This website has already discussed a number of strategies that should be employed to save money so that additional cash can be devoted to student loans. Indeed, saving money requires that student debt borrowers adopt certain mindsets and cut expenses so that savings can be used to pay down student loans. As touched upon in a prior article, saving money on clothes while paying off loans can have a huge impact on the amount of cash you have to pay down student debt.
During my student debt repayment saga, I barely spent any money on clothes. Since I am 6’9” tall, it is extremely difficult for me to find clothes that fit. As a result, this made saving money on clothes while paying off loans extremely easy, since I always hated to go shopping for new clothing! In fact, most of the times I go to a store to shop for new clothes, I can never find anything in my size.
During my student debt repayment saga, instead of purchasing new clothes, I generally wore clothes that I had for years. In fact, I wore some of the clothes I bought in high school well into my student loan repayment journey! If an article of clothing was extremely worn out, of course I would throw the clothes away. However, I had no problem wearing the same shirts, pants, and shoes that I had for years, and this empowered me to save money that could be devoted to student loans.
Prior to beginning my first job as an attorney, I knew that I needed to buy some suits and professional attire that I could wear to court or in other professional settings. I was extremely hesitant to spend too much money on a professional wardrobe, since I had a ton of student loans, and I did not want to shell out more money than absolutely necessary. I shopped around a few different stores, and I found one place that offered to sell me four suits for several hundred dollars.
This was a huge bargain, and I wore those four suits for years. The suits were extremely cheap, and they gave new meaning to the expression “fold like a cheap suit.” In addition, even though I had the suits tailored, the suits never fit me that well, since the suits did not have enough material to be properly fitted to my size. However, I was able to use these suits for the entirety of my student debt repayment saga, and saving money on clothes while paying off loans did not dramatically affect my wardrobe.
During my student debt repayment saga, one of the biggest ways that I acquired new clothes was through gifts from friends and family. Many of the people who were close to me understood that I cut corners and saved money in extreme ways in order to pay off my student loans. As a result, many people who gave me gifts for my birthday or for holidays bought me articles of clothing, and I think that people thought it was an interesting process to find clothes that actually fit me.
My older brother bought me a few pairs of pants during my student debt repayment saga that I used for years. I ended up bursting a pen on one of the pairs of jeans, but I still used these jeans when painting or conducting any other type of dirty work. In addition, my grandma got me a sweater during my student debt repayment saga that I still use today. The good thing about getting an article of clothing from my grandmother is that she was more than happy to sew up holes in the sweater, which definitely helped me use that sweater for a long time! In any case, if people close to you provide you gifts during your student debt repayment saga, it might as well be for something useful, like clothing.
In some situations, however, saving money on clothes while paying off loans might not be a good idea. As I got farther into my legal career, it became pretty obvious that I needed to purchase a better wardrobe. Sometimes it is fine to appear in court with crappy suits, since judges never want to think that you make more money than them. However, people need to dress well in many situations in order to gain more respect.
During the last part of my student debt repayment saga, I finally splurged on two good suits that I could wear in a number of circumstances. I still made sure to shop around for a bargain, and I got both of the suits for the price of one. In addition, I was able to convince a salesman to knock off $50 from the price of dress shoes I purchased, and I bought two winter jackets around the same time as well. Later in my student debt repayment saga, interest was accruing on my loans at a much lower rate, so I felt a lot more comfortable shelling out money on clothes.
In the end, saving money on clothes while paying off loans requires a few strategies. It is important to wear clothes as long as possible so that you can hold off on shelling out money that can be devoted to student loans. In addition, if other people buy you presents for any occasion, receiving clothes could be extremely helpful. Nevertheless, once you reach a point in your student debt saga when interest is not accruing at an alarming rate, you might consider spending more money on new clothes.