Hear ye, hear ye, Money Saving Lords and Ladies! It’s Freedom Friday where I bi-weekly share our progress in becoming completely debt free. It’s also your turn to share your story of debt slaying. Whether you’ve paid off every cent you owe, are just getting started, or live somewhere in the in between, we want to hear from you! We’re better together, share your story and make us all stronger.
If you’ve spent any time at all reading my Freedom Friday posts, you know that sometimes I have to come back to the numbers to remember how much we’ve paid off already to remind myself of what we can accomplish. Sometimes, I get so caught up in making payments, clipping coupons, and pinching pennies that I forget to look at the evidence. And so while I do see the balance of the evil Sorceress Sallie Mae decrease, I don’t really realize to what magnitude it does decrease. Today, I did some Quick reports on Quicken and I liked what I saw. Let’s play a bit of the number comparison game, shall we. For instance, take a looksy at what last year looked like when we were only paying the minimum on student loans while working on other debts in our debt snowball.
- 2009 Sallie Mae Payment Total = $4,701.12
- 2010 Sallie Mae Payment Total = $18,954.84
We’re guessing that we have about two years left before we put the final nail in Sallie Mae’s coffin (but do keep in mind that we’re actually 2 years ahead of where we thought we would be when we started in 2008). However, if we were only making the minimum payment (which I’m sure you could figure out if you’re good at mental math), it would take us until October of 2033!!!!! For those folks keeping count at home, I would be FIFTY SEVEN. I do NOT want to be 57 and paying off Student Loan debt! Heck, I don’t even want to be 37 and paying off Student Loan Debt.
Bottom line, even with what some consider to be “good debt” with a VERY low interest rate (well under 4%) we would end up paying TWICE what we currently owe if only making the minimum payment. And that’s just not something I’m interested in doing. I’d rather use that $ for the Princess’ college, our retirement, and doing FUN stuff!
* Oh and as a side note, if you plan on going to law school, do NOT loan out the full amount. Work your tail off and pay cash. Don’t be deceived into thinking you’ll be pulling down big bucks the first year out of law school. It might happen for a select few, but certainly not the majority of folks (we’re 8 years out and it still hasn’t happened). Lesson learned.
Happy Freedom Friday. I can’t wait until the Friday when I share that we are completely free of the Evil Sallie Mae’s grip and control. What a wonderful day that will! Until then, I’m going to celebrate what debt we have been able to slay and that we’re on the right path. E-mail me your Freedom Friday story to share with the other Money Saving Lords and Ladies in the Court of the Queen of Free!
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