About to finish paying off my student loans after 8 years… still doesn’t feel real

I’m making my final student loan payment on April 10th, and I honestly don’t think it’s fully hit me yet.

I’ve been paying on these since 2018. For years it just felt like background noise—something that was always there, always taking money, never really going away.

The wild part is how fast the end happened. Back in November, I still had about $70k left. I ended up working two jobs and putting basically everything I could toward it. A lot of double paychecks, not really spending, just watching the number drop.

I also did some paid consulting work for the first time, which helped more than I expected. That was probably the thing that pushed me over the finish line.

I wouldn’t say I’m debt-free since I still have a car loan, but this feels like a completely different kind of win. The student loans have been hanging over me for years in a way nothing else has.

It’s weird… no big celebration planned or anything. Just making one last payment and moving on.

Anyway, just wanted to put it somewhere.