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How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST

Last Updated: December 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 133 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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Back in November of 2012, I wrote about my $40,000 worth of student loan debt. This was the total amount of student loans that I accumulated while I was getting my undergraduate and graduate degrees. When I wrote that post, I had hardly paid anything towards my student loans. Interest was slowing building up, but not that much, as most of my loans were still being deferred.

Ever since that post was published, I have been attacking my student loans like crazy. I have been applying any extra money towards my student loans, and I am now proud to say that they are almost gone. We have enough money in the bank to completely pay them off, but have chosen to wait as we don’t want to withdraw everything out of our emergency fund to pay my student loans off. We don’t want to tap into retirement funds as well, so those funds will stay where they currently are.

As a refresher, I graduated in May of 2010 with my B.A. in Management and my B.S. in Business Administration. I applied for jobs and was hired on at a financial firm right after I graduated. I then took a year off from school and decided to go back for my Finance MBA. I then graduated in August of 2012 with my Finance MBA. I continued working full-time throughout this and still hold my same job today. I graduated with a decent amount of debt, but I am happy that I don’t have more.

I am guilty of taking out more in student loans than I needed. Right after high school, I needed a place to live and I probably took out an extra $1,000 or $2,000 to help fund my living. So, not too horrible, but that’s still an extra couple of thousand that I probably should not have taken out.

June is my student loan payoff month.

I am so close to being done with student loans forever. I am very grateful for everything that has happened in my life, and I do realize that when it comes to student loans, that I have been lucky with the fact that they will be gone so quickly. I have worked very hard though!

I started by working on my extra income. As you all know, my extra income has been through the roof lately. I’m glad that I am able to share my journey with my extra income with you all. I hope that I have been helpful with all of my posts. I never thought that my extra income would be anywhere near where it is today, and thankfully to it I am able to pay off my student loans much more quickly.

I also have been attacking my student loans according to interest rate.  The loans with the highest interest rates are the ones that I have been eliminating first. It has been nice watching each student loan disappear!

What are you doing to eliminate your loans? How much do you pay each month towards them?

Did you take out more than you needed?

 

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133 Comments
Filed Under: Debt, School Tagged With: Debt, Student Loans

About Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Michelle is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a blog about personal finance and traveling. She discusses how her business has evolved in her side income series. She paid off $40,000 in student loans by the age of 24 mainly due to her freelancing side hustles. Click here to learn more about starting a blog!

Comments

  1. livivua says

    May 29, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    i learned that most won't get that high paying job your degree gives you until you are in your 30's most likely

    Reply
    • MakingSenseofCents says

      May 29, 2013 at 3:40 pm

      Interesting. Thanks!
      My recent post How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST – $200 Giveaway

      Reply
  2. Gretchen says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    I'm working on paying off my student loans by attacking the highest interest loans first-like you! I did take out extra loan $$ and now it's coming back to bite me in the hiney, but we learn from our mistakes (I certainly have, at least) and am working on paying them off. I really like that the SALT site focuses on paying off student loans as well as life lessons in budgeting, etc… Thanks for the link, I'd never heard of it before!

    Reply
    • MakingSenseofCents says

      May 29, 2013 at 3:40 pm

      Yes, we all definitely learn from our mistakes. Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂
      My recent post How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST – $200 Giveaway

      Reply
  3. MakingSenseofCents says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    2 months ago? You guys are awesome! 🙂
    My recent post How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST – $200 Giveaway

    Reply
  4. nicoleandmaggie says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    My parents (and very generous scholarships) paid for my college… We did pay off DH's loans by being crazy frugal the first year we were married and starting grad school in a new (expensive) city. Like, I lost my ability to digest red meat kind of frugal. (Income: 36K, rent for tiny apartment: 20K, student loans: 10K+, everything else including furniture, income taxes, deposit etc. <6K)
    My recent post Do some people *want* to be miserable?: A deliberately controversial post

    Reply
    • MakingSenseofCents says

      May 29, 2013 at 3:41 pm

      That's awesome that you two were so frugal! We could definitely work on that.
      My recent post How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST – $200 Giveaway

