The following is a guest post.
My student loans stand at approximately $22,550. I originally had about 9 different loans, but I ended up consolidating them. Debt consolidation loans help minimize the payment you have to pay, which was a huge help back when I was a broke college graduate. Now I’m just a broke married woman. My, how the times change.
When I graduated, the debt hovered in the $30,000 area. To be honest, I never really calculated the total amount due until awhile after I graduated. Perhaps I was scared or I just didn’t care.
Now that I’ve been uber focused on making ourselves financially secure, paying down debt has been a big goal of mine. In October, I paid off my car, which was huge for me. Unfortunately, the monthly payment that I used to pay for my car, is now going toward our flex spending account, which will pay for my corrective eye surgery (another 2012 goal).
My student loan debt currently holds steady at $20,500 plus a new interest free $2,050 loan that I received in high school (I went to private school) and I had forgotten about until they sent me the bill this past month.
So $22,550. It feels like I’ve paid so much toward these loans to only have carved a small little dent in them, but that’s what interest will do to you. If you can afford to pay the full amount of your loans, I highly recommend trying to do it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I really couldn’t pay for everything at the beginning, so consolidating my loans was the best option for me.
My goal this year is to pay off all non-student loan debt, ramp up our savings, and get on a steady stable schedule. I do hope to pay down at least one student loan. But I am putting off being uber focused on paying down my student loans until next year–because I’m also realistic. We have a lot going on this year, and I don’t need to add one more thing to the plate and make myself go crazy over it.
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