My hands were shaking as I sat at the computer and got my final student loan payment ready. Queen’s “We are the Champions” was playing loudly as I made my last dang payment. I jumped up in the air, a rush of adrenaline overtook me. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I did it!! I poomed* my student loan debt! Tears filled my eyes. I didn’t realize that I’d have so many emotions. A two hour solo dance party followed in my living room. (Seriously. I actually danced for two hours, by myself, while my dogs gave me weird judgmental looks.)
I feel accomplished. I feel excited about what this year will hold. I feel free! It seemed like i’d never get it paid off, and now it’s finally here and it feels better than I even imagined! I can chase after my dreams more this year without debt holding me back. My student loans were a nuisance, good riddance!
Total paid in 2016 on my student loans: $13,429.16
Our total income for 2016: $37,000
Percent we lived off of: 40%
The other 60% of our income went to charity, investments, savings, and to my student loans.
Note: if you want to know anything more in depth, just leave me a comment on here or on instagram. I will either comment back or write a whole blog post for you.
I consider myself luxuriously frugal. It’s all about knowing what your priorities are. As Paula Pant says, “you can afford anything, but not everything”. It’s important to decide where you are willing to be extremely frugal, and what luxuries you like to have in life. You don’t need to live like a hobo in order to pay off debt quickly.
You need less than you think. You can live a really great life on very little money.
Take action. Be a go-getter. Be dedicated. Be tenacious. Make it happen. Challenge yourself. Lose the “I deserve it” attitude and learn to say no to yourself.
You got yourself into debt, now get the heck out of it!
You can apply these tips to paying off any kind of debt, not just student loans. Or if you don’t have any debt, use these tips to build up your savings.
How to pay off debt
Short version: Cut your expenses, bring in more money, and pay as much as you possibly can on your debt. It’s really quite simple.
Long version: ↓↓↓
Attitude:
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
– Thomas Jefferson
• Be charitable. It’s a universal law that the more you genuinely give, the more you receive. I strongly suggest that you start donating at least 10% of your income to charity. If you are feeling like, “WTF Kayla, I’m so broke as it is! There’s no way I can donate any portion of my money to charity! You’re crazy girl!”… then you my friend, can’t afford NOT to give some money to charity. Seriously trust me on this! Please just try it out. I challenge you!
• Focus on your blessings. Keep a gratitude journal. Write down at least 3 things you are thankful for every single day. Have perspective. Recognize when something is a “first world problem”, then stop complaining and realize how freaking blessed you are!
• Have an abundance mindset. There is plenty more where that came from. Ditch the scarcity mentality.
• Let go of limiting beliefs. Let go of what you think is impossible.
• Budget every single month. Pay everything you think you can to your debt, then pay even more.
• Check your bank account every day. Take control of your finances and your life.
• Think about WHY you want to get out of debt.
Cut expenses:
• Cut every expense possible! Use the concept the power of half. It’s easy and effective! Here is a list of 30 things I don’t buy anymore. After you’ve lowered your expenses, lower them even more and work on eliminating expenses.
• Live in an affordable house. (Move somewhere cheaper, get a roommate, live with your parents etc) Small and inexpensive homes are cool!
• Spend less on food. Cook from scratch. Don’t buy junk and packaged foods. Stop eating out so much. Don’t waste food. Eating a healthy plant based diet is important to me. Regardless of what most people think, it doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg. Nor do you need to slave away in the kitchen daily. My husband and I spend between $75-$150 per month on groceries, for both of us!
Embrace minimalism & a zero waste lifestyle:
• Start using reusables instead of disposables. It’ll save you loads of money, and it’s way better for the environment! Win win.
• Stop buying crap! Only buy the things you actually need. There’s more to life than acquiring possessions. Become aware of why you shop.
• I didn’t buy people gifts in 2016 (with a few exceptions). I did have more reasons than just finances of why I didn’t buy gifts. My 5 year old niece called me out on it at her birthday party haha. No one else seemed to notice or care though.
Enjoy life (frugally):
It’s so important to still live your life as fully as possible when paying off debt. You never now how much time you are going to be given. Make the most of your life, but do it frugally so you can make major financial progress. If you go too extreme on a spending freeze, most likely you will feel deprived and end up counteracting all of your progress with a shopping spree. I know this from experience haha.
• We do a lot of free activities. We only went to the movie theater once in 2016… to see Fantastic Beasts of course. We have state park and national parks passes, which does cost money each year, but it’s totally worth it for us. If you need ideas, here is a list of 50 free things you can do.
• We still traveled, but we did so as cheaply as possible. I’ve read about people who didn’t travel at all for a couple of years in order to pay off their debts. I couldn’t do that. I would legit go insane if I didn’t travel and adventure often. I will probably write a whole blog post on traveling frugally.
• Living a healthy lifestyle will save you a lot of money in the moment and in the long run. Don’t drink or do drugs kids.
Get more money:
• Sell and donate your stuff. Check out man vs. debt for some really good info.
• Ask for money instead of gifts. Use it to pay down your debt.
• Get a part time job, start a side business, or increase what you earn from your current job.
• Correct your mistakes. You are human and will inevitably make mistakes. Recognize when you’ve made a mistake, then do whatever you can to fix it and learn from it. Return impulse purchases. Sell items that you can’t return. I paid cash for an old motorhome last year. It was awesome but the maintenance on it was much more than I anticipated. After realizing my mistake that maybe an RV wasn’t right for me at that point in my life, I posted it on craigslist and sold it for a profit. So my “mistake” actually turned into a money maker.
I hope that you have found this information to be helpful. If you really want to change your financial life, you can! You got this. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for reading this and for visiting The Bohemian Life.
Peace & Love
– Kayla Oliver
*Poomed is a word that my little brother used when he was 3-4 years old. Our mom had cancer and he wanted to “poom” the cancer. Synonyms for it could be, defeat, kick in the butt, slayed etc… it was funny and tender when he used that word, and now it’s become a regular in my vocabulary.
