But that's not all! This month's installment is further supplemented by my aforementioned tax refund, which knocks it down a decent step in my quest for $20,000 owed, a number that I can reasonably reach in a year's time with some smarts and discipline. And also careful tracking of my monthly numbers.
So a couple of months ago Money After Graduation (a very useful Canadian blog writer who discussed tackling her debt before moving forward with building wealth) had a pretty useful article on personalizing your debt/spending to help you paying it back faster.
It's funny, because when I first started paying off my credit card debt, well before seeing that piece of advice, I made sure that any money I put onto my cards during and since then that I knew exactly what it was I was spending that money on and had a plan for how or where the money to pay it back will come from, whether it was from my set monthly budget of discretionary spending or other means.
(Well... most of the time I had a plan)
Basically what I'm saying is that this kind of quantifying the money you spend into actual things you use, things you've experienced, etc. actually does work in helping you to pay it back. Especially when that spending is attached to a plan. At least, from my own personal experiences it was.
However, this wasn't something I did with my student loans ever, despite the size of it. It just kind of floated above my head, a big lump sum of money that represented what my education cost me for me to get my dream job.
Just a big miasma of meaningless cash that I spent and possibly wasted.
Until now.
Above was the loans I had taken out for my schooling, and on the right are the loans that I have since paid back during repayment up until this date.
And yes, the total spent to get myself that dream job is legitimately quite staggering. But neither here nor there.
One of the first things you'll notice is that I didn't mark repayment in order of when I withdrew the funds for school. There are several reasons for that. The first being that I prioritized the repayment of my third year of school, or rather the year I wasted all that time and money being in school and basically flunking the year.
My third year in university is hands down the single-most expensive mistake that I have ever made, to the tune of over $7,000. So imagine my small amount of relief when I calculated it out and realized that I had actually repaid the government for my error.
As for the rest, I went after paying down the smallest amounts received because it made me feel like I've accomplished more than I really did. Which, if you see above, is absolutely the case given that it appears as if I have paid off within a year and a half of my entire university funding!
With that said, my post-graduate student loans for sports journalism school was my biggest shock and surprise in that I did not realize just how much money I borrowed in 2012. That year cost me over $15,000 in loans or currently more than half the amount I still owe the government.
All on ONE YEAR! That's how much two years of university cost me once upon a time. And here I thought university to have been a problem in my student debt journey.
Granted, that one year of loans in 2012, as much as I'm paying for it right now and going forward, got me to where I am now, working my dream job (if at a bit of a pittance of a wage somewhat) that doesn't even feel like work most of the time. So no regrets there.
And whatever lingering regrets I may harbour for the money I wasted... it's done. Sure I do keep dwelling on it, and it is something that still disappoints me about myself when I look at my student loans and how that debt bogs down my money, but at the same time, seeing that I had ultimately paid my dues in repayment for it is a huge relief.
My student loan repayment had once and is presently paying things that were worth my money and time, as my fifth, sixth and seventh years were what ultimately got me my degree.
And there's nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to that cash.
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