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Have you ever felt like the weight of your student loan debt (or any other debt for that matter) was going to completely crush you? I have. I remember clearly sitting in the reserve section of the law library during my final semester of law school, opening up the website to view mine and my hubby’s combined student loan debt and feeling the weight of that student loan debt on my shoulders. I had no idea what repayment plan to choose. I didn’t have a job. I had a new baby. I didn’t know where to turn, who to talk with, or where to even start figuring out how to pay off student loans. That night was one of the only nights in my life where I didn’t sleep a wink. I just tossed and turned and worried about how I was going to payoff my student loan debt.
After speaking with several financial advisers, the financial aid department at my law school, friends, other students, and anyone else on earth that would listen to my questions, I resolved that I was going to payoff student loans fast. I didn’t know how I was going to accomplish this task, but I knew I was going to do it.
We’ve paid off $200,000 of student loan debt in 2 years by first committing to paying off my student loans. I read everything I could about personal finance and paying off debt quickly. I prioritized paying off my student loans above all other financial goals. I did things to earn extra money and lived on a tight budget. Would you be surprised if I told you that I actually gave money away during this time? And lastly, I did things to help me stay motivated.
So, here is exactly how you can payoff student loans fast, based on my experience doing so.
HOW TO PAY OFF STUDENT LOANS FAST
Educate Yourself.
Since I didn’t know much about paying off student loans (or other debt) I read everything I could about debt repayment strategies to make sure I was choosing the plan that was right for me. I can’t overstate the importance of educating yourself on your available options for dept repayment. That lead me to reading everything I could about personal finance and how to make and keep money. It prompted me to start this website, where I do my best to simplify student loan debt repayment and help you get out of debt by living on a budget, increasing your income, or simply choosing the right student loan debt repayment plan for you. (Check out our student loans simplified series where we explain each repayment plan so you can make the best choice for you.)
Commit.
The first and most important thing that I did to pay off my student loans, was that I committed to paying off my student loans as quickly as possible. And I know what you are thinking. Commitment can be scary. That is why so few of us millennials are getting married these days. But you can do this. Once my student loans went into repayment, I made the commitment that no matter what, I was going to pay them off myself. I knew I had a lot of options, including student loan forgiveness using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. I was a little on the fence at first, but given that I didn’t have an enormous amount of student loan debt (unlike my husband’s +$600k!) plus the fact thatI didn’t want to be pigeon holed into public service for 10 years (which is required for public service loan forgiveness), I ultimately committed to paying off the debt on my own, without student loan forgiveness. It was important to choose one path and stick to it. Once I made the decision, there was no more sitting on the fence because every dollar that I put into paying off my loans would have been wastedif in the end I went with the forgiveness route. In short, I went all in and never looked back.
Prioritize.
I prioritized paying off my student loans above all spending or other financial goals. And when I say I, what I really mean is we (me and husband Danny). We made (and continue to make) paying off student loan debt a priority. It had to be a family affair. If you share money with someone, you can’t pay off debt unless everyone involved is on board, and willing to prioritize the debt above all else. We prioritized paying off student loans by living on a strict budget and literally putting every extra cent into paying off student loans.
Get a good job.
Getting a job is kind of the first obvious step to paying off your student loans. I didn’t worry about my student loans for one second while I was in school. But all of the sudden, the weight of my student loans hit me hard right before I was about to graduate without a job and with a new baby in my arms. From that moment forward, I searched high and low for the perfect job. Most of the areas I was interested in were not big money makers. On top of that, I had a new baby that I was interested in seeing. I also, however, wanted to practice law. In the end, I took a job that was PERFECT for me. It was not a huge money maker, but it was a public interest job that I LOVED, paid enough, and afforded me time to be with my baby and to work on some of my side hustles. Oncemy baby was a little older and I had a little more law experience, I took a better paying job. Ideally, you should choose a job that you enjoy AND that pays you well. I can testify that they do exist! But this will take a lot of time and effort on your part hustling around to not only find that job, but then to get it. Trust me, it is worth the effort.
Find a good side hustle.
