Student Loans

Now that I'm kind of on track financially (although I'm really starting to notice that with my commute doubling, so is my gas consumption, grrr) I took another look at the student loan tally. This is another big figure that I've been avoiding because when I was just making enough to break even each month, it seems like just torturing myself to look at the big total without being able to do anything about it. I threw a little money at that total, when I had it, but that only paid off a tiny bit of interest, not the principle.

Thankfully, I only have federal loans. Unfortunately, I have two masters degrees and a (still) very small salary. I always knew those were there waiting in the wings, but it seems like whenever I find a new source of income, something else crops up to try to take my money.

I'm not going to feel sorry for myself, I knew what I was doing when I went to grad school...and then went to grad school again.

Plan of attack:

1. I first need to pay back my savings account from that summer when I was basically not working. I tried to live as frugally as possible, but still ended up spending about half of what I had saved--that is going to be replaced.
2. Start making more payments on those loans. I still can't afford to make the minimum payment each month, but I'm going to start making regular payments of at least $100/month. It may not be much, but it's something, and it's the best I can do right now.
3. I'm going to enjoy myself a little more--not to the point of being financially irresponsible, but I'm not going to never eat out. I'm still going to keep my same budget limits, but I don't know, be a little less rigid.

So that's October's goals a little early, but I feel like I'm in a good place. Also, as much as it kind of sucks that I'm working five-six nights a week, that's also going to save me a lot of money in the long run--positivity!