Debt
For the past 5 years, my personal goal has been to get out of debt. I’ve realized that there is a level of freedom I won’t have until I’m free of debt. The freedom to choose where my money goes to in the present and future carries more weight than having to pay for something in the past. I got a small taste of that when the coronavirus hit. I switched my debt payments to the minimum for two months, and I had an extra $1,000 in my pocket to spend however I chose. I built a good buffer to weather any decreased income, and realized how much of a difference not having these payments would be.
Going into college, I had a full ride to cover my tuition. I had to take out small student loans each year to help cover the cost of books, some rent, and groceries. Due to circumstances, I had to take a leave one semester and could not work. I learned about credit cards and got one to help me get by for a little while. Before graduating, I was able to work and pay off the credit card debt before it got out of control, but my student loan debt was roughly $20,000.00.
I didn’t get a good paying job straight out of college. It was almost a year before I landed something remotely close to what I studied. Though not a high salary, it was better than minimum wage. I was able to start putting down more than the minimum on my loans, a lot more... an extra $300 per month. I used the tool undebt.it and was able to calculate that I would have my loans finished somewhere in early 2021. My speedrunner brain realized I could probably ‘break the barrier’ and have everything paid off by the end of 2020. I’ve upped my monthly payment to $450, and realized the months where I earned 3 paychecks, I could put one of them to the debt entirely. Now, my expected freedom date is November 2020, less than 6 months from now.
As an added bonus, I was recently able to finish making all of the payments on my phone. Though there is still a monthly bill for line access, I’m saving almost $50 more a month (that’s going to go towards my student loan). Little victories like this have helped snowball me to keep working hard.
After experiencing making the minimum payment, I want nothing more than to make that minimum $0. To be able to save for big purchases and events will be a new experience. Being able to save up to weather more storms like coronavirus, without having to do it as it happens. I can sit here and see how that $450/month can impact all of these things and more. It’s exciting for me to think that it’s coming up so soon.
I know I’m fortunate to not have many emergencies come up, and those that did had windfalls that weren’t intentional. It would be extremely easy to be in a completely different situation because of reasons beyond my control (hell, I’m in this good situation due to several reasons beyond my control as well). In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think people should have to worry about things like student loans or medical debt. I want everyone to experience the relief that comes with being free of this debt.
P.S. Sorry about missing another day. Hope a longer post makes up for it.