We Did It!
>> Friday, April 1, 2011 –
Life
We are debt free!
(well except for our house...but that is our next goal)
It took us a little over two years to pay off $53,962.42 in student debt and a small loan on Dave's truck. It required a lot of self discipline and hard work to do it, but it feels so rewarding! We began heavily paying down the debt in the middle of November 2008 and finished in February 2011. We came in just two months shy of our goal, but not bad considering the medical expense we have had.
Let's face it, we had a lot of student debt! With Dave in School for 6 years and me in school for 5 (3 of which I had out of state tuition) we had accumulated a great deal. The chart above hung on the inside of one of our laundry room cabinets to remind us of what we were working towards. We started with the smallest loan and worked towards the biggest. We would cross off each loan as we completed payment on it till they were gone!
If you would like to learn more about exactly how we did it or obtain a sample copy of our budget spread sheet, please leave me a comment. We would be happy to share what we have done and learned through the process.
Congratulations!!! What a great accomplishment!
I can't wait for the day we can say those same words (that won't be for many years, though). I don't think I'm brave enough to hang Jeff's med school loans anywhere for a while - at least until we are able to pay them down a bit. :)
Did you see my mom's poem in the April Ensign? I think it's beautiful and I think you might as well.
That is amazing!!! Now that Eldon will start work in the next month, we are hoping to have my law school loans paid off fairly quickly. Of course, we will have to sell our current house to make real progress (until then we will be paying for two houses), but I am glad to see it is possible.
that is amazing. I would love to know your secrets. We will have some debt to pay down when we are done with residency, and paying it down quickly is definitely on my agenda. You are such a great example.