Powerful Student Loan Payoff Stories (+ Strategies) From People Like You

I had no idea how I would pay off the $100,000 of student loan debt I had accrued in college – maybe you can relate. Once I started, I’d look at the stories of other people who were fighting the same struggle I was. In these stories, I’d find goldmines of tactics, tips, and motivation. It was so inspiring to see proof that you can make it out of over six figures of debt in a short amount of time.

Do you feel like your student loan debt is becoming more and more impossible to pay off?

I’ve been there – so have the other 10 bloggers whose stories are shared below.

When you’re tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, it can feel like you’re in a hole so deep you’ll never crawl out. I’m here to tell you – there is a way out. Several ways, actually, and you’ll see many of them discussed in the student loan payoff stories below. These tactics include side hustling, freelancing, budgeting, finding accountability, tracking, avoiding lifestyle creep, and the avalanche and snowball methods.

It’s so inspiring to see others with debt as large or larger than your own successfully paying it down and becoming financially free. Below there are stories of people with $9,000 to $525,000 in student loans who are overcoming their debt. These bloggers range from a waitress to a dentist to a lawyer to a PhD.

Here are the stories of 11 inspiring bloggers who are either in the process of, or done with, paying off their student loans.

 

Actual Stories from People Like You Who Are Paying Off their Loans

Table of Contents

When I started my student loan journey, seeing that other people were successfully navigating their student loans along with everything else life throws at them helped me become determined to overcome my loans and fix my financial situation. I hope these stories will do the same for you!

 

Blogger: Natalie Bacon of nataliebacon.com

Total Starting Debt: $206,000 in 2012

Main Payoff Tactics: Side Hustle

Debt Free?:  Unknown (not publicly announced)

Latest Post About Debt: https://nataliebacon.com/student-loan-debt-money-mindset/

Natalie Bacon is a certified lawyer and financial coach who paid off $206,000 in debt. Here’s the thing – she racked up her student debt going to law school, and then realized that she hated law. So, she changed fields and became a financial planner. She’s also a blogger, and the income from her blog helped her pay off her debt much faster.

Before blogging, Natalie was a freelance writer. She had no prior experience with freelancing, and really no money know-how at all. Seriously – she had no idea how much debt she was in until she graduated college (something I think many of us can relate to)! She studied and read blogs about marketing strategies, advertising, blogging, and financial literacy.

With her hard work, she earned almost $6,000 in 2015, as a side hustle to her full-time attorney job. In 2016, she earned $30,000 from her blog, and she was working as a financial planner that time as well. Jump to 2018, when she made $20,000 in just one month! As of October 2018, she said she’s paid off over $100,000 of her student debt using the money she’s made online. She hasn’t publicly disclosed if she’s finished paying off her student loans.

 

Blogger: Becky of twentyfree.co

Total Starting Debt: $100,000 in September 2015

Main Payoff Tactics: Lowering Expenses + Side Hustle + Budgeting

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: 2017 Review – $27k Student Loans Paid Off + $17k Saved + $950 Spent Per Month

Oh hey, that’s me! As you might know, I graduated college in 2015 with approximately $100,000 in student loans. Until I graduated, I had NO idea how large my student loan balance actually was, so I was SHOCKED to see that it was six figures!

But by lowering my expenses – living with my parents for a year and a half, making sure my budget matched my priorities, and practicing frugality, I managed to save a lot of money. I also earned extra money through various methods like having a part-time and full-time job, earning credit card rewards, selling stuff, and getting several raises and a promotion! By saving more money (I had an 80% savings rate!) and earning more money, I was able to put thousands of dollars towards paying off my student loans.

I paid off $67,000 of high-interest student loans in just two years. Once all of my high-interest loans were paid off, my strategy has changed since my focus is to build my net worth. My remaining student loans are at lower interest rates, so I am now paying the minimum payment, and investing the extra cash in the stock market. Since I am young and my money has so much time to grow in the market, investing early and often will definitely be to my benefit (thanks compound interest!).

Visit this page to see all of my quarterly and yearly financial reviews to date. And feel free to comment on a post or reach out to me via email if you have any questions or need some support or encouragement on your journey!

 

Blogger: JJ of thedebthustler.com

Total Starting Debt: $93,000 in September 2017

Main Payoff Tactics: Freelancing + Avalanche Method

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: Debt Repayment Progress Report #16 (December 2018)

JJ runs a blog about his journey to financial freedom, discussing the final steps he’s taking to pay off his student loans. He had already paid off $50k of his $93,000 balance before starting his blog, The Debt Hustler. JJ accrued this debt to get a PhD – that means undergraduate, graduate and PhD credits had to be paid for! (I’m crying that my undergrad debt equaled his PhD debt though.)

In December 2018, JJ paid a total of about $1,900 towards his student loan debt by using a technique called Avalanche method. With this method, he paid an extra $1,500 towards another student loan debt. He is also planning to start freelancing on Fiverr to help generate extra income to put towards his student loans. Right now he has about $25k of student loans left.

 

Blogger: Shatoria of coincountinmama.com

Total Starting Debt: $9,000 in August 2018

Main Payoff Tactics: Snowball Method

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: Debt Payoff Report – October 2018

Okay so this is not exactly student debt, but bear with me. Shatoria accumulated almost $9,000 in credit card debt on one credit card. This debt stemmed from her inability to secure full-time employment shortly after she graduated from college.

She’s now facing her credit card debt head-on and is determined to pay it off. Shatoria is following the debt snowball method to pay off her debt.

 

Blogger: Stephanie of sixfiguresunder.com

Total Starting Debt: $144,000 in September 2013

Main Payoff Tactics: Side Hustle

Debt Free?:  Yes, July 2016

Last Progress Report: We’re Debt-Free! –A behind-the-scenes look at our journey to pay off $144,000 of debt!

Stephanie and her husband were eager to be debt-free – the sooner, the better. So instead of the suggested five year pay off plan, they decided to become debt free in three years. In September 2013, they set their big goal to pay off all of their debt by the end of 2016.

One of their tactics to pay off this debt faster was to increase their income. Stephanie has an Etsy shop which contributed extra income to paying off their debt. They made their final debt payment at the beginning of July 2016 with a total of $144,064 paid off.

 

Blogger: Elyse of thesavvysagittarius.com

Total Starting Debt: $34,000 in January 2017

Main Payoff Tactics: Side Hustle + Lower Expenses

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: November 2018 Debt Free Journey Report

Elyse is paying off $34,000 of student loan debt on a waitress’s salary. Elyse wants to be debt free at the age of 23, but realized that with her current expenses this would be very difficult. To cut expenses, she moved out of the apartment that she was leasing in October and into a house that her friends were renting. Elyse saved about $200 a month on housing by moving.

She started in 2017 with 8 loan accounts and $34,000 in total debt. After November 2018, Elyse has less than $5,000 remaining debt!

 

Blogger: Avery of millennialmayday.com

Total Starting Debt: $200,000 in July 2017

Main Payoff Tactics: Accountability + Tracking

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: December 2018 Debt Progress

Avery went to Pharmacy school, which proved very expensive. When she graduated, she had $200,000 in debt. To stay on track with her debt payoff, she started a blog to share her debt progress with others who are also facing debt payments of their own. This blog also provides her accountability to motivate her to pay off her debt.

In November 2018, Avery paid a total of $1,500. So far she’s paid off over half of her original student loan debt! With a total of $92,796 in student loans remaining, she is using a financial tool called Mint to keep track of