How I Plan to Pay Off $34,000 In Debt In 12 Months
I always told myself that I was financially smart. There has always been some form of a budget. I have some savings. The only debt I had was student loans. I didn’t even get a credit card until the week before my 22nd birthday and I was irrationally proud of that.
Fast forward six months and I feel like I am drowning. Not that I am not making enough money, but that I realized how much debt I actually have.
$34,000 in student loans, credit cards, and a car payments. 90% of it being student loans.
I told myself I would never ever be like the rest of America, just running on credit.
But here I am.
I didn’t need my Jeep as bad as I just really wanted it. It is probably one of the nicest vehicles that I have ever owned, but I could have waited. Instead, I got a loan for it.
With the loan, came a credit card to help build my credit so my dad didn’t have to cosign a loan if I needed a loan again. Blah.
I did the math and just paying the minimum payments, I would be paying off my student loans for almost 22 years and that’s without the interest that would accumulate.
A month and a half later, after the Christmas shopping has been completed, I am feeling a little like every other American at this time.
The post Christmas- “I am broke” blues.
While “broke” may not be exactly the word that most people would use to describe a 22 year old that has a solid Army paycheck coming in two days, it’s definitely how I feel.
While there are so many negative descriptions of us, but there are also a few positives that I think better describe some of us. Willing to work for what they want, technology savvy, the best work/life balance of any generation are just a few.