Tagged: student loans

Jul 11

Paid off a student loan!

Thank you to everyone who helped me pay down one of my students loans by buying a t-shirt or coffee cup! I paid off the Wells Fargo student loan this weekend and only have about $98,000 left to go! Help me celebrate by sharing this post! Yee-haw!

Boom! Paid off the Well Fargo student loan. Help me celebrate by sharing this post!

Boom! Paid off the Well Fargo student loan. Help me celebrate by sharing this post!

I started selling these t-shirts and coffee cups with funny and snarky designs at Cafepress and Zazzle several years ago. While I don’t make a lot of money doing it, it does help me to pay down my student debt faster and this weekend I had the great joy of zeroing out the Wells Fargo student loan.

Curious about my t-shirts? Here are a couple examples. You can follow the links in this post to see more funny snarky t-shirts and coffee cups. And if you buy from one of my shops, it helps me get out of debt faster without government hand-outs or crowd funded begging. And YOU get a cool thing! Check out the world map of where people are wearing my snarky designs.

 

Browse other Student debt T-Shirts

Student Loan Memories Tshirt
Student Loan Memories Tshirt by MalarkeyPie
Find more College T-Shirts at Zazzle

0
comments

Posted in Buy stuff - Pay off student loans!

Mar 21

Which part of the American dream won’t I have?

I have student loan debt which means that I will probably never own my own home. I will not be able to help my kids with their college expenses. I won’t be able to save for retirement. I will not be able to travel to the European museums like I want to do.

 

This is what I signed on to when I decided to pursue my doctoral degree. I knew it was expensive and I knew that it would alter my personal and professional landscape for the rest of my life. And I knew that it would be (mostly) worth it. The job track I currently am on fills my heart and soul with meaning and purpose. The doctoral degree made this possible. I love my job, and the people I work with, and the people I serve.

 

I just wish my country valued education like it should. If Congress upholds it’s side of the bargain, after working in state government for 10 years, the balance of my federal loans will be written off. This is thanks to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. (http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/public-service)

Learn more about how I am selling t-shirts and coffee mugs to pay off my student loans faster. You can find geeky snarky t-shirts at my Cafepress shop, Malarkey Pie.

0
comments

Posted in Musings

Feb 14

Confessions of a student loan statistic

Student is debt slavery

Crush student debt before it crushes us!

 

I admit it, I am a statistic. A student-debt-up-to-my-eyeballs-in-debt statistic. In 2010, I completed my seven year journey to obtain a doctoral degree and since I was a single mom and not really rolling in the dough, I acquired what is euphemistically called “student debt.” I don’t regret getting the degree as it has opened whole worlds to me, but it would have been dandy if it didn’t leave me a financial cripple for the rest of my days.

My monthly student debt bill is $1095, which amounts to $13,140 per year. Add in a car payment (my trusty Blueberry died after 13 years of excellent service), insurance, and a small bit of credit card debt left over from my grad school days, and … yeah. Not much left over to help with the kid’s college savings or to save for a rainy day or to buy house or to contribute to retirement fund. My total debt after paying for three years, and paying off several smaller loans, is still over $140,000. How does that even happen? Obviously, my degree is not in finance. I work in state government, so if Congress holds up its end of the bargain, then about half of that (the federal loan half) will be expunged after 2019.

What would be helpful is if I could deduct the entire amount I pay, not just the interest up to $2,500 from my income when paying taxes. I know that my name is not Exxon Mobil or Goldman Sachs, but
surely we little people deserve that much.

People like me work hard at jobs we love. I really really love my job which I would not have if I didn’t have my degree.

Of course, if anyone has a spare $140,000 laying around, I wouldn’t be too proud to have some sugar daddy pay it off.

0
comments

Posted in Musings

Feb 07

Snow Day!!!!

Today is a snow day! I have my coffee and there will be scones later. Oh yes, there WILL BE SCONES! And maybe a pot roast if I feel like braving the walk down to the market to pick up a cut of beef. I have some carrots and onions that are on their last legs and need to be cooked to yumminess soon.

The goal for today will be to get the taxes in order. This year is probably the last year it will be fairly simple. Next year I will have business expenses to fold in to the fun and games with the IRS. Which reminds me, the library book on home business tax deduction that I checked out is due soon. I need to finish it this weekend to help me to get my book keeping house in order. Maybe I’ll post something about some of the best tips that I find.

Speaking of planning ahead…. A future post will be a soul-baring outline of my student loan debt. Get ready for some scary stuff! I have been a bit of a coward and not really faced exactly how much student debt I really have. But I will start a series of posts here with quarterly check-ins to see how much (or how little … EEK!) debt I have managed to pay off. Check back often! I should try to find one of them thermometer thingys to make it very visual. Or do an infographic, since that seems to be all the rage these days.

So, I’m off to get a start on the day….

0
comments

Posted in Musings