Want to learn how to pay off student loans fast? Here’s how I paid off my $40,000 student loan debt in just 7 months.
In July of 2013, I finished paying off around $40,000 in student loan debt. This still does not seem real to me. I honestly thought that I would be paying this forever. The minimum payments scared me as well. Many people have asked me how to pay off student loans fast, and I am here to help.
We were saving for quite some time, and then towards the end I just started plopping down as much money as we possibly could towards my student loan debt.
I worked like crazy as well. We both increased our day job income significantly over the year before and put this increase in earnings towards paying off our student loans quickly.
We also never really increased our budget. Yes, we did buy new cars, but weirdly enough our budget did not increase.
This is because we switched to more frugal entertainment (such as hiking, riding our bikes, etc. – and not focusing on spending every last penny on clothing), and we also focused on cooking better meals at home for ourselves. So our income kept increasing, but our budget did not.
How to pay off student loans fast.
See if your employer will reimburse your education expenses so that you can pay off your student loans fast.
Some companies will pay your student loans quickly if you work for them. I even know of someone who receives a $2 bonus for each hour that she works for student loans.
$2 may not seem like a lot, but if you work full-time then that’s over $300 a month. $300 a month for student loans is a good amount! And, it’s free money so it can all just be put towards paying off your student loans quickly.
Reduce your interest rate for your student loan repayment plan.
If you automatically pay your student loans each month or consolidate them, then sometimes you can get an interest rate reduction. With Sallie Mae, I believe the reduction is 0.25%. Not a ton, but that is something!
Pay extra towards your loans each month in order to pay off student loans fast.
If you’re wondering “How can I pay off my student loans faster?” – then this is a major tip!
You will, of course, have to start paying extra towards your loans.
Even if you don’t have a ton of spare money in your budget, even an extra $25 is important. Most people can find a spare $25 in their budget, so go and look!
Increase your income to pay off your student loans fast.
It’s no secret that I love making side income. It makes life so much easier. Without it, I definitely do not think that I would have been able to pay off my student loans as quickly.
You can completely pretend that this extra income is not in your budget, and just shuffle ALL of this extra income towards student loan debt so that you do not miss it. If you have any extra time, then I’m sure that there is something out there that you can do to make extra money.
For me, the main thing I did to make extra money was by blogging and freelancing. If you are interested in starting a blog of your own, I have a tutorial that will show you how to easily make a blog of your own in just minutes. You can find the tutorial here.
Related articles:
- 75+ Ways To Make Extra Money
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- 10 Things I’ve Done To Make Extra Money
- Ways To Make An Extra $1,000 A Month
- How to Earn Extra Income Part 1
Decrease your spending for your student loan repayment plan.
There are plenty of ways to decrease your spending. Decreasing your spending can really help you pay off your loans more quickly because you can throw all of your extra income towards your student loans.
There are plenty of ways for you to lower your income. Check out the articles below:
- How To Save 50% Or More Of Your Income
- Saving Over $2,000 A Year With Republic Wireless Review – How Much Money Could You Save?
Think about your goal for your student loan repayment plan.
Yes, student loan repayment can seem very stressful when you think about it. Many people owe thousands and thousands in student loans. And, no matter how old you are, it can seem impossible. However, think about your goal and how good life will be once all of your student loan debt is gone.
Try to not let it get you down. Think positively and attack that debt so that you can pay off your student loans fast!
There are many creative ways to pay off student loans, so if you are feeling like you don’t have much motivation, I recommend creating a vision board.
Is it smart to pay off student loans quickly?
This depends on the person and their own personal finance situation. If you have debt, then it can be a good idea to pay it off quickly.
I recommend reading Pay Off Debt Or Save Money – Is One Better For You? to help you make the decision.
How long will it take to pay off student loans?
The amount of time hat it takes you to pay off your student loans will vary. This may depend on factors such as:
- how much money you put towards your student loans each month
- the amount that you have in student loans
- your interest rate
- What is the smartest way to pay student loans?
Some people pay them off quickly, and others may take longer.
