Money Matters

Hey, everybody!

I'm back, writing this because we're expecting snow here in Alabama. I'm not anticipating getting much, so instead, I've been working on getting ahead in my work and on making my loan repayment calendar. When my loan for the spring hit, my interest went from being under $20 to being over $70. Although I honestly have a small loan (my loan for all 4 years should be less than one year completely out of pocket), I still would like as much of my debt to be gone before I even graduate.

My plan to attack this debt is to go ahead and pay monthly, even if it only takes away interest. Compound interest is making it difficult to pay this loan off and I've barely made any loans. By paying $90 a month, the amount I owe by the end of February is STILL more than what I currently owe. To pay off my loan, I'd need to pay over $400 a month. Y'all look, if I had $400 a month, I could afford to not have student loans.

I'm selling on poshmark and transferring the money I earn back to my bank account so I can make more payments. I'm earning commissions on Arbonne. I'm avoiding using my debit card as much as possible. Next semester, once I can save $1000 on my meal plan alone, I'm going to take that extra money and use it to seriously pay back my loan. Either that, or I won't take out the full loan. I'm going to have to look more closely at the long-term effects of that.

I understand why my parents wanted me to take out the loan- it builds my credit score and I can honestly start paying it back relatively easily- but this is a hole I'm having to dig myself out of. I'm 18. I shouldn't have to sign my life away for a degree, yet sadly my loan is one of the smallest I know of. I have friends who are paying as much as I will for 4 years for only one semester even while on scholarship. I don't want to do that. I want to pay off each year's loan before the next year, but even if I can only pay off a semester at a time, I'll be happy.

If you're in college and have already started paying back your loans, how did you do it? If you've graduated and have paid off your loan (or are close to it), I'm also curious as to what you did.