Monday, February 29, 2016

What happens when you get a baby, a new house and a new job...

and you can't check your email at the new job?


You sort of stop blogging.


And then you get a second baby!


But I wanted to post an update, if only for my own records, just to see how I am plugging along at the good old student loan debt.


Last time I updated the totals was October of 2012 and it was $106,091.70. So, you know, a whole ton of money but down from $137, 779.31 when I started blogging in July of 2009.


So now three and a half years later I'm happy to report the new total is:


$75,271.16!

Wow.  It's still a huge sum of money, don't get me wrong but it is now finally less than one year's salary and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here is the breakdown:

Subsidized Stafford - $35,609.57 @4.625%
Unsubsidized Stafford - $29,565.75 @4.625%
Private Undergrad Loan* - $5,697 @variable less than 3% but I can't see exact number currently
Defaulted Private Loan - $4,398.84 @0%
*My parents pay this loan but it's under my name so I include it in the total debt in case that arrangement were to cease.

I keep getting a robocall saying I am eligible for consolidation which is crazy considering I consolidated most of these loans nearly a decade ago but I may call the number back just in case it's possibly true.  At 26 years old having my payments capped at the low monthly payment of $406 no matter how much my income increased was appealing.  At 36 I'm realizing I still have TWENTY YEARS of paying these stupid loans and I may want to make some changes.

Anyway just getting my feet wet in blogging again.  Money has been on my mind a bunch lately so hopefully I can assemble some thoughts into a few new posts soon.

On the life front: my oldest son is turning 3 in a few months and I got a little guy who is eight months old.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perks of RSS feeds is that long lost bloggers occasionally pop up!
Congrats on the family, and the debt reduction!

If you have good credit and income, you should check with SoFi and Earnest. They are some newer players on the student loan scene. There are disadvantages to these, but they are options that weren't there ~5 years ago. I discovered i can get a 3.5% fixed rate or a 2.2% variable rate on my loans.

Daizy said...

I rarely check the blogs on my own blog list but I have left your blog on the list and finally checked it today. Happy to see progress on your debt and congratulations on your growing family! It is fun to read updates especially happy ones.

Daizy said...

I rarely check the blogs on my own blog list but I have left your blog on the list and finally checked it today. Happy to see progress on your debt and congratulations on your growing family! It is fun to read updates especially happy ones.

Anonymous said...

Happy to see this update! I read your blog years ago. Ever consider going all Dave Ramsey on your debt? You'd probably have it gone within 2 years at your income level... But it would be a crazy 2 years, especially with little ones. Either way, congrats to you and thanks for the update!!