Paying Off Student Loans & Printable Money Planner

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When I began my college search, way back when, I already knew that I would need to take out a school loan to help pay for a portion of my expenses, especially if I wanted to live at school. I wanted to keep my costs down so I chose a state school – Rowan University in New Jersey. Student loans helped me cover the cost of college.

While my state school had a great value, room and board put it over my budget and I had to take out loans to pay for everything. It was worth it. But when I graduated and got a job, new goals started to appear on the horizon. Goals like graduate school, moving out of my mom’s house, a new car and travel.

I decided to plan out how I was going to pay down the loans before I embarked on any new goals. I used certain tactics and strategies that helped me repay my loans. It involved making a plan and sticking to it. I decided on a set amount to pay back each month – taking advantage of the fact that I was living at home, without paying rent, and working. I even found that within this budget of paying back the loan, I was able to pay for graduate school and put myself through a 2-year graduate program, while working.

To plan out your goals, take a look at the big picture and decide what your long-term goals are. You can use a planner sheet like the one I did.

Identify steps and/or obstacles in your way and what your vision (big picture) is.

From there, develop a list of steps that you’ll take to reach that goal.

Most importantly, stick to it and track your progress on a graph chart showing how much you have to go to save or payback.

Using a simple planned budget, I paid my loan back within 5 years of graduation. And that’s a good feeling. Here’s how I did it:

Start by establishing a monthly budget. Take a look at all your expenses and determine how much you have for savings and for your loan repayment. I should note that I was fortunate enough to be living at home after graduation and this was rent-free. My loans were also only the cost of room and board for 4 years, so it was not the full cost of my college education.
Stick to a Loan Repayment Amount and do not defer. My loan offered me the opportunity to defer payment while I was in grad. school. I chose not to.
Make Double Payments. I chose to make double payments when I could afford to. I had a side job and when it paid well, I made double payments. This paid towards my principal and helped me pay the loan off faster.
Resist the Urge to Spend. Often, when you graduate college and get your first job, it can feel empowering to receive a paycheck every month. Many friends moved out to apartments in fun cities, bought high priced cars or vacationed a lot. I still had fun, but within reason. I opted to live at home and take more frugal vacations. I also took advantage of tuition reimbursement programs at work to help me pay for my graduate education so that it did not eat into my monthly budget as much.
Put Extra Money Towards the Loan. As I mentioned before, if I had extra money, I made double payments. I often put income tax refunds, babysitting money and my side-job money towards my loan.

Aside from setting goals and tracking them, I took better care with the money I did have to spend. I had a couple side hustles when I was in grad school / working and paying back my loans. With this extra money, I would always sort it based on what I could spend, what I had to save and when I could afford to give. This is a great way to manage money or to teach to children.