If only I didn’t have debt, I could work part time. PART TIME! I could get a whole 20 hours back plus travel plus time getting ready for work if I didn’t have debt. How did I come to this conclusion? Well I took my budget, added categories so that I could group my expenses by things related to maintenance for my car, birthday/Christmas/vacation time with my family, fitness, groceries, etc. Student loan payments alone account for 7% of my weekly take home pay. And 7% of 40 hours equates to 2.82 hours spent staring at a computer, trying to get leaders to understand you need to make more money than you spend, and overall wishing I didn’t have debt. When you add in the extra student loan payments I’m making, in lieu of #Save21, I’m spending 41.58% of my take home pay or 16.63 hours working to pay off my student loans early.
I made a mid-March decision to forgo saving any more money and focusing my efforts on paying off my student loans. I’m still a huge fan of saving money but when I looked at how long it will take to pay off my student loans without those extra payments I felt a huge pit in my stomach. I need for my sanity and mental health to break free from student loans. They are like an elephant on my chest every day. I regret getting my MBA every single day since nearly all financial/audit related jobs only require an accounting degree. But here I am. I have a $20,000 MBA that I have been paying on since 2013.
Whatever. Honestly I am thrilled that I have finally gotten my finances together. These charts just confirmed my suspicions. I could work a heck of a lot less if I didn’t have debt. Now that I’m all fired up, see how much I spend in 2021 during my third no spend year! So far this month I spent $47. $25 for a chair so that I can give Mr. BMM the living room to watch whatever he wants to watch and $22 for a running race.
I’m in a constant dilemma about whether to put money into investments, pay off my student loan or pay down my mortgage. Sometimes it comes down to psychology rather than interest rates!
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I completely agree! I started 2021 with 100% investing and had to switch back to paying off debt.
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Absolutely! I had to pivot from investing to paying off my student loans purely for my mental health. Being debt-free is more powerful than investments right now for me.
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