With some extra elbow grease and also the credit juggling scheme that I bought into earlier this month I now officially owe less than $30,000 in federal student loans. That's $12,000 I've paid off the principle since falling into repayment in August 2013, or $13,700 if you include the $1,700 interest I paid on top of it (with six months of deferred interest payments).
Now granted, due to the aforementioned credit juggling, while I may owe less to the government, I now owe $3,000 to my credit card company (ironically, the lender is the institution I bank with) so technically I'm still over $30,000 in total debt according to my net worth really, which is to say that progress remains the same as ever: slow and steady.
And yet... it's not the same. Not even close. Because perception can be a powerful thing.
My student loan debt began as a large number, and will remain as a large number for a long while yet. It is five-digit number after all, and not on the low-end of the five-digit numbers either, but a mid-range level.
What more, about $15,000 of that five-digit total is actually largely wasted money due to mistakes made while in university. I'm more or less still paying for semesters in which I didn't get a damn thing for it degree, diploma or career-wise. An expensive mistake that I am now paying for with my actual life; that is to say, it is delaying various life goals because you know... I was an idiot at 19.
While I've (mostly) made me peace with all of the above, the fact of the matter is, the amount I owe to the government is a large enough amount that it's going to take a very long time to resolve. Not to mention that any amount of money that I try to throw at it appears to be making any visible dent to the shrinkage of said debt.
Except now, the five-digit number went from beginning with a number "3" to a number "2".
Suddenly, it's like I have actual tangible and real proof of the progress on my student loans, that the money I'm forced to and voluntarily throwing at it is suddenly making a real and visible impact on my debt.
And all because I don't owe more than $30,000 to the government, I owe under it.
But what about the credit card debt I'm not straddled with in addition to my student loans though? I mean, I spent a decent number of months tossing all spare money at it in order to pay it down only half a year ago so that all I owed was my student loans. Why would I want to put myself through that struggle again, especially now that I have way more monetary commitments than back in August and September?
And yet, compared to that number, a $3,000 debt to my credit card seems not just small, but manageable. It is made further manageable by the fact that I have overcome close to a $3,000 debt at 18.99% interest (and the reason I wanted out of it ASAP) on useless, disposable items only half a year ago, and defeated it comparatively quickly. I can therefore, visualize paying it off in such a fashion that I can't yet do for my student loans. Not for five-to-six years yet anyway.
It's all about progress, one way or another. And about throwing me as many debt victories as possible in the intervening years in order to stave off as much debt-fatigue as possible. But doing it intelligently and with an eye towards what I can handle and what I can realistically succeed in.
All-in-all, I'm a happier person because of this.
Yes, my net worth is still the pits, but that's somewhat expected. And frankly, it won't be this pithy for long.
And I've got a great couple months coming up in terms of work, money and life. Lots of things to build towards and lots of things to work on.
Here's to this milestone, hopefully the other isn't too far away from now.
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