Student loans are forever!

11. Pay down off 3300 on my student loan principal

Stating balance $x6,610.01 (you really don't need to know the first number)

When I learned about different debts in school and at jobs, debt was always broken into three categories. First, good, necessary debt such as a mortgage. You need a place to live and if you were staying within 30% of your income, you should own your house vs rent. Second, unnecessary debt such as revolving credit aka credit cards. These tend to lead people into trouble with their low minimum payments and higher interest rates. And the third, if needed debts such as student loans or medical debts. Things that if you could pay for out of pocket you should but if you need to add these debts they are not as bad as credit cards. And in my case, student loans paid for the extra expenses of my undergrad degree and my grad school classes i took.

For undergrad, I split the cost of school with my parents. They paid for half and i had to cover the rest. Since I was at an instate school, I was able to use loans to pay to live on campus or even take some summer classes. Upon graduation, the loan amount wasn't that bad and I just started the monthly payments. After a couple years of working, I decided to go to grad school. I applied to a program I thought I would love and would give me a career I wanted. I got in and signed right up to get loans to cover the tuition and some extra for living expenses. But after 3 semesters of classes and 2 of an internship, I really didn't like what I was doing. I never finished the program but now have a monthly reminder of those 2 years.

Recently I was updating address and contact info. One of which was the student loan account. I started poking around the site and saw that since 2006 I've only paid down 3500 on my account. Insert jaw dropping here!!! Since I automatically have the payment made every month, I never view my statement. I just pay a bit over 200 each month for an account that I pay over 1900 a year on. Total stupidity on my part, especially since some of my undergrad classes were in financial planning.

So this year's goal to pay off 3300 will be a bit tough since I'm starting 2 months late. The only way I think it will work is to set it up automatically, which to some might be cheating. But in my budget the extra 150 a pay period it will cost to beat this down will be a tight squeeze. And if I don't start making small yearly dents in these loans, Lexie will be holding a college degree before they are paid off.