GOAL

I'm 90% I didn't do the last few days on my 14 days of Love blog thing. I was so out of it on cold medication last week I honestly don't care. I'm finally coming through the worst of it though. My sore throat has disappeared and now I'm just a walking bucket of snot. Which actually isn't too bad; at least I can blow my nose and move on with my life without having to take intense medication that makes me a walking zombie.

So I spent a couple of days doing my best to map out my financial future. It's imbedded in my DNA to try to plan and organize even if it's silly. My life sometimes feels like a series of jokes and downfalls of my plans. What is that saying? "Best laid plans"? I'm making this financial map with a big, giant, humongous grain of salt. I know things occur, I know bad stuff comes up, I know that there will always be road blocks to my goals. HOWEVER, I will work my hardest to reach my goal so I can finally be debt free.

Using an Excel spreadsheet I worked out the numbers if I continue to pay $1745.60 a month in student loans. My original deal with Wells Fargo was a $90,000 loan on a 30 year repayment plan that when calculated with interest will eventually cost me around $230,000 to pay back. BUT, if I stick to my twice a month payment planing (paying a total of $1745.60 a month) I will finish paying off my loan by April 1st of 2018.

It's both amazing and heartbreaking for me to potentially be free of this loan in 5 years. Amazing because not many people can rid themselves of such a large amount of debt in such a short amount of time. Heartbreaking because even though I'll finally be free of debt I'm going to have to miss out on so much. I'll be 33 the time this is (maybe) over. Only then will I be able to start saving for a house and that will take me a few years to do. By the time I can afford a house payment I'll be (probably) 35 or 36. Only then will it be responsible to have children (at least for me). I'm still partially on the fence about having children but I know that if I was to have them I'd want it to be earlier than that. I sometimes think it's best to put away certain life plans because it makes me feel too sad about my current situation. Luckily, I doubt I'll ever get married which (for me) is such a blessing because I could never afford a wedding (even one of those super adorable cheap-y Pinterest weddings).

I don't want this post to be a super bum out, even if I am feeling pretty bummed out right about now. For the past few years my heart has been pulled toward fostering children. Maybe this whole debt thing is to prevent me from having my own biological children because I have a bunch of lovely foster children just waiting for me. I would love to hit 33, be debt free, start creating my dream home and then bringing in loads and loads of children who just need love. I babysit for a friend of mine sometimes and baby's are hard. They crawl everywhere and it's your job to teach this little thing how to be a person. That's a pretty insane thing to do. When you foster children you get this lovely little human who pretty much already knows the basics and it's your job to love them and give them a better home than what they came from. How easy is that?!?! These children come from terrible homes with drug addicted and abusive parents. To be a great parent to them you just have to be there and be healthy and loving. I'm awesome at that.

I figured out a way to make this repayment a little easier to swallow. A reward system (a reward other than the joy I get from not being in debt). Every time I pay off $10,000 in principle I get to buy myself a present. With each $10,000 principle pay off the gifts can get better. They can be whatever I want. I've estimated paying off $10,000 in principle by September 2013 and I've already started thinking about what I want. Nice makeup? Some new clothes? Basically, I want to drop $50-$100 on myself. Yes, that money could go towards my loans but it's nice to treat yourself.

Need Some Inspiration

There comes a time in everyone's journey (towards whatever) that you need a little motivation/inspiration/fuel for your fire. I'm about to end month one of a two year journey towards financial freedom. I keep looking at how far I have to go instead of looking at (and appreciating) all the progress that I've made. So while I sit here and enjoy my morning coffee and eggs here are some easily Googled stories of other people who have faced the student loan debt monster and survived.

Paying off $22,000 in debt in 18 months

Paying off $15,000 in Student Loan Debt
Does it make me a monster to sort of eye-roll when people talk about "debt" that's under $20k? I'm pushing triple digit debt over here and would KILL for some itty bitty amount like that.

Advice for those with Medical School Debt
Apparently it is not uncommon for those with Medical School Debt to make student loan payments of $3,000 a month. I'm sure they probably look at my debt situation and eye-roll, haha. Also, in order to keep things in perspective this article talks about how there are still senators making payments on their student loans.

I had found other articles but I've already featured them before, there's the crazy kid who ate rotten food to save money (don't do that, just buy fresh food, paying off debt isn't that important) and then the jerk face who managed to pay off $90,000 in student loan debt in one year (and he just happens to make $100k a year).

This isn't the greatest blog post of all time but every once in a while it's important to remember that you're not alone in debt. Millions of people have money problems and there's so much inspiration and good advice out there. I'm going to make it through this mess, it's not going to be easy and it's going to take some time but in 2 years I'm going to be in such a better place.

Crunching Numbers

Source

Way, way, way back in September of 2011 I posted my monthly budget. I was trying to figure out ways to save up for my student loan bills. It was after that time that I was mailed the letter saying I owed $821 a month in student loans. I want to take a look back and update the numbers to see how far I've come in a little over a year.

Looking back I have no idea how I managed to scrap an extra $745.60 out of my 2011 finances. I know I couldn't really afford to make any more payments on my previous student loan which was embarrassing and frustrating. Luckily, my Mom was able to help me with that. I am very proud to say that I have made every student loan payment now myself and even though it's hard I feel very accomplished for doing this.

How I saved money this past year:
-Got a better job where I make about $10,000 more a year (thank you Lord!!)
-Moved in with my boyfriend, splitting the costs of bills is a life saver
-Free cable and Internet due to my boyfriends job (yes!)

