Well we’re half way through 2018 which means it’s a handy time to check in with your student loan repayment goals. Read or watch this if you want to see how things are going for me and check out my tips for making extra student loan payments.

 

Estimated read time ~5 minutes estimated watch time at 1.5x speed ~ 2.5 minutes.

 

 

It’s all about your individual student loan repayment goal.

 

Everyone is going to have a different student loan repayment goal that makes sense for them. There is no “one size fits all” dollar amount that is right for every borrower. You’ve got to pay what is reasonable for your student loan amount, your income, and the rest of your financial goals.

 

The best repayment goal is $3,000 each month toward my student loans. I’ve refinanced and my required monthly payment is $1,345 each month so that means I pay at least an extra $1,645 a month on my student loans. Paying $3,000 each month is aggressive enough that I can pay my debt back quickly but still leaves me enough room in my monthly budget to spend on the experiences and things that matter most to me.

 

Track your repayment progress.

 

It’s easy to set a goal and then not check in with it until the end of the calendar year. But by then if you’re not on track it’s too late to make any changes. So I check in with my repayment progress quarterly (every three months) to be sure I’m on track and celebrate any extra success I may have had.

 

In the 2nd Quarter of 2018 I paid $9,840 on my student loans.

 

My goal was to pay $9,000 ($3,000/month X 3 months) so I was able to pay a little bit extra during the second quarter.

 

Use extra income for your student loans.

 

It seems obvious that you would want to use your extra income to pay down your student loan debt but it can be harder to practice than  you might think.

 

The money I used this quarter to pay extra came from some consulting work I do on the side. It can be tough to convince myself to apply a percentage of that to my student loans because I hustle on top of my 40 hour work week to earn that money so sometimes I want to treat myself with it.

 

What has helped me to use this extra income for my student loans is to remind myself that paying even a few hundred extra means less time I’m beholden to student loan debt. Even shaving a month or two off of that debt buys me a freedom that I can’t find when I buy things or even when I travel.

 

Keep the big picture in view.

 

One thing that’s been very rewarding for me is to track my progress over the entire year.

 

In 2018 I’ve paid $20,385 toward my student loans. I feel great about that number. I started with almost $65,000 in January and now I have just over $45,000 left to pay off.

 

Each payment gets me a little bit closer to my #debtfreedream.

 

 

What are your student loan repayment goals? I would love to hear them and cheer you on toward success. Let me know in the comments below or on the Repayable Facebook Page.