What are you doing to pay off your student loans fast?
Recommended reading: How To Pay Off Student Loans Faster by Starting a Side Hustle
Leave a Reply
Michelle–I am so proud of you. You worked for a really long time to do this, and you paid them off early!!! I think the most important thing to pay off any debt is to pay more than the minimum. Like you said, even 25.00 more will help.
Great job!!!!
Thank you Allison! 🙂
I totally agree that every extra dollar you can put towards loans makes a big difference. It can help cut the long term amount of debt you are paying since the principal is reducing at a faster rate. So every dollar you pay after making an extra payment has a bigger effect. It might not feel like it at first, but it does make a big difference.
I enrolled in auto payments I think it saves money–any little bit helps. The thing with automatic payments is that you then have to remember to make the extra payments, since just the minimum is taken out–which will never get you out of debt! : )
Yes exactly! I did the automatic payments plus paid extra.
I didn’t like paying rent in college so I bought a condo. The market went through the roof right after I graduated so I sold it and paid off my student loans. It was the biggest check I’ve ever received AND ever written.
That is awesome Taynia!
I’ve been trying to do extra payments at least every other month (50-100) and I feel like it’s really making big difference.
That’s great Betsy. Good job!
I have about a year and a bit left to pay my student loans. I throw all the extra money I have towards it, bonuses, third paychecks, side income… $18k left to go!
That’s awesome. It will be gone before you know it!
We’ve definitely gone the increase income and pay extra toward the loans route. It has been working well for us and we are working towards killing our student loan debt as fast as possible!
WOOOOHOO Lance 🙂
I doubled how much I’m paying on my loans every month which brings down my 25 year loan to about 6 years. I also pay biweekly which shaves some off. Will be putting more and more side hustle income toward it so I can totally destroy these loans in a matter of a few more years. Perseverance!
That is awesome! Just proves how helpful it is.
You’re the best Michelle! Getting rid of these is so great. I’m down to 5k from 60. So close!!
You are doing great!
Congrats!
We started with $175,000 in student loans in 2010 and have whittled our balance down to $47,000 now. We hope to have them paid off by the end of 2014.
Wow that is amazing progress!
I did similar things with my car loan. I paid them off 3.5 years ahead of the 5 year loan term. I increased my side income significantly and that helped a lot. It also made it so I didn’t get debt repayment fatigue.
I think it’s the best way 🙂
I have to admit, I’m kind of freaking out about mine. I’m very lucky because I had lots of grants and scholarships so I only have about $23,000 in loans but I just put in for a deferment. There’s no way I can afford and extra couple hundred dollar bill each month and I don’t want to hurt my credit or raise my interest because I can’t make a payment. I’m hoping that while I defer for a year, I’ll have at least a few times where I can still plop down some money. I wish there was an easier way to deal with these…
I’m sorry Christine. Have you tried cutting your budget or increasing your income?
I agree. However, my student loans were at a fairly high interest rate and I’m still happy that I was able to eliminate them 🙂
I leveraged your strategy of paying extra to my student loans – I used my side income to pay off my debt quickly. I had about $40k in loans at my peak as well!
It’s a great strategy 🙂
Yes, extra payment is the way to go in any kind of loans. Student and consumer Credit Cards. Congratulation Michelle, you must be gearing up for an epic celebration party.
Thanks! And they’ve been gone for a couple of months now so I’ve been celebrating for quite some time 🙂
That must have been an incredible feeling to pay off those student loans. You are my inspiration! I don’t have student loans, but lots of consumer debt. The hubby and I are taking measures to overpay as much as possible and we’re working on the extra income side of things!
Thanks!
I have found when dealing with multiple debt sources that if you start by paying as much as you can towards that debt while still paying at least the minimum on the others. You can reduce debt sooner because when you are done with the lowest total amount due item you put that money towards the next lowest bill till it is paid off. This gives you the benefit of eliminating interest on one account and adding that payment to the next bill up the line. Just keep going till they are all done . It feels great each time you pay off one.