Have to Start Somewhere

I'm sure I'm not the only person out there that thought it was going to be a lot easier to work down their debt.  I'm also sure I'm not the only person out there that was a little surprised when they added up all their debt and realized how massive it was.  Each year at school when I added another hefty loan to my pile of debt, it didn't really dawn on me that I was going to have to add all that up someday.  So when my six month grace period ended and I finally had to face that mountain head on, I was a little shocked.  $60,000 is an overwhelming amount of money for anyone, never mind someone just starting out. 

So I utilized my six month grace period.  I didn't start my repayment, though I was told I should, and instead I used that time to get settled into my new life.  Like I said, my boyfriend and I bought a townhouse, so much of my savings and all of my savings bonds went towards the down payment.  I also used the six months time to go through the consolidation process. 

Once my loans were consolidated and the payments started, I had to get myself into some sort of budget.  My monthly payment towards my loan is just over $400.  That's a little less than one of my weekly paychecks.  I also have a mortgage now, but luckily I'm not paying that alone, and it isn't very much.  In reality, we lucked out with our townhouse.  We bought a foreclosure that the bank was dying to get rid of.  It needed (and still needs) work, but nothing that we couldn't do ourselves.  We got a great deal on it and our monthly expenses towards the house are less than $1000, which is very nice. 

So, I've begun paying off my debt.  At first, I was aiming to high.  I wanted to get my college loan AND our mortgage paid off too quickly.  I was aiming to keep us from having to pay very much in interest.  In the process of trying to put all my cash towards my loans, I stupidly collected a bit of credit card debt.  It isn't much, seeing as my main credit card only has a $5,000 limit, but still. 

I have since learned from that mistake, and now I am trying to balance my regular monthly spending with putting as much towards only my college loan as possible.  I am trying to only buy with cash.  It's hard though, when there are so many credit card temptations. 

I am trying to cling to the budget that I have set for myself, while also letting myself be a 20-something year old girl.  I can't eliminate every single extra from my life, I would be miserable.  I'm too young to cut out all forms of socializing out of my life just to save a dime, and  I know it.  So instead I'm trying to master the art of moderation.  I try to treat myself once every other weekend.  On the weekend I don't treat myself, I try to do things around the house so that I'm accomplishing other goals with my spare time.  The goal is each month to double pay my college loan, and pay it a third time every other month.  I feel that this way, I'm not stressing about living pay check to paycheck, but I still feel like I'm making a significant dent in my debt. 

Mean while, I have this whole new world of expenses that I've never had before.  I'm buying groceries for two people, I'm learning to cook, and I'm experimenting in the kitchen to prepare things for my boyfriend.  Going from just buying 99 cent boxes of mac and cheese to buying meat and produce has been an eye opener.  I have no idea how my mother budgeted and bought food for four people when I was growing up.  I've started experimenting with my crock pot, making meals that will last my boyfriend for several lunches as well as fill him up for dinner.  It's harder to do then I thought.  Planing dinner is time consuming, and cooking is even harder.  Sometimes I want to resort to take out, but I remind myself that every dollar I save is an extra dollar I can put towards my college loan. 

I find that I have to use this mantra a lot whenever I'm out and about.  Shopping was never something that I enjoyed, but I was known to be an impulse buyer.  A lot of times it was food and candy.  Junk food is my weakness, and I've been known to leave a CVS with several bags of junk.  Again, all of that is unnecessary and could be put towards bigger and better things.  My other big impulse problem comes in the lunch department.  I am super picky, and I just don't like sandwiches.  I have a hard time finding things that I can pack to bring to lunch, and I often find myself falling back on a nice walk to the nearest Panera to indulge myself in a $10 bowl of mac and cheese.  I know this is ridiculous, and this is probably the biggest area where my budget gets blown.  I constantly try to avoid it, but I consistently find myself there, simply because threes no better options.  So, one of my goals is to find semi healthy, cheap alternatives to my lunch issues.

I've only just started my journey towards eliminating my ridiculous amount of debt, but hopefully I'll start to see some reward or benefit to it soon.    In the short months that I've been over paying my loan, I've managed to push back my next required payment until July, which is sort of a nice thing to look at.  It makes me feel like I've done some decent work on getting that first dent in my payments.