Student Loan Progress – February 2014

February has been a very cold month, but there hasn’t been any freeze on my student loan payments. I’m continuing to march (get it?) along towards my goals and next month’s payments. I was forced to make a rather large purchase this month, but I made sure to put my standard amount towards my loans for this month. I will probably end up “overspending” but I know I can adjust my payments going forward if I bust on my budget that badly. I am also confident enough that my total yearly spending will end up being low enough so that if I put that money out now, I will more than make up for it in future months where my spending is down.

Here’s how my loans look after making my February payments:

I’ve been able to keep my pace going into February and it feels good to be able to put $2300 towards my student loans again. As you can see from the above, I’ve also managed to move from $60,000 remaining and have turned that into a 5 in the last digit! It’s nothing huge, but it feels good to see the numbers moving down and especially the largest one out of those numbers.

Due to the way my payments processed this month compared to last month, I actually ended up paying a little bit more in interest even though my balance was actually lower for this month. That part kind of sucks, but I guess it averages out over the long term. I can’t wait for the months when my principal starts going down by $2,000 with every payment. It’s probably a few more months down the road but it’s another little “milestone” that I’m looking forward to.

Main Goal: $20,000 Principal Reduction: $3,871.96 so far = 19.4%
Stretch Goal: $25,000 Principal Reduction $3,871.96 so far = 15.5%

With 10 months left, and already almost at 20% of my goal things are looking good to reach and exceed my main goal. It will take a bit of luck to reach that stretch goal, but I’ll have to see how things go the rest of the year.

photo credit: Pavel P. via photopin cc

4 comments

  1. I’m new to your blog, but congrats on trying to reach your goals. It gives me encouragement to pay off my student loan debt quicker!

    1. Welcome Debt Buster, hope you stick around 🙂 I hope that maybe my stories can encourage you to pay off your student loans quicker like you said, as reading the same type of stories on other blogs is what motivated me originally.

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