Over the past several weeks, this website has provided some introductory articles on my personal background and the general topic of student loan repayment. Now it’s time to discuss the actual “nuts and bolts” of how you can pay off your student debt early. As I mentioned in my previous articles (and as common sense would dictate), paying off student loans early requires two fundamental strategies: saving money and earning extra cash through side hustles. The next set of articles on this website will tackle this first topic and discuss some of the mindsets, strategies, and lifestyles that anyone can adopt in order to save money and devote more cash toward repaying student loans.
Before discussing more specific tactics that can be used to save money, I just wanted to relate my own background regarding frugality. I also want to impress upon my readers that frugality is a lifestyle more than just a series of financial decisions, and to truly save a meaningful amount of money, one must have commitment, perseverance, and a positive attitude. I was fortunate enough to have two of the greatest teachers of frugality in the world: my grandparents. Both of my maternal grandparents were born during the Great Depression when money was tight, and every effort was made to stretch a dollar as far as it could go.
My grandfather could write a book about how to be frugal. Growing up, whenever he had a hamburger at a restaurant, he would ask for lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on the side. Then he would ask for Russian dressing, and he would literally make a salad out of this. Indeed, he was the only one I knew who would ask the guy at Subway to give him tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and every other topping on the side, and I’m sure you could guess what he would do with this food as well. Additionally, he would oftentimes ask for lemons with his water when out at restaurants, and then squeeze the lemons into the water with some sugar or artificial sweetener and make lemonade. I guess when life gives you water, lemons, and sweetener . . . you get the point! One time, I heard my grandfather suggest that one should wash and save plastic cups and plates for later reuse, a concept that I am happy no one in my family adopted.
My grandfather would never pay a parking ticket or a red-light camera ticket without vigorously challenging it, even if he was at fault. He never paid any type of convenience fee, especially involving airlines, without trying to get the fee reduced or eliminated. I don’t remember any time he was unable to get a fee lowered or eliminated, his power was uncanny. All told, my grandfather got a genuine “kick” out of being frugal, and he would do anything to save a buck. His example is extremely instructive for anyone trying to adopt a frugal lifestyle, and he shows that you can even enjoy the “game” of saving money.
My maternal grandmother also trained me well in the art of saving a buck. My grandmother had a way of saving food and making the most out of what she had. One time she put Boston Market chicken in an omelet she made for me just so that she could find an outlet for some leftover food! My grandmother almost always buys whatever is on sale, has a coupon for all her purchases, and buys everything she can at the dollar store. She rarely likes eating at restaurants classier than the Outback Steakhouse and has no taste for anything particularly expensive.
My grandparents’ influence has greatly impacted me. I am naturally a frugal person, and like my elders before me, I have always loved saving money. I still wear most of the clothes that I wore in law school, and just like a student, I still look out for any way to score free food. I get a kick out of finding the lowest price for any item I need, and the perfect example of this is that I am typing this article on a $250 off-brand computer! I also always try to reuse items that others don’t want, and not a piece of furniture in my apartment was bought new. All told, I am very frugal by nature like my grandparents before me, and this lifestyle assisted me greatly when expediting student loan payments.
The next several articles on this website are going to dive into the subject of saving money, and I will describe some practical ways that you can decrease spending to increase the money you pay toward student debt. First, I will discuss some mentalities that can be employed in order to resist temptation and save the most money possible. Next, I will discuss debt fatigue, and hopefully my example will make it easier for everyone out there to overcome this issue. Lastly, I will discuss some practical ways that anyone can save money in their ordinary lives.
I’m sure that everyone knows someone in their family that is frugal, since people of a certain generation are just naturally more adept at saving money. Be sure to channel this person as you read my articles on frugality and as you employ these methods in your daily lives. And if you do not know frugal individuals to model yourself after, you can channel my grandparents. They are the perfect role models in the art of frugality.