      Reply
  5. MakingSenseofCents says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:37 pm

    Thanks!
    My recent post How I’m Getting Rid of My Student loans FAST – $200 Giveaway

    Reply
  6. John@MoneyPrinciple says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:52 pm

    I come from a generation (a) that is in Europe and (b) when only a few went to university. So did most of today's politicians. So I can't begin to imagine what a worry it must be for you to graduate with tens of thousands of dollars debt but this has invaded us now as well as students in the UK are having to pay up to £9k a year fees plus living expenses of at least another £6k. So after a three year undergraduate degree, they will end up with about £50k debt. Our employment culture is not the same as in the US – although it is a lot more flexible than most of the rest of Europe. I think it is a terrible load and admire people who manage to pay it off so quickly. It may of course be that having such a debt round your neck concentrates the mind but I can think of better ways of encouraging that!
    My recent post Five businesses you can start today with less than £100

    Reply
  7. Kate says

    May 29, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    To pay off my student loans, I paid way more than the minimum every month by paying any extra money I earned toward them, increasing how much I paid with each raise, and rolling the payment amount to the next loan as each one was paid off.

    Reply
  8. Nick @ AYoungPro.com says

    May 29, 2013 at 4:17 pm

    It is amazing how fast you can pay off debt when you really put your mind, and all your effort, towards it! Great job Michelle!
    My recent post How to Interview: Tips from A Young Professional

    Reply
  9. Kathleen says

    May 29, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    I took out the minimums. But it still took me nearly 8 years to pay them off!
    My recent post Understanding the Process of Closing on a Home Mortgage

    Reply
  10. DC@Young Adult Money says

    May 29, 2013 at 6:32 pm

    I just signed up on SALT Money and I learned about how to "deconstruct" my paycheck in one of their articles. Definitely an interesting topic!
    My recent post Most Content on the Web about Student Loans is Pointless

    Reply
  11. 1stmillionhardest says

    May 29, 2013 at 7:40 pm

    Congrats on digging yourself out of those loans! I was lucky enough to graduate with very little student loan debt, but I have so many friends that struggle with it that I completely understand what it takes to pay it all down. Hope you have some plans for what to do with all that money you were using for the payments!
    My recent post How To Invest Without A Lot Of Money

    Reply
  12. Stephanie says

    May 29, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    The Understanding Insurance article on the SALT website (https://saltmoney.org/content/media/Article/understanding-insurance/_/R-101-2345) was super informative. Thanks so much for sharing it and congrats on paying off your student loans. We're really close to paying off hubby's.

    Reply
  13. Melody says

    May 30, 2013 at 8:57 am

    Luckily I never had major debt but I did have debt (some student loan and minimal credit card debt). I eventually paid everything off just by being frugal and cutting back – I didn't know about "side hustles" then. 🙂 Now I am debt free and loving it.

    Reply
  14. J. Money says

    May 30, 2013 at 9:27 am

    The only loan I have left is our dang mortgage, so I'm working on paying it off by sending extra every month towards the principal 🙂 Not very clever/new, but you better believe it's working!
    My recent post Side Hustle Series: I Wash Cars!

    Reply
  15. danceintherain88 says

    May 30, 2013 at 10:38 am

    As someone who wants a healthy relationship with my credit cards, I love the "Master Your Plastic" lesson. Not only do they have helpful articles, their lessons offer personalized approaches to help managed money and debt.
    My recent post The anti-lazy bum playlist

    Reply
  16. Renee S says

    May 30, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    The salt website has a lot of interesting information. I found this infographic https://saltmoney.org/content/media/Infographic/t… that compares student loan debt and compares it to major movie box office sales. As a movie lover, this hit home for me. Thank you for the giveaway!

    Reply
  17. Ruby says

    May 30, 2013 at 12:48 pm

    I did not take out more than I needed for school but probably should have thought about how much it was actually going to be!

    Reply
  18. Shannon says

    May 30, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    Great site, and important to get the SALT message out! When my husband and I married, we continued to live off of one income and used my salary to pay off our loans. It was an easy transition because we'd been used to living off our own salary anyways! Debt free in a few years and I'm so grateful.

