Laugh with me so I don’t cry

For grad school, my original student loan balance was $62,005. Now, after paying off $15,839.07, I am happy to report that I only have $59,111.90 remaining. YAY!!!

But in all seriousness, I am so glad I stopped pulling the wool over my eyes (my strategy after graduating in 2018 was to pay the game of loans- minimum amount set by IBR- for 25 years and deal with the tax bomb later). I don't regret having this strategy after graduation, as I unexpectedly got pregnant with twins, went through a divorce, purchased a home (only made possible bc my student loans didnt factor in to the debt-to-income ratio during COVID forbearance), ended up having a child with high medical expenses due to special needs, and have high medical expenses myself, along with plenty of other unplanned major expenses pop up.

Its only been a year and two months since I have gotten serious about trying to pay down these loans as fast as possible while still balancing the rest of my expenses and having a decent quality of life, and as of today, I have paid off all 5 of my Direct Grad Plus loans. The majority of my loan balance are Direct unsubsidized loans, so I will no longer get the feel good dopamine hit of being able to pay off an individual loan for many years now due to the amount on the remaining 3 loans, and with SAVE being killed off, I wont be able to direct the full payment to one individual loan which will slow down the progress even more.

But being able to get the "Congrats, you're paid in full" emails ever 2 to 3 months for the past 1.2 years was fun while it lasted. I guess I will have to find a new way to set mini goals for myself so I don't lose the motivation to pay aggressively against an amount that seems impossible to concur.

At least I have the knowledge that if things go according to plan, I will have my loans paid off with a few years to spare before I have to start paying for my children's college 100% by myself. LE SIGH!