I raised my payment with Navient

I made a phone call last week to Navient, formerly Sallie Mae. I was calling about changing the bank account used for my automatic debit (spoiler alert: they couldn't do that, I had to cancel and sign up again with the new account), but while I was on the phone, I mentioned that I routinely overpay my balance. And as simple as that, the customer service representative asked if I'd like to change my payment.

Now, maybe I'm just crazy, but I truly didn't think this was an option. I sort of assumed that Navient wanted to make it harder for me to pay more than my minimum each month, in order to keep collecting interest from me. I guess I was wrong, because when I said, "Sure," the woman on the other end of the line asked what I'd like my higher payment to be and put in a request, just like that.

Wow.

It will take a month to activate, and about the same amount of time for my automatic debit to start working, but when it does, I'll only have one payment to Navient each month, and it will happen automatically!

This is a little scary, because it means that the payment I set is the payment I'm stuck with, but that's exactly why I went for it. Although I've been good so far about not letting my loans be an area where I pull from when I spend too much in a given month, my willpower has been slipping this month. Now? It's not an option, so I'll just have to find other ways to make things work.

All it took was a simple phone call, and suddenly I'm not the only one holding myself accountable for my extra monthly payment. It's out of my hands!

And I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn't known before

Did anyone else see Into the Woods? I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! But, I actually am here today to write about some lessons I've learnt, albeit a little too late.

1. Pay your loans while you're in school - if there's one thing that I would without a doubt go back and change, this would be it. It would have been so simple to pay even just a little bit on my stafford loans while I was in college, and it would have saved me quite a bit in interest. I don't dwell on it, because what would be the point, but every now and then I read or hear about someone much smarter than me doing just that. If not paying while you're in school, at least paying while you're in your 6 month grace period could make a big difference!
2. Don't take more than you need - I took out loans my first year living off campus to cover my housing expenses, only to realize that I was earning enough in my part time job to pay a large chunk of my rent. That extra money ended up sitting in my savings account depreciating, and now I'm paying interest on loans that I didn't necessarily need.
3. Think long and hard about what you study - I know. I know. I know this is covered by every single person telling you how to get the most out of college. I got a degree in theatre. I knew going into it that it wasn't a lucrative option, but I did it anyway. It's not something I regret, but if I were to go back? Maybe I'd add a double major in something a bit more practical, or even taken some summer classes or electives that would beef up the "skills" portion of my resume.
4. Consider where you choose to go, as well - Going to a private liberal arts college is not something I regret or would change. At all. My financial picture would be different had I gone somewhere else, but so would my entire life and worldview. That's not to say that financially it was the wisest decision, and frankly at the time, all I knew was that this was my dream school and I was going to make it work. I'm glad I did, but that doesn't mean it was smart.

These are little things. And you'll read them on any list of finance tips for high school seniors or college students. I think sometimes we see things like this, but because we've seen them so often, we ignore them and move on, they become like white noise while we search for ways to earn more and pay faster so we can spend more.

Like I said, I can't change any of this for myself, but if you're early enough along in your student loan journey to be able to consider these things, don't tune it out.

What would you change about your past financial self? If you had access to a time machine, would you use it? I probably wouldn't - I'd be too scared of changing everything that I'm so happy with now!

Later this week, I'll focus on the positive.

Motivating yourself for long-term goals

One of the hardest parts about my goal to pay off my loans is that it requires a lot of motivation, over a long time. To be able to put the majority of my discretionary spending money into my loans means delaying gratification each and every time I want something.

So how do I maintain my motivation? This is something I'm still working on, but here are a few tactics that I've found to be helpful so far in this process:

1. Set shorter term goals - things like "increase my payment by $50 this month" or my resolution to be under $9,000 by the end of this year seem more manageable.
2. Allow for small failures - in fact, I plan on small failures when calculating various scenarios for my repayment. There might be a month that I can't pay the full extra payment, and that's okay. I'll just have to find a way to get back on track.
3. Plan how I'll reward myself - For the first month that I'm debt free, I'm planning to take half of my loan payment to treat myself. I'm not sure yet what that will look like, but you can bet I'm having a grand time thinking of ideas!
4. Plan my next goals - after I finish paying, I have several savings goals and life goals I'd like to achieve, but I know I can't give them their due focus until I've crossed this one off the list.
5. Don't delay all gratification - I think I would be miserable if I let myself believe that because I'm paying down loans, I can't enjoy myself. It's just a matter of striking a balance. I'm willing to work more hours if it means I can go on a couple of trips this year while also paying my loans. I'm willing to whittle down my entertainment budget if it means I can go out for drinks twice a month. I might feel differently in the home stretch, but for the time being, I can't imagine spending 2+ years without having any "fun" money to spend, and I don't want to!

