Student Loans are Normal Debt, Right?

I consider myself a smart person, although most days I would attest that I lost a little bit of my knowledge by not using it.  I grew up poor – not quite so poor that we got free health care, but so poor that our fridge was barely filled with things other than bologna, white bead, pickles, and Kool-Aid.    So I went to college so that I could live a different life, and it happened.  Both my husband and I were the first to graduate college in our families.  I graduated from my Bachelor’s program early and had very little student loans because I was so poor that the government pretty much paid for everything I didn’t have scholarships for.  I started graduate school immediately and racked up my student loans.  I currently have more than $25,000 in student loans that helped me get my Master’s degree in special education.  It is a bit ridiculous that teachers, who are barely paid much more than that, can accumulate that much debt just to become a teacher.  My husband also has student loans.

Up until a few weeks ago we went on our merry little way paying off the minimum payments on our student loans.  My husband’s was set to be paid off in 2023 and mine in 2025.  Now we are determined to pay off our van and my husband’s student loans by the end of 2011.  That is a huge difference!   My student loans should be paid off the following year, but we are going to reassess our situation in the summer of 2011 to see how to proceed.

What changed?  I am a subscriber to MoneySavingMom‘s emails.  I read about her journey to buy a house with cash and I was intrigued.  My friends started doing the cash system, and I was even more intrigued.  The name “Dave Ramsey” kept popping up over and over and over again.  I was hesitant to read his books because religion and finances do not go hand in hand in my mind and I had a preconceived notion that this was going to be the case.  I finally checked out “The Total Money Makeover” from the library and I read it almost as quickly as I read “Twilight.”  🙂  I sat on the couch and read excerpts to my husband, who had absolutely no intention of reading this book.  I told him I wanted to snowball our debt, and he wasn’t nearly as in to it as I was.  Then he read the book, and action was taken!

In the past two weeks we have decided that our next course of action is to get rid of all of the debt that we have (which is only our van payment and student loans) as quickly as possible.  We decided that money in savings was not nearly as valuable as being debt free.  We have our safety net saved, and used the rest to pay down some of our “normal debt that everyone has.”  It feels g-o-o-d!!!!  I can’t imagine how we will feel when all we have left is our mortgage.

We have changed a few things in regards to our spending habits.  Credit cards can be used for two things – gas and clothes at Kohls.  We have a clothing budget and will save extra percentages while using our Kohls card.  I know some people are totally against the use of credit cards, but with Mint.com we are able to see our spending almost automatically.   We received a $10/20 coupon for Kohls on our door the other day.  That same day we received a 30% coupon from Kohls that can be used in conjunction with the $10/20.  I will get $28.75 worth of clothing for $10 with the use of both of these coupons.  We set our budget and are determined to stick to it so we can live debt free!!!

I was so inspired by Dave Ramsey’s book that I bought it using rewards I earned from Swagbucks to giveaway on my blog.  That giveaway will start tomorrow!

I would love to hear how everyone else is doing in their quest to conquer debt.