgeting. So, I make it my goal to continually learn about budgeting.
My favorite podcast about finances is the Rachel Cruze show. I find her tips really digestible and easy to implement and she has taught me so much about budgeting and saving money throughout college.
I also recommend the book Clever Girl Finance by Bola Sokunbi. Her book was both relatable and helpful with learning finance tips without getting overwhelmed.
6. Deciding what’s most important to me
When you’re trying to pay off student loans, it’s unrealistic to expect yourself not to spend any money at all on the things you enjoy. But it becomes a lot easier to save while still enjoying what you love when you decide what’s most important to you.
For example, I mentioned earlier that my husband and I love going to concerts. We’re not willing to cut concerts out of our budget entirely, but we are willing to be more selective about what concerts we see AND we’re willing to cut out expenses by not going out to eat before concerts or not buying drinks at concerts.
It’s all about moderation. Yes, you should do the fun things, but you can still limit your spending in other ways!
7. Always knowing how much I have left to save
I find it really helpful to make sure I always know how much I have left to save because this keeps me motivated towards a specific goal.
At the beginning of every month when I create my budget and track my spending from the previous month, I also look at how much money I have saved compared to how much money I still need to save. That way, I’m always clear on how much longer I have left until my student loans will be paid off.
This post was all about how I’m saving to pay off student loans.
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