Here’s How You Can Plan And Pay Off Your Student Debt In Few Years
Turning 30 is a pretty significant milestone. When you turn 30, you start settling down, starting a family, and climbing the success stairs at work. However, some people are worried about paying their student debt.
Please see several videos: Creative Ways to Reduce Student Loan Debt:
An interviewed person told us she had $80k in student debt by graduating. Half has already been paid since she allocated a thousand dollars monthly towards the debt. When she turned 27, she decided to spend the remnant of her debt ($40,000 at an interest of 6%) in three years, given that now she has job stability.
A quick calculation revealed that she needed to allocate $1300 towards his debt to reach his goals. This meant she somehow needed to save another $300 for her loan. After thoroughly evaluating all the expenses, she picked areas where she could relocate funds and started her crusade to save extra money.
Cutting Up On Makeup Money: saves $20/month.
You can save money you spend on makeup by ensuring it lasts longer.
Don’t give in to your impulsive buying; buy only the needed stuff. When your product is about to finish, you can scrape the remnant from the bottle using a tool.
Try getting free samples; if not, try availing of an offer or a discount. Many websites offer excellent deals online. When your main bottle runs out, you can use the ones you got as free samples.
Be sure not to overspend on drinking; it saves $40/month.
If you drink wine in New York City, a single glass costs $10, which is $40 monthly. By avoiding drinking at happy hours or dining in BYOB restaurants, you can save as much as $40 each month. Drinks and bottled water are also limited; you have to start relying on tap water to quench your thirst.
Surviving on necessary Groceries: saves $60/month.
She used to buy lunches costing $10 to $15 at work, and buying them multiple times at work can increase expenses, along with the regular groceries for which she had paid $120. She reduced her monthly food budget to $80 to $100. She had done it in two ways:
Firstly, getting lunch at the office was no longer an option, and she bought only what she would eat. She kept pre-chopped avocado, romaine, carrots, and cucumbers to eat as a salad at work or used packed, easy-to-make soup. She had sweet potatoes, veggies, and chicken for dinner. By constantly checking how much she was spending, she came down to $15 a week on food.
She is lucky to have free food around and at work constantly, and eating the free food available helped her save a lot. She ate porridge or yogurt for breakfast. She doesn’t put down any opportunity to eat free food, which is sometimes ample to skip dinner. Her budget includes her food in the pantry, which she hasn’t eaten. She goes out for grocery shopping only when it is necessary.
Since food is what most people live for, and she is one of them. She felt very nervous at first and doubted if she would ever be able to achieve it. It was challenging, for sure, to limit your purchase based on a small budget. She realized how much she used to spend on junk food and unhealthy items, which she never finished. She learned that buying tiny, utilizing it all is efficient, and then going to the grocers for more than buying all in bulk and wasting the food and money.
Cutting Down On Spending Wherever Possible: saves $50/month.
Accommodation in New York is expensive; she used to pay $1350 rent for her place, but she realized she could cut down on it and save a few bucks. When her lease is over in October, she is considering moving to another place where she must pay $1000. This meant moving away from the city, increasing her commute time (currently 20 minutes) by 10-20 minutes. She will have to stay and deal with roommates, but the money she will save to put towards her loan will make it all worthwhile.
Since everybody can’t afford to move out of their place, you can try cutting down other expenses. She negotiated her gym membership with her gym manager and reduced it to $40 from $80 monthly. She practically negotiated with him and told him she compared the rates with several gyms, and she wouldn’t be there for most of the sessions, so $40 was a pretty reasonable price, and the gym manager agreed with her.
She gave up her cable subscription, too, because Netflix is chill!
Side-Hustling: Money Earned $200/month
Doing something on the side to earn some extra bucks is a prevalent trend today. Since she enjoys writing, she will try freelancing and make money by giving ample time to learn a skill. She also explored making up for friends, selling dresses, tutoring, animal sitting, and babysitting.
Using Credit Cards To Earn Rewards
People can get $40 from the card they use to spend money. Using a credit card responsibly and paying the balances immediately does the trick. Consistently using her card will give her extra benefits, like an air ticket to an event, which she would otherwise have to pay out of the money she has been saving towards her loan.
The primary three ideas to reduce student loan debt are:
After leaving Wells Fargo Bank in 2014, Daniel began a career as a finance consultant, advising companies and individuals on economic policy, labor relations, and financial management.
At Promtfinance.com, Daniel writes about personal finance topics, value estimation, budgeting strategies, retirement planning, and portfolio diversification.
Read more on Daniel Smith's biography page.
Contact Daniel: daniel@promtfinance.com