On the first of December I opened my servicer's site with a cup of coffee and the radiator clanking behind me, typed the balance into the club sheet and then just looked at it. $15,640. Half of $31,400 is $15,700. I'm $60 under.
I borrowed $31,400 for four years at Illinois State. As of this week, I owe less than half of it. It's a strange feeling. Nothing about my day changed, and I still felt like something had.
How the numbers got here
When I started this blog in March, the balance was $24,600. That was already $6,800 below the original, but honestly most of that drop happened slowly and without much intention after payments started in late 2023. The last nine months are the part I actually planned.
From March to May, I paid the standard $330 while I cleared my credit card. In June I moved up to $1,100 a month. In September I added a $1,100 lump from summer pet sitting money. In October and November I sent about $760 more in smaller extras from fall dog walks, after setting aside 25% of every payment for taxes.
None of those months were dramatic. Most of the work was the boring part: paying my parents $300 instead of rent, packing lunch, driving a car I already own and saying "maybe next month" to things I'd have said yes to in Rogers Park. The pet sitting helped more than I expected. Every dog I walked this fall went partly to taxes and partly to this balance.
That adds up to $8,960 off the balance in nine months. My 5.05% loan, the most expensive one, was paid off in October. Five loans left.
The small celebration
I'd been thinking about how to mark this for weeks, which is funny for someone who just wrote an entire post about not spending money. I settled on something small. I bought a $16 bag of good coffee beans from a roaster in Evanston, the kind I usually walk past, and told my family at Sunday dinner.
My mom teared up a little, because she cries at everything with a number attached. My brother Nolan, home from school for Thanksgiving week, asked if this meant I'd be paying for dinner now. My dad thought about it for a second and said, "Half is a real number." From him, that's practically a parade.
Dan, who I've been seeing since August, sent a text with a single trophy emoji and then asked if he could have some of the coffee. That's fair.
What's still ahead
$15,640 is still a lot of money. And the next stretch is going to be slower, for a few reasons.
First, my paycheck just changed. I turned 26 in November, which meant coming off my dad's health plan at the end of the month. I'm now on my employer's high-deductible plan, with a premium and an HSA contribution coming out of every check. My take-home goes from $1,342 to $1,240 per paycheck. That's about $220 less a month.
Second, I'm starting to think seriously about moving out next year. I've walked past enough rental signs in Evanston and Skokie this fall to have a price list, and I know that saving for a deposit and first month's rent will take money that's been going to the loans. I haven't decided the numbers yet. I'll write about it once I do.
Third, the loans that are left are cheaper. My remaining rates are 4.53%, 3.73% and 2.75%. That's good news for my wallet, but it makes it easier to convince myself the rest can wait. I'm going to keep an eye on that.
The plan for December is simple. One more $1,100 payment, and the emergency fund should hit its $6,000 goal by the end of the month. Then I'll sit down over the holidays and look at the full year.
I know people with balances many times bigger than mine, and I know $15,640 isn't a dramatic story. But I remember sitting in my childhood bedroom in March feeling stuck, and I don't feel stuck now. That's worth $16 in coffee beans.
