Money

[misshawklet]

I am so bummed to see i still owe 5200 on my student loan. I thought it was a few grand less. If i just keep paying the usual, thats 3.7 more years...ugh. (This is a loan i took out in 2004 to finish my BA when i was in my upper 20s...i guess a 15 year loan.)

Even if i can double the payments, im still looking at 2 years or so. Man!

So right now im

Comments

[checkersumthing]

I like your plan! That is definitely what I would do. Somehow paying it off chunk by chunk is more satisfying to me. Though I would also be tempted to pay it down fast just to be rid of the monthly payment, at the same time you have to balance things out, and the purchases you listed out seem reasonable. I find its easier for me to pay down debt when I don't feel deprived of the occasional large purchase.

[misshawklet]

I agree. I came up with a plan (see comments) but I still think I'll do the chunks kind of simultaneously. It is so satisfying!

[misshawklet]

And also then if I'm saving, if something comes up, I have money to pay for it instead of it all being put on that loan.

[laurasia]

I'd try and up my monthly payments to whatever I could reasonably do without feeling too pained, just because I doubt that you'll get 3.4% interest on savings elsewhere, so it'd be better to pay it down. I know the chunk thing must be more satisfying though...

[misshawklet]

Good point on the interest. I think I'm going to do $50 extra per pay period, after the car, which is almost double payments. Then if I want to do more, I can, but otherwise that's a really doable amount while I should still be able to save money. Perhaps if I get to saving a good amount, I'll use part of it to bring it down in a big chunk.

I just took a chunk of the car payment, so less than 3 more usual payments and its gone, or one and some more of my own money, which is the hope. I think that we are paying it off almost a year early, which is great!

[super_nuova]

Even if you can't do big chunks, doing a little extra when you can would still probably help you feel like you're making progress without feeling like it's looming over your head and you can't spend any other money, ever. I hate money. Ugh.

[misshawklet]

I know, its such a pain!! I think I'm going to do $50 a paycheck, which is $100 a month. I could do more, but then I won't be able to save for bigger things, and I feel like that's also really important right now. That should bring down the time I have the loan but also not feel like I'm broke. Also, we should be able to get rid of PMI on our home loan in the fall. Its only like $50 a month but that's $50 less we'll have to pay! MONEY!!