Hey guys, I'm Tyler and basically I have gotten myself into a mountain of student debt. I finished college after 6 years of basically hopping and skipping my way through, really unsure about what I wanted to do. After I finished, I ended up with a Economics degree and about 1 class short of a chemistry minor and 1 class short of a math minor. More importantly though I now have ~$60,000 worth of student loan debt.
I was lucky enough to get an entry level Quality Assurance job and was so happy, not just to start a career with a decent income, but knowing that I could be on the path to paying off my loans. That loan part just never seemed to happen though, I got into the routine of spending more money than I should, not really having much of an emergency fund, I opened my first credit card that I would pay off at the end of each month... until this last month and I took a smallish loan out on a car that I have forever wanted (e28 bmw, 84 533i). Not a good call, especially when I had a completely functional, if a bit smelling like a raccoon died in it 1990 honda civic.
After this last purchase of a vehicle I ended up having to put about $2500 worth of unforeseen repairs into the vehicle, which for the 1st time led me to not only not pay off my credit card, but actually carry a massive balance ~3k. (I also did a fun but dumb trip and waiting on money from my expense report (~$700).
So total bummer news right there but this is my game plan and I would love to have your guy's support on this, it really was kind of an awakening that I was in this bad of shape financially. I even read the Dave Ramsey book and in the process of "The Millionaire Next Door".
My current Debts are as follows ~60k student loans (mostly public, but some private, int from 6-11%) $3000 on my credit card (ugh) 1300 on my loan to get Lasik surgery (Don't regret but needs to be first on the list b/c if I don't pay off by feb 15 all the interest from the 2 years will be applied vs 0% can't believe I lollygagged on that for so long) and $3200 on my car loan (absolutely would not have done in hindsight and 3% int)
I know this will be a long haul at least 5 years to get back to square one, during that time I know I am going to have trouble to stay motivated and I would like to keep my story updated, it will absolutely make me feel better knowing I have support. I am planning on as I have been busting my butt at work and learning work related skills on the side. I also have the opportunity to pick up an extra 10-15 hours a week of OT anytime I would like, so I need to plan on doing that.
I do have incoming windfalls to my budget in $1200 from sale of old car, $700 from covering work expenses, ~$1000 for my bonus. What follows is the budget my mom helped me set up (doing the cash envelope method)
TYLER'S MONTHLY BUDGET $1800
DIRECT LOANS (STUDENT LOANS) $57.00 PER WEEK $226.00 PER MONTH
SALLIE MAE (STUDENT LOANS) $80.00 PER WEEK $320.00 PER MONTH
RENT AND LAUNDRY $60.00 PER WEEK $240.00 PER MONTH
CAR LOAN PAYMENT $38.00 PER WEEK $151.00 PER MONTH
CAR MAINTENANCE $25.00 PER WEEK $100.00 PER MONTH
CAR INSURANCE $21.00 PER WEEK $ 83.00 PER MONTH
GAS FOR CAR $50.00 PER WEEK $200.00 PER MONTH
GYM MEMBERSHIP $ 9.00 PER WEEK $ 35.00 PER MONTH
SPENDING/FUN MONEY $40.00 PER WEEK $160.00 PER MONTH
MISC. FUND $ 7.00 PER WEEK $ 28.00 PER MONTH
TOILETRIES $ 7.00 PER WEEK $ 28.00 PER MONTH
AUDIOBOOKS $13.00 PER WEEK $ 50.00 PER MONTH
BANANA REPUBLIC MC/VISA $13.00 PER WEEK $ 50.00 PER MONTH
(Until you pay off your laser eye surgery...then you will pay more on this each month to pay it off.)
LASER EYE SURGERY $109.00 PER WEEK $435.00 PER MONTH
(This is only for the next "3" months. You will then have this bill paid off.)
TOTAL PER WEEK: $420.00 / TOTAL PER MONTH: $1671.00 / FOR THE NEXT 3 MONTHS: $529/$2106
Use your bonus check to pay off your laser eye surgery. Use any extra (above 40 hours pay to bring down the
MC/Visa bill to zero, then start putting any extra money using a 50/50 split into savings and toward student loans.
When you have $5000 saved change the ratio to 20% savings and 80% student loans.
Let me know what you guys think (I'm considering working on an emergency fund before paying off the visa). Also thank you guys so much for reading my incredibly long winded and not well planned forum introduction.
Have a great weekend guys and looks like college football for the rest of my day!
