It all began when my husband had health issues at a young age of 42. From diabetes to heart disease he has a laundry list of problems no man his age should have. It scared me and him and made us think about our futures and our daughters future. The advise from my mom go back to school and learn a skill. And that is what I did. My aunt worked for the Art Institute and got me signed up for my dream career of Graphic Artist. 4 years later and 60,000 in debt I did not get my degree because I ran out of money and I have no dream job. I"m a lunch lady cooking lunch for elementary kids.
My first mistake was not paying attention to how the loans was adding up. Its not that I did not check it did not register in my brain how much. How does a person do that you ask?? I'm a busy mom, work, and was going to school and at the time seeing the end of the tunnel where I would earn that BS degree. I figure if I could get that good paying job paying back the loans would not be a problem. I did not realize or wanted to see just how much I ended up taking out in loans. It was a huge stupid mistake at my age. I should of known better. But yet I did it. All because I wanted to please my mom and I wanted to get that degree I always wanted. Only I should of thought this through more. Looking back if we just went to work and kept paying the little bit of bills we had today we would of been better off. But that was then and this is now and I"m facing a huge debt that will take 30 years or more to pay off. That my friends will be into my retirement days and my house will be paid off before these loans. Its not a pretty picture at all.
What am I going to do about this?? After putting one loan into forbearance, trying to ignore the other loan for a bit until I could not. Thinking and praying about this I have realize that I have to start to pay on these loans now and get it down and over with.
I"m not a stranger to living a frugal life and doing it well. We have slipped in the last few years and not paid as much attention to our budget as we should. Its me who pays the bills, buy the grocery's and tries to keep this house hold running so we do not loose our house, freeze in the winter and go with out electric and internet or phone. So I have to let my family know that we are going back on the wagon and getting us out of debt as fast as I can figure out how to do it.
It helps to keep in contact with the loan people. It does not help to ignore their calls. Trust me they will find a way to find you and talk to you. Just take a deep breath and get it over with as soon as you can. Then take a good hard look at your budget and make up your mind to create a new budget to include making payments on those loans. Its hard but you will be happier having a plan once you are done. I know I am so far.
So I am doing just what I suggested. I"m going to tackle that debt and find ways to make extra money to pay toward those loans. And I"m going to work on the graphic art design I learned in school and make it work for me somehow to make extra money to pay toward those loans. I have a good job now and I would be foolish to give it up now. I can work in freelancing into my day and have the summers off.
This is going to be a long journey for me. I got myself into this mess I'll get myself out of it. I hope to share what I am learning along the way. So get ready and lets find ways to make money to pay off this debt in less than 30 years. My dream would be to have it paid off in 5 years. But that is asking a lot. Lets start off with a 2500.00 loan and then tackle the next if I can. I have to start some where.
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