Pretty much everything that I ever want to "achieve" has to be done through baby steps. You may think this has made me a patient person. Nay, dear reader. Negatory. I have mentioned before that this is one of those areas where God is continually dealing with me.
One of my goals is to be free of student loan debt by the age of 32. This is a huge goal, but one that I feel is do-able. I will be finished with school at age 26, but will only be provisionally licensed (a.k.a. reduced earning power) until the age of 27. That gives me a mere five years to be done with over $125,000 of debt. I'm not sure of the exact amount yet since I have another year of potential debt to factor in. I am certain that I can get this done even in that short amount of time. God has always provided an abundance for me; if I continue to be smart with His money, I know I will get it done.
I have three other things on my side:
1) I will be eligible to enroll in a program that will pay $20,000 per year toward my student loans for a minimum of three years (providing this program is still in place in 3 years)
2) I am honing my frugal living craft now. I will not make a huge amount of money as a beginning psychologist in southwest Missouri. But the amount I will make is plenty. If I can continue to live below my means, I will have extra money to throw at the debt.
3) I will have no other debt but student loan. No car, credit card, or house debt providing that all continues to go well.
In the meantime, I have decided to start paying back money on my loans. I do not have a job, so this can be tricky, especially since I am also saving for certain things. I have decided to allocate my money in the following manner:
1) Any windfalls, tax refunds, rebate checks, and consignment shop monies will go to savings.
2) Anything that I sell (other than at the consignment shop) will go toward the debt. This means eBay, half.com, garage sales, and so on. I may also do some mystery shopping, and this money would go toward debt.
I have already listed some books on half.com and am gathering other things to sell on eBay. I am not happy with eBay's fee structure, though. Has anyone had any success with Yahoo auctions? Also, I may set up an Etsy store sometime in the next few months. Stay tuned!
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Keep up the good work with your debt! Being debt free can be possible. My wife and I went to a private college and we were free of student loans in less than 5 years. Currently we only have a mortgage payment and we should be done with that early too!
Living below your means is the way to do it and you are right, we are stewards of the things God has given us. One day we will need to give an account of ourselves. I am personally hoping to hear that wonderful phrase found in Matthew 25, "Well done, Good and faithful servant."
For more inspiration check out these blogs.
Thinking at Doe Valley
and
Musings of a Maverick
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