Last Updated on December 15, 2022
Student loans are a huge burden for many people. In some cases, paying off student loans can take decades. But there are ways to speed up the process and pay off student loans fast.
Reddit user [user name] shared their story about how they paid off $30,000 in student loans in only one year. They used a combination of time-saving tips and budgeting tricks to get rid of their debt as quickly as possible.
Here’s how they did it:
How To Pay Off Student Loans Fast Reddit
Top 5 Best Student Loan Tips From Reddit Everyone Should Read
We’ve compiled a list of five reddit student loans tips that we hope can help you throughout this process. Read on to learn more about the steps that different reddit users have taken to make the best financial decisions for themselves.
1. Look at all your options
There are alternatives to taking out student loans, and it’s good to look at these options first before applying for one. In this student loans reddit post, user Betsy514 outlines some of these alternatives, including choosing a cheaper school, taking a gap year, and applying to scholarships.
We here at Juno created our own scholarship database with over thousands of options that you can apply to to help finance your education. Come take a look here!
However, if you do need to take out a student loan, which, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, around 60% of college students do, you should start by looking at all your federal and private options.
Juno has multiple student loan guides that help explain your options, and breaks down the interest rates and costs of these options:
Researching your options is an important step in ensuring that you are making wise financial decisions. These options vary for different schools and programs. For instance, we here at Juno, along with this student loans reddit comment thread, recommend that undergraduate students should always look at their federal options before their private ones. If an undergraduate student meets the federal lending limit for direct loans, they then can turn to private lenders or parent PLUS loans and explore their options there. Look to our guides linked above to determine which options are best for your program.
2. Create a budget to cut down on spending
If you have taken out student loans and are working to repay them, creating a budget can be helpful. Budgeting allows you to be more organized with your repayment plan and helps in setting you up for financial success.
This comment on a student loans reddit advice post breaks down where to start: “First you need to sit down and totally understand your income and your debt and create a budget based on your goals. This is going to take a lot of time. Here’s what you need to know:
- What is your household income?
- List all debts smallest to largest and their interest rates. Student loans and everything else except mortgage.
- List monthly expenses.
- Do you have an emergency fund/how much savings?”
A key part of budgeting is to try and cut down your spending on luxury items.
In this student loans reddit post, user TheChilledPixel details how they paid off $115,000 in student loans.
“(I) used to pay large chunks (think $2.5k – 3k) of my paycheck right after it hits my bank account. Didn’t go out to eat (or get takeout in COVID times) often when my friends pressured me – opted to make home cooked meal and have a cookout at home instead. Got super aggressive with repayment in the past year. I mean like lean lean spending. Only spent money on the rent, phone, utilities, gas and groceries.”
It can be difficult to create a budget and cut down on spending, but if you have outstanding student loan debt it is definitely something to prioritize. User TheChilledPixel is now completely debt free! Budgeting and spending your money wisely is effective, and can help make your student loan expenses much more manageable.
3. Make your payments on time
Interest accrues on your student loan payments, so make your payments sooner rather than later to avoid having to pay extra costs. To make these payments in a timely fashion, try cutting down on your spending — especially when it comes to luxury items.
Reddit user yes_its_him’s reddit post on personal finance emphasizes the importance of staying on top of your payments: “Pay them back on schedule. It sounds crazy, but it just might work! If your income supports it, pay the minimum on low-interest (<~4%) loans. If you have even more income, repay them faster with extra payments, especially on higher interest loans, and save by paying less interest than you would over time.”
Don’t rely on student loan forgiveness and postpone your loan payments. Make sure to pay them back on schedule so you don’t have to pay more than anticipated.
4. Pick up a side hustle or part-time job
If you’re having trouble paying off your student loans with just your primary source of income, consider picking up a side hustle or part-time job.
This student loans reddit thread details various jobs and activities people have picked up to help pay off their loans, including pet sitting, bartending, officiating, and miscellaneous online jobs. These online jobs have flexible hours and you can work in the comfort of your own home!
If you have the time and can make the commitment, a side hustle or part-time job can prove to be very useful, providing you with more flexibility in managing your money.
5. Consider refinancing your private student loans
Refinancing your student loans isn’t always the best option for everyone, but can be very helpful in some cases. Currently, federal student loans are not collecting any interest until October 1, 2021 as part of COVID-19 relief. However, if you are currently repaying a private loan with a high interest rate, refinancing may be your best option, allowing you to lower your monthly payments and save more money.
In this reddit post on student loans, user Zaerth talks about their experience with refinancing their private loan. “I’m going from paying nearly $900/month toward my private loans to $515/month. I extended the life of the loan by a few years in order to get that rate, but I’m planning on refinancing again in a couple years. And I can always pay more than the minimum payment. But for now, it’s a huge relief.” Zaerth said they wished they refinanced years ago.
Juno can help you to find a student loan or refinance a loan at the most competitive possible rate. We get groups of buyers together and negotiate on their behalf with lenders to save them money on private student loans and private student loan refinance loans.
how to pay off 80k in student loans
15 SECRETS THAT HELPED ME PAY OFF $80,000 OF DEBT IN 18 MONTHS
1. READ THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER BY DAVE RAMSEY.
After my post last week I already heard from someone that they purchased the book and is taking action! Awesome!
