I’ve been waiting for this moment.
It’s been 17 months since I decided I would pay off my student loan debt before my 30th birthday. As 2012 wrapped itself up, I decided to move some savings around in order to enter the new year completely debt-free. The deadline was in four month’s time; mid-April. I’m excited and relieved to have finished early but it wasn’t accomplished easily.
The loan balances stood at around $15,000.00 when I first decided to tackle them violently. Since graduation in 2007, I had only paid a little over $4,000.00. In seventeen months, I was all over the charts with the monthly payments. Some data…
- An average of $882.35
- All leftover discretionary cash
- A maximum of $1,100.00
- A minimum of $150.00 (what they expected from me monthly), done on months when money was tighter than usual
- Any “found” money; bonuses, tax returns, etc.
- When I stopped drinking, what I used to spend on wine
What student loans tried to do to me, what they got in return…
Everyone says, “You must make more money than I do / I wish I could do that / my loans are higher / I have more expenses.”
Untrue. I don’t make a lot of money (sorry, David!) and it’s about priorities. As I silently repeat to myself during the grueling portion of thigh in Bar Method classes: Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right. If it’s important to you, you will find a way. If it’s not, you will find an excuse.
Where the freed up money will go instead of loan repayment:
Short -term emergency savings, a Roth IRA with Fidelity, a mutual fund with INGDirect, some investments at Betterment, and an ImpulseSave account. Oh, and definitely a nice dinner out with Drew to celebrate not owing anyone anything. He’s been living with a pauper girlfriend while I funneled money in the right direction and was a total champ about it.
Thank you SO MUCH for the support: Drew, Shadow, Dad, Mom, friends, co-workers, Krystal and J. Money for the endless inspiration, and the book Your Money or Your Life. Oh, and me. Self high-five.
Congrats! I look forward to the day when I can say the same thing. Celebratory lunch tomorrow!!
w00t!
Congratulations! I’m so proud of you! *internet high five*
Thanks so much, Revanche!
yay – i remember your blog way back when and it is awesome to see you accomplish this goal. and ahead of time, too! congratulations!
Thank you, Katelyn! I didn’t know you read me back then.
You deserve a million high fives! CONGRATS! What a wonderful feeling this must be!
Thanks so much, Katie.
WAY TO GO!!!! That is incredible my friend – what a way to start the new year
You are totally my new hero right now. Keep up the sexy! 
Thanks, J. Money. You are MY hero. <3 x a million to you and your family this holiday and new year.
I took the liberty of submitting your post to a community I think might appreciate it (/r/frugal). Great work, Clare. My goal is to pay off my mortgage in 2013 and your post is inspiring!
On Reddit? Can you link me?
Thanks!
Pingback: Obligatory End-of-Year Post: 2012 | Clare, You There?
This is amazing. I LOVE hearing this and also watching your journey when you decided to do and accomplish it has been rewarding. Congrats! Inspires me to maybe put a deadline and get my ass in gear to pay it off! xo
Thank you, Grace! It was a long time coming. So happy to be free of it.
Pingback: Weekly Roundup: Less Things, Less Debt, Less Xmas? | Budgets Are Sexy
Wow–congrats! Very exciting indeed. Best wishes for 2013!
Thanks so much!
I’m super happy for you, but if you can make payments of over $800 a month, then you actually make a very great deal more money than me, and many, many other people. Y’know? You can only judge yourself.
Hey, Jill. E-mailing you!
It depends how you look at it Jill. 800$ a month isn’t an absurd amount of money to save and put away. It just takes someone to look within their budget and figure out where to save and what to prioritize. Clare already saves tons of money (perhaps 80$ a time) when going out as she’s not drinking alcohol anymore, and we all know that’s a HUGE expense most people don’t consider. She probably also was smart about how she ate, when she ate out, and poor Drew probably picked up the bill a lot
.
Considering there are many people who barely make $800 a month TOTAL, before buying food or rent or ANYTHING, and also that I can’t remember the last time I went out to eat, I politely agree to disagree.
So it does depend on how you look at it, but it’s an awareness of how people other than you survive. That said, I am very proud of Clare!
That’s kind of a cheap shot, Jill. Clare has been blogging about her goal to pay off her student loans for a long time and people have been following this journey. It’s a huge accomplishment and it’s not cool to make her feel bad about meeting such a great goal. My financial goals are different, as are yours I’m sure. For instance, if I blogged about meeting my goal of saving 20K for travel (which I will meet in about 3 months time) would you really put me down when I was ready to celebrate it and share it with everyone?
I love both of you very much and am deeply proud of both of you. Always have been, always will be. I am simply sensitive about the way money is discussed in general in our country, which was echoed in parts here (intentionally or not!)–that anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that anyone can pay off their student debt, that anyone can save $20K, ever. It makes me so immensely happy that you can–but I (and many people) can’t, and the insinuation that we could if we just really tried actually hurts very deeply. Obviously Clare is one of the sweetest people on earth, and it wasn’t meant to make anyone feel bad, I just feel there should be an awareness. I am so incredibly excited for your travel, and for you.
Bobbito Garcia once told me: “Rolando, love how you mastered email but Debt Zero is way better than Inbox Zero. I’d focus on that.” I’m not there yet, though I’m working on it every single day. I really appreciated getting that advice and reading this post. Thanks for sharing the stats. Helpful. -Grow
To live owing NO one NO thing, to do things simply because you want to is a huge freedom.
CONGRATULATIONS! I read your former blog back when you committed to tackling your student loans (which I was doing, too) and just discovered this blog and update. I am SO excited for you!! I hope you did something fun to celebrate!
Pingback: Puppy Zen | Clare, You There?