Depending on how well paying (and how many hours you are working) you may consider some sort of side hustle to help increase your income so you can make even more payments on your student loans. For example, I started this blog. I took photographs for people. I used free cash back appsfor all of my grocery shopping. I painted houses, babysat, mowed lawns, and took online surveys. I reviewed, negotiated, and drafted contracts for people. (and still do!) There were few things that I wasn’t willing to do for a little extra cash. And in the end, it paid off big time. It would have taken me MUCH longer to pay off my debt if I only had my day job. Start by finding something that you either enjoy or you are good at. Do you like driving and talking to people? Consider being an Uber driver. Do you like riding your bike? Consider offering delivery services being a Postmate. Do you have a unique talent? Blog about it. Get creative. I got really into selling my old stuff .(Learn everything you need to know about selling things on Amazon here).
Create and stick to a budget.
Creating and sticking to a budget is KEY to payoff student loans fast. It does not have to be a needlessly complicated budget. Just a simple budget that tracks your income and spending so that you know how much extra money can go towards paying off your student loans each month. We budgeted every penny that we earned. I started being more careful with grocery spending and other areas of our budget that were somewhat easy to control. We sat (and still sit) together every Sunday night and plan out how much money is going to go where for the coming week and month(s). If you don’t have a budget, you can learn about the easiest budgeting method ever, here.
Give money away.
I know it seems counter intuitive, but we pay 10% tithing to our church even though we’re paying off student loans. I truly believe that if you are willing to give money to a good cause, it has a way of coming back to you. Kind of like karma. It just seems like the more willing I am to give, the easier money comes back to me. Hoaxy, maybe, but it worked for me. It is never going to get easier to give money away. In fact, in my personal experience, I’ve found that the more money I have, the harder it is to give some of it away. So get in the habit now of being the kind of person that gives. Even if it is selfishly motivated– because that money will find its way back to you and then some. You won’t magically become a giving person the day that you pay off your student loans. You have to practice being a giving person and the best time to start is now. You don’t have to give 10% to a church– you can give whatever you can afford to whatever cause is near and dear to you. My man Brian Tracy says “being a more generous person will help you attract more wealth and become a happier person.” So find some ways to be generous! It can range from giving money away to devoting some of your time to a good cause.
Refinance your student loans.
After we committed to payoff student loans fast, we refinanced our student loans. Refinancing our student loans was CRUCIAL to help us payoff student loans even faster. This is true because we were able to get a much lower interest rate (about half of what we were paying with our Grad Plus loans) which meant that more of our money could go to the principal balance of the loan instead of going towards interest. Refinancing your student loans means that you basically sell your federal loans to a private lender, who then lumps all of your loans together and generally provides you with a lower interest rate than what you are paying. It’s super easy and fast to check whether or not its worth it to refinance (and does not impact your credit score). If you have interest rates above 5%, depending on the balance of your loan(s), it is probably worth it for you to refinance your student loans. For my husband’s +$600k of student loans, refinancing literally saved us a couple HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars. So it is definitely something that is worth looking into if you haven’t yet. (We used CommonBond to refinance his since they offered us the lowest interest rate).
Do things to stay motivated.
Probably the hardest part about paying off student loans is staying motivated. It can be a long and grueling process. Even though we paid off my debt quickly (in 18 months!) we still have well over $500,000 of student loan debt from Danny’s dental school and master’s degree. Some days it can just flat out get you down, but staying motivated is key to paying it off. But how do you stay motivated?
Well fortunately for you, there’s an app for that. I created an app called Paidback which is purely a debt motivational tool– it’s completely free to download and all of the tools are free– you can track your debt in one place which is motivating, connect with other like minded people who are paying off debt, which keeps you motivated and accountable, and use our debt calculators to discover ways to save money and motivate you to pay it off even faster. You can also text our debt experts (real humans!) your burning debt questions, like “what debt should I pay off first?” You can download it for free here:
We also had weekly money meetings to chat about our debt and budget. We reminded ourselves about interest and how each day, interest is accruing and accruing. We also set goals for things that we will do after our debt is paid off. We even budgeted for splurges while we were still paying off student loans, such as taking a beach vacation on a tight budget. This helped us bond as a family, blow off some steam, but all while not allowing our spending to go out of control on vacation.
So, there you have it. If you want to payoff student loans fast, make sure you consult with a person who knows what they are talking about (like the Student Loan Planner), and or educate yourself,commit to it, make it a priority, increase your income, live on a budget, be generous with your time and or money, and do things to keep yourself motivated. If this list seems overwhelming to you, simply start at the top and work your way down over time.
Have you paid off your student loans? What strategies did you use? I’d love to hear from you.
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