Guest post by Anne Jisca
My husband and I met in college and got married after our 2nd year. He went on with his studies, pursuing a Master’s degree part-time while working.
Now, after six years of marriage, he will be completing his degree this spring. Throughout those years, we have learned to make do with little, and to keep our student loans to a minimum.
This past summer, we set ourselves a high goal of doing whatever it takes to pay off our student loans this year, so that he can graduate debt-free. It seemed unrealistic on my husband’s salary (I’m a stay-at-home-mom), but we sat down and determined how much we would need to pay into the loan every month to have it paid off, and found ways to make that happen:
- We contacted the loan agency and applied for interest relief, for a period of six months. That means six months of saving the interest to apply to the principle!
- We’ve lowered our grocery budget. We were already eating inexpensively, but we lowered it even more. What that means is mostly eating less meat and replacing it with beans and legumes that I soak and cook myself.
- We’re purging our house of unused items and selling them through a yard sale and on the internet.
- We had bake sales, and I continue to sell baked goods from home.
- We minimized our spending money, and find cheap or free ways to make memories as a family.
- Any extra money we get, however small the amount, goes towards our student loan.
While not every way of making and saving money has panned out, we are still making progress that we would not have made otherwise. It’s not always easy or fun to limit ourselves in this way, but the anticipation to be debt-free (aside from mortgage) by graduation is worth every effort!
Anne Jisca is a wife, and a Mom to two little boys. She loves to cook and bake, seeking to feed her family healthy (but yummy!) foods. She shares her recipes at Anne Jisca’s Healthy Pursuits.
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