    Reply
  19. Crystal @ PET says

    May 30, 2013 at 3:39 pm

    Congrats on the fast loan payoff! We just paid off our rent house a couple of months ago and are saving up to pay our current house off faster or buy another rent house. It will feel so good to eventually be debt free!
    My recent post Ways to Build Credit Without Relying Solely on Credit Cards

    Reply
  20. Kris says

    May 30, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Congrats! I was a lucky one who came out with no debt, but am considering taking some on for grad school…
    My recent post Chicago, A Brief Food and Drink Tale

    Reply
  21. Meghan says

    May 31, 2013 at 12:27 am

    I signed up!
    I did have high tuition and now have high interest, but I definitely took out more than I needed. I worked full time through college, and while I didn't spend loan money on many frivolous items (that I can remember), I spent my salary on whatever I wanted. I should have saved part of my income to pay for school. I did do one decently smart thing to try to rectify the err of my ways. I took out the max in federal loans to pay off the Citi private loan with 10.5% interest. I was the first in my family to go to college, and my brother has been able to learn from my mistakes, fortunately! He also had parental help, which I didn't have.

    Reply
  22. Lorna says

    May 31, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    Congratulations on seeing the end of your student loan payoff journey! I graduated with my BS in 1998 and a MS in 2004. Total students loans was about 24K. I have been paying more than the minimum but the balance was slowly decreasing. This past January I switched jobs and was able to contract with my previous employer on a part-time basis for the last 6 months in addition to my full-time job. I also worked 20-30 hours a week during tax season. Putting in all this extra time has allowed me to pay off the last $10,500 of my student loans on May 21 – just a few short days ago! Am excited to be able to utilize the money that was going to student loans to achieve additional financial goals!

    Reply
  23. Shane says

    May 31, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    I am paying the minimums on all but one of my loans with the highest interest rate, and putting everything extra a month I can towards that. Just seeing that one loan total fall has helped me immensely, at least mentally.

    Reply
  24. Caitlin says

    May 31, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    I definitely didn't take out more than I needed, and I actually returned some of my loans because I was able to live more cheaply than my school calculated I would. Right now the loans are in deferment, and I'm trying to figure out a strategy for paying them off without worrying too much about them. This is the first time I'll be in debt, and grad school loans are no joke!

    Reply
  25. mrmike4587 says

    May 31, 2013 at 2:12 pm

    I've taken the sacrifice now approach. I'm throwing an extra $1000 a month at my loans and still won't be paid off until 4 years 🙁

    Reply
  26. teensgotcents says

    May 31, 2013 at 5:27 pm

    I don't have any student loan debt and am working hard to keep it that way. Saving as a high school student is not easy but I know that it will be worth it! Thanks so much for the give away!
    My recent post Dollars and Cents with CFO Jeff Atwater

    Reply
  27. Rachel says

    May 31, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    Wow Michelle you are my hero! I took out too much for my three degrees, over $100k. I'm working on paying off credit cards and my smallest school loan. I will put my info into saltmoney and see if that helps me. I like the design of the site.

    Reply
  28. LBD says

    May 31, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    I've been concentrating on snowflaking every penny I can to my debt. Budgeted $100 for groceries and spent $75? Great, that's $20 for debt. I do strongly regret having taken out loans to get a graduate degree in the humanities…

    Reply
  29. jbutler1914 says

    May 31, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    My loans are currently deferred until August. I will be paying about $300 per month when the deferment period is over.

    Reply
  30. Ashley T says

    June 5, 2013 at 2:08 pm

    I signed up for SALTmoney. I learned about the different types of health insurance options!

    ajoy1332 at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  31. Alex @ Searching for Happy says

    June 13, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    I recently doubled what I’m paying back on my loans. I realized just how much money I was earning for the bank by paying things off at the slower rate!

    Reply
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My name is Michelle and I'm the author/owner of Making Sense of Cents. Learning how to save money and make more money changed my life. It allowed me to pay off $40,000 in student loans, start my own business, and I now travel full-time.

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