I've been taking the bus more and more which is great at saving on gas costs. I've been terrible about it this past month because it's been really cold and I've been working two jobs. Leaving the house at 5am or 6am and getting off at 10pm is hard enough without having to wait for a bus. But it's definitely my goal to take it more this month. Got to pinch pennies where ever you can!

If you noticed above the difference between what I spend now versus what I make leaves a nice little chunk of ~$1000 left each month. This would be the extra $1000 I plan on spending each month on my student loans. I had contemplated just making an additional payment each month and putting the rest in savings but the difference is pretty astounding:

I remember every time I called Wells Fargo and asked for help I never understood why they only thing they suggested was paying more. Now I sort of get it, it's the interest that kills you. I'm at about 8% interest right now and most of what I pay doesn't do anything to chip away at the principal loan. They way I see it, this year I'm paying around $6000 dollars in interest no matter what, I'd rather pay a little extra and pay off $3000 more of my loan. I've done the math for about 2 years out and if I keep making huge payments I could knock it down to around $50,000 which is so much more manageable than close to $100,000. Now, this math is all based around my interest rate staying at 8%, knowing my luck it'll skyrocket to a million and I'll just die. However, if that doesn't happen, or if *gasp* luck could smile down upon me and LOWER that interest rate I can make such a huge interest in 2 years. I'm a little bummed about not being able to save for a house but once I pay off this thing I'll have so much extra cash it'll take me a year to save up.

So that's it. That's my financial goal for this year. Pay as much of this silly, stupid, God awful loan off as I can. However, here's the catch. I want to be able to do it and still have a life. I read an article recently about a guy who managed to pay off $26,500 in student debt in 2 years. This is great. Except dude did some CRAZY ass shit, like not turning on the heater in Atlanta winters. I turn on the heater and I live in Texas. He also sometimes ate spoiled food. I'm all about financial goals and sacrifices but I want to prove that it is entirely possible to save money and pay off debt without becoming a shell of a person. I can live life and live it BETTER than before because I'm becoming more and more financially sound.

Life and Loans

Married to the Sea only speaks the truth.

Wells Fargo is the bank that holds my student loans. Long story short I didn't qualify for federal student loans so I had to get private bank loans. About a week or so ago I received a letter saying my payments were set at $821 a month. Cue crying. Lots and lots of crying.

I called and tried to explain my situation and Wells Fargo did a really great job of not giving a fuck. They told me the only way to lower the payments was to consolidate. So I tried and got denied. They asked for a co-signer. My mom and I got denied. They asked for ANOTHER cosigner. My mom, my dad, and I got denied. They asked if I could ask some friends. I told them I don't know anyone without debt. My parents and I all have credit scores in the 750+ range and yet we still didn't qualify for any help. Supposedly Wells Fargo wants my money but they sure are being dicks about how they take it. I can make payments of around $300 a month and that apparently isn't good enough.

I won't lie this whole process made me pretty depressed. Whenever I start feeling this way I allow myself one epic evening of pity party fun. I went out and bough a stuffed crust supreme pizza, hot wings, and peanut butter cup ice cream. I drank whiskey and stuffed my face and felt so sorry for myself. I cried. I ate. Cried some more. I got pretty drunk and watched animal videos on youtube. I got every ounce of self pity out so the next morning I could get to work.

The next morning I started looking for a second job. While it may suck I know it's possible to work the job that I currently do and have other employment. My lead does it and in my mind she's a superstar. She works TWO full time jobs and goes to school for her masters. If she can do it, I can do it. I used to be a barista so I dropped off a few applications (I got a call back today for an interview, fingers crossed it works out). If I can't find new employment I can always pick up shifts at my old job. Either way, I'm working more. I called Wells Fargo back to see how much money I would have to make to qualify for consolidation (I was told one of the reasons we were denied was because the debt to income ratio was too high).

I was told that not only was my debt to income ratio too high but that since I had only been at my job for a month that I didn't have a long and stable work history. I told the guy that I had been at my last job since 2006 and I was technically on the payroll and still worked some shifts. He ended up crunching a few numbers and just that small fact lowered my payment by $200 bucks. He told me to have my dad re-submit his information because maybe he forgot to include the contract jobs that he sometimes does and we could finally qualify.

So, here's the thing that I don't understand. The fact that I made more money than originally thought LOWERED my payments. How does that work? Shouldn't it be the fact that I'm broke as fuck and don't have an extra $800 that lowers my payments? If I had more income I should be expected to pay more. It's like when places like Baskin Robbins or KFC give celebrities life time free cards. You know, the same celebrities who make millions and millions and can afford a $5.99 meal. Companies should be giving poor and hungry families life time free cards but that's not how it works. While I've somewhat known it all along the system is really set up to fuck the poor. Fuck them good and hard. All I want to do is pay back my loan and still be able to eat food and have electricity and Wells Fargo is making it close to fucking impossible.

I already told the guy I will call back every day until my loans get consolidated. EVERY DAY. Sold a piece of jewelry on Ebay? Better call because that $5 sale could lower my payment. Get this job as a barista? Gonna call so I can get closer to qualify. I got all of the sadness and the tears out of my system and now all that's left is piss and vinegar. Wells Fargo doesn't know who they are fucking with. As God is my witness my loans WILL BE consolidated and my payment WILL be lowered to a reasonable amount.