One of the biggest goals I had last year was to pay off my school loans as fast as possible. In what takes students normally 10 years or more to pay off, I did in one year. One of the biggest reason I was able to pay my school loans off faster than normal, wasn’t only the success of my internet websites, but also the dedicated and will towards paying my loans off.
Paying Your Loans Faster
America has one of the highest debt rates of any country. People want the newest clothes, the biggest car, and as much stuff as they can. It’s easy to think that the person with the most stuff wins.
The more you can put down toward a loan payment, the faster you are going to pay it off. Therefore, I put whatever cash I could toward my loans, leaving a little left in case of a rainy day. How do you put more towards your loan? You live by a little principal I call less is more.
Living With Less Is More
Sometimes its better to value what you have rather than what you want. It’s easy to surround yourself with things you don’t need, which will just add to clutter. Rather than increase what I own, I’ve been trying to get rid of what I already have.
Reducing Your Monthly Commitments
Another great way to increase the amount you can pay off on your loan is to bring to a minimum your monthly financial commitments.
Cell Phone Bill - Rather than pay a monthly cell phone bill with minutes I probably won’t use. I go prepay and pay 10 cents per minute. When I’m home I use skype and voip to make calls, saving my cell phone minutes for later.
Cable TV Bill - Rather than pay monthly cable bills, I opt to watch TV online and use a converter box to catch regular stations.
Electricity – America needs to go code Green, not code Red. Even if you don’t believe in climate change, going green can significantly reduce your power bill. Turn off lights when you aren’t in the room. Switch to more energy efficient light bulbs, and slightly lower the temperate in your house. Try riding a bike rather than driving everywhere. Small changes in your energy consumption can mean saving big on your bills later.
Conclusion
Loans can be essential, especially when you need to buy a new house, car, or anything else that would be extremely difficult to obtain without a loan. One of the biggest mistakes made is letting this debt accumulate by purchasing much more than they can afford, making it hard just to pay off any accumulated debt.
