I could stop right there and let the title speak for itself. This blog will be part of a three part series on our victory over my student loan debt! Stay tuned!
First, let me say, instead of subtracting the monthly payment (that hadn’t gone through yet) from what was left on the loans, I just hit the pay off button. Why? Because I was too excited, ha! Soooo, we should be getting a refund here pretty soon! It also ruined my chance of a screen shot that says $0 left. Right now it says -$1373.93, ugh.
It’s hard to believe that we are finally done. It felt like we were throwing money in a black hole and so much of what we were paying was going towards interest. Eventually, the amount going towards interest dwindled and the end came faster and faster.
When I first graduated from Baylor University, my Dad had negotiated a monthly price I could handle. What I didn’t know was that it wasn’t even covering the interest. We simply weren’t educated enough. My loan had actually grown until I got married and my husband and I refinanced in October of 2015. Folks, true love is taking on your spouse’s school loan debt to the tune of $122,243.01 and not ever complaining about it.
We kept a zero based budget, did not have any car payments, tried our best to keep our spending down, Beau started a side hustle, we judged band contests when we could, and we threw any extra money we had after balancing our accounts every time we got paid towards the loan.
In the middle of our journey we decided it was our time to have a baby. Ewan was born on December 10, 2017. It was slow going after he was born for a while. I went through severe postpartum depression and all my energy went towards just making it through one feeding at a time. Eventually, I healed with therapy and medication and we were back to putting as much money on my loans as we could.
I think that it’s really important to know that we did not waiver in our tithing to the church. I don’t have much to expand on this other than I know we are called to tithe 10%. Through this I am providing the church with a means to do God’s work and trusting Him with our finances by giving Him such a small amount of something that is already His.
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
Proverbs 3:9-10
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4:19
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Matthew 6:26-30
It may seem crazy, but I wouldn’t change my experiences in this journey for anything. I loved my time at Baylor. I would not have met my husband and we wouldn’t have had our son, Ewan. Like postpartum depression, this is part of my story and I intend to use it to give other people hope and to serve God.
If you are in the trenches of paying off debt, keep going. It may seem like you will never reach the end and think, “what’s the point?” But you ARE making progress. Don’t stop, you are doing GREAT!
Part II: How We Paid off $122,243.01 in 4 1/2 Years coming soon!
With hope and healing,
Brittany
My Beloved 