I’ve made my required monthly $1,720 student loan payment and now owe $63,299. The balance looks practically unchanged to me compared to before the payment. Sigh.
However, when I get my next paycheck in a couple of weeks, very little of it will go toward debt at all instead of my target of $1000 extra. Why?
There are three things that are contributing to drastically slowing down my debt repayment, for the next few months at least.
ONE. (Un)expected expenses.
My laptop finally died last week. It had been sending me signals for months, as I occasionally had problems getting it to function. I knew it was on it’s last legs, but hoped it would hold out for longer. So I bought another one, a budget laptop with no bells or whistles. This has cost me $550.
On deck for replacement at some point in the (near?) future is my phone. It’s about 4 years old and has started freezing up occasionally when I make phone calls. I can deal with this happening for my personal calls, but I also use my phone for work regularly. I’ve already had a few of my own meetings delayed because I was having trouble getting my phone to work properly. Not good. I’m on the fence about when to replace it and what to replace it with… This will also cost $$$ regardless of what model I choose.
TWO. I’m planning another trip!
Yes! I took an international trip last year, if you recall. It was my first time traveling overseas in over 10 years up to that point. The trip was WONDERFUL! I LOVED it to pieces. I’m planning an overseas trip with a few family members for next year. We are starting to book tickets and make reservations. This money will need to come from somewhere, so some of my money will be going here for a while. This way the trip is paid for beforehand. I plan to make up for it / catch up by allocating a sizable portion of my annual bonus to go toward my student loan debt.
THREE. Debt fatigue.
I think C@TheSingleDollar hit the nail on the head with her comment on a previous post. I think I’m running out of steam with maintaining this budget and these high payments. I’m hoping that once these next few months are over, I’ll have renewed vigor to attack my debt again with everything I have.
.
“Debtor’s prison is real, and opportunity cost is a bitch.” (DDSW Archives)
Double Debt Single Woman 
Ooof. Totally understandable you have debt fatigue, you’ve worked so so hard. Debt sucks.
On the bright side, you’re managing to keep up with what you have to pay on your debt each month so you’re still making progress there, handling unexpected expenses, paying for an upcoming international trip, and I can see your emergency fund is pretty darn far along too. Not too shabby!
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Thanks, Maria. Yeah, with the required monthly payment, there is no choice. It MUST be paid. So no matter what else happens I have to make at least one big payment each month.
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Debt fatigue is real. I think a trip sounds like a great idea!
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I agree! I’m SOOO looking forward to it. 🙂
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You will do no good on your debt journey if you are running low on steam. I think you are quite allowed to give yourself a block of time off from paying extra on debt and fully enjoy it.
and I have to say that I really like using the cloud (One drive, drive.google., etc…) to save all my stuff on. That way if my computer crashes my files are safe.
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Thanks. 🙂
Oh, I do the same with data storage. I almost never keep anything on the harddrive itself anymore. That’s why I’m just a little frustrated and not freaking out. I’ve learned the hard way from losing everything in my first couple of computer failures many years ago. I keep everything in a couple of different places in the cloud. If both of those servers go down at the same time, it’ll be because we’ll have bigger problems to worry about.
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Dang, sorry about those expenses.
Not sure if it helps (depends on your carrier), but sometimes you can get used phones from Amazon or eBay cheaper than you could find them new, and they work just fine. I had to do that when I still had a contract with Verizon and my POS phone kept freezing up.
We definitely get debt fatigue too. For me, it helps to see results to remember that I’m on the right path. Make some time to celebrate all the great things you’re doing. 🙂
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I’ll look into that. Thanks. My trip next year will be a great celebration. By that time I should have half of my student loan paid off and be ready to attack the rest. 🙂
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DDSW, you’re doing great! Starting from 140,000 and now down to 63,000 is quite the achievement. It’s understandable that you’re fatigued, but you know what’s best for you to keep going to slay the rest of the debt. Is there anywhere special you’re thinking about visiting on your next trip?
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Thanks. 🙂 We’ll be in Asia for the next trip. One of our stops will be your neck of the woods, Viking Tantan! That is, if we aren’t in World War III by then. Here’s to hoping things stay stable.
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You have to live your life!! And debt fatigue is definitely real. I’ve not been able to do much of debt payoff lately because my salary is so low and I’m helping out my roommate temporarily with expenses. And you know what? You or I could walk outside tomorrow and get hit by a bus. Morbid thought, I know, but the idea is we never know when our last day is upon us, and at the end of our lives, it’s the experiences that will matter, not the money in our bank accounts.
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Thanks, Terri. That’s very true. Having read your post about how you comfort dogs in your clinic at the end of their lives, I can only imagine how that drives home the need to enjoy the present. As for my extra payment pause, if all goes well, it will only be for a few months. But I have to admit, I’m REALLY looking forward to the trip.
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Dealing with debt isn’t an easy task at all. I’m happy that you’re taking time out to enjoy life a little bit. Enjoy a little for me too lol. What service do you have? They don’t offer you free upgrades for your phone?
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Thanks! I plan to have enough fun for a few people! lol
I have AT&T, but I haven’t looked into free upgrades. I’m not sure how that works. I’ll check it out.
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I agree with everyone that all work and no play makes DDSW a sad person. I hate the unanticipated expenses. Computers are necessary, but dag are they expensive.
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True on both accounts! ha 🙂
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Aw! Chin up. It’s going fine, if a little slower right at this exact moment.
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Thanks, C! 🙂
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