Note: I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a commission if you purchase the book through my link. Thank you!
2. MAKE A COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF.
Write down your goal and how much you want to pay off by a certain deadline. Make sure you make it a reasonable goal and tell your friends and family about your goal. When you can’t go out to dinner with them, you don’t want them pressuring you! You need their support to make this happen.
3. CREATE A BUDGET FOR EACH MONTH.
Recording all of our income and expenses is how we got ourselves out of debt and in control my expenses. Each month, make a goal and then try your best to meet it!
4. IF YOUR EXPENSES ARE EVERYWHERE, USE MINT.COM TO KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING.
This way you only need to go to one account to find the information you need, rather than opening a ton of different accounts to update your budgeting.
5. BE CREATIVE.
Is any of your money tied about in accounts that you don’t really need? For instance, I had some money sitting aside in an investment account that I never touched. Meanwhile, I had all this debt that I was working my butt off to get rid of. I decided to take the money from the investment account and apply it to my debt.
Now we have started investing again but without the headache of debt clouding our decisions.
6. SELL, SELL, SELL.
Yes, that’s right. I didn’t need that butter dish like I thought I did when I got married. So on eBay it went. This allowed us to unclutter our lives and really think about the items that we wanted to keep.
It was hard to sell wedding presents but some of them we hadn’t used in the 5 years since we were married. So we knew it was time for them to go. We also both had all of our textbooks from college and grad school that we never looked at. Those were sold online as well.
You might not think you can make much money from selling small dollar items but trust me, it adds up quickly! I even sold clothes on eBay that I never wore anymore. Not only will this help you pay off debt faster, but you will also feel so much better living in an uncluttered house.
7. EVALUATE THE CAR YOUR DRIVE.
We had two major loans on both of our new cars that we had recently purchased. We thought long and hard about selling our cars and getting used cars instead when we decided to get out of debt. At that point in time though, we realized it would be better in the long run if we just paid more on the loans each month and knocked the loans down faster. But, if you don’t see an end in sight for your car loans, buy a used car instead and use the difference from your sold car to pay off your debt.
8. FOCUS.
One of the reasons that I think it took so long for us to make this plan to get out of debt is that every financial expert tells you to do something different. I had always heard that you should pay off your largest debt or largest interest rate first and that just seemed totally overwhelming so I never did it.
It wasn’t until I heard Dave Ramsey’s plan of paying off the SMALLEST debt first did the light bulb click for me. I do love my checklists and the faster I can check stuff off, the better I feel. So this allowed us to pay off our first debt in a matter of weeks because it was so tiny.
So, even though it might not make as much “sense” to pay off the smallest debt first if it doesn’t have a high-interest rate, what really matters is that you stick with it and that is more important than worrying about interest rates.
9. REVIEW YOUR WARDROBE.
Yes, I do love new clothes too. But for almost a year, I rarely bought anything new. I learned to try new combinations in my wardrobe and found a bunch of stuff that was hiding when I actually sorted my closet. I know all your friends are always buying new stuff and you may not fit all the latest trends.
What I noticed is at some point something triggers where even though you might have worn the same thing last month, you feel happier about who you are and the goals that you are meeting that you just don’t care anymore about trying to fit in anymore. I am all for looking great and stylish, but you don’t need new clothes all the time in order to do that. As long as you have the classics and you feel comfortable in them.
(But, if going on an interview, please get yourself a nice suit. This you can fit into the budget because Classy Career Girl says so)!
10. BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR LIVING SITUATION.
When my husband and I were getting closer to paying off our debt, we really wanted to decrease our living costs but it was just something that we could not figure out how to move. (Normally, I would say get a cheaper rent but at the time we had a mortgage and we were stuck).
So we decided to offer our spare bedroom to one of my best friends for a very affordable rent. This did two things. 1) It helped us get out of debt faster. 2) It helped her get out of debt. Win and win! Plus, who doesn’t want to hang out with their best friend every day!
11. TRACK YOUR EXPENSES AT THE GROCERY STORE.
I was notorious for using a grocery list app on my phone when I went grocery shopping so I knew exactly how much I was going to spend when I left the store. I planned what I needed beforehand and what I thought each item was going to cost and then I adjusted at the store.
So if I saved a couple dollars on one item, it allowed me to splurge and get something that wasn’t on the list. We also used coupons that were available online and in the grocery store handouts. Don’t overlook the free offers!
12. CARPOOL.
My husband and started driving together to and from work. Even though it was a major hassle because we would get done at certain times, we saw our gas bill go down so it was worth the hassle!
13. CUT THE TV CHANNELS.
Do you really need the million channels you have right now? You know all you do is flip the channels over and over anyway so why not just have 5-10 channels to choose from. It makes decisions a LOT easier. We went down to basic cable and didn’t miss trying to find a great show in a million channels.
14. WE ATE IN, A LOT.
It’s much cheaper to cook at home and eat leftovers. (Plus, it helps that my husband will eat anything I put in front of him including the same thing for a few days:)
15. STAY POSITIVE.
You will do it. Just imagine yourself at the end and how great it will feel. It will be SO WORTH your hard work now so that you can have the freedom to do what you want in your career and life.