These are just a few of the things that have been working for me. What do you find most motivating throughout the payment process? Feel free to share in the comments!

My New Years money resolutions

Until last year, I hadn't been one for New Years resolutions. I made them, certainly, but they were always vague, and mildly impossible. Last year, instead of ambiguous big picture items, I made concrete goals. Most of them were a reach, but none of them were totally out of the question. Looking back at the things I've done this year, I think I did a great job!

For this year, I'm focused a lot on my finances, with a couple of other goals thrown in for kicks (and to keep myself from turning into a robot). So, here they are:

• get my stafford loans under 9k - if I pay according to the plan in place now, I'll be under 10k, but I'd like to believe I can do better than that. It's about reaching, after all, and if I don't succeed, I'll still have paid off more than I would have otherwise.
• find a way to earn from a creative side hustle, whether knitting on etsy, writing, or some other wort of creative work.
• learn a new skill, preferably a marketable one. Whether it's something I learn at work, through a professional development class, or by teaching myself, I'd like to walk away this year with something learned.
• take advantage of my employer match for my 403(b). That will kind of happen automatically, but it's still a big deal. This is assuming I stay at my current job through at least July, or that my new employer considers time previously served.
• don't spend beyond my travel budget. I've been contributing for the past few months to a travel savings account, and I'll continue to do so. By this summer, I'll have several hundred dollars saved, which is what I'll use to find my airfare and any housing costs for my trips. When I run out, I'll ever have to find it elsewhere in my budget (lighten the grocery load, spend less on entertainment, etc) or else stop traveling, period. Which means I'd better figure out where I want to go, how much I'll need to save, and get on that!
• open and contribute to a holiday/birthday savings account. I don't buy for a lot of people, but it sure will be nice to be able to pull from there instead of trying to scrape money together each time something comes up. As more of my friends start getting married, this will also be the one for wedding/shower gifts. Man, having friends and family is expensive...
• continue to use mint to track finances regularly

So, a kind of long list, and it doesn't take into account my other resolutions/goals, but in general, I feel pretty good about it. Most of it is just taking what I'm already doing and stepping it up a notch. All in all, I think it's going to be a good year.

Happy 2015 everyone!

What I'm doing

My plan to pay my loans is pretty aggressive. I really hate being saddled with debt, so although some internet sources would suggest that investing is better (I might earn more investing than I'll lose in interest), I am fully committing to paying my loans as quickly as possible before I focus on anything else. The only exception to that is contributing to my employer's 403(b) plan at 3% of my pre-tax salary. I'm not eligible for a match yet, but I like that I've started a very very modest retirement account, and in July when I become eligible for a match I won't have to increase my contribution at all.

In order to be so aggressive with my payments, I've done a few key things over the last few months, and I'll do a few more to both cut expenses and earn additional income:

• I picked up a second job. On the weekends, I work between 5 and 13 hours at the same part time job I had in college. This means I'm earning a bit, and it also keeps me from spending much on the weekends; a win-win. The job is low stress, at an organization I'm happy to give my time to, and comes with a pretty great perk - free theatre tickets at various points throughout the year!
• I maximize cash back deals as much as possible, without spending money I wouldn't otherwise. This means that groceries always go on the card that gets me 6%, and when I can get 10% rewards at Starbucks, I reload my card to last me several months. I also pay in full every month, so this is basically free money.
• I pack my lunch every day. I also pack snacks, and for the days when I know I'll need it (workout days, or when I'm going out after work) I'll pack a second breakfast and/or dinner. It means a lot of Tupperware to clean, but it's also hundreds of dollars a month I'm saving, not to mention the health benefits.
• Almost every bit of extra money goes to loans. I try to save $50-100 per month for upcoming travel expenses, as I have several small trips planned for the summer and I want to be able to pay for airfare without cutting back on my loan payments. Other than that, any extra money leftover or any gifts, rewards, or unexpected cash goes to loans.

Right now, my boyfriend (and roommate) isn't earning much, so I'm covering the bulk of our living expenses. Next year (academic year), that will hopefully change, and he will take on most of our financial obligations for a year. We haven't figured out exactly what that split will look like, but I anticipate that he'll at least be covering half the rent. That alone will make a huge difference in what I'm paying toward loans, but for now I can't count on anything more than that. My goal of paying my loans before I'm 27 is with that in mind, but I'm stubborn enough that, should something in our relationship or individual job statuses change, I will do everything in my power to stick to my goal.

I'll write more about my budget at a later date, but, spoiler alert, I try to keep my expenses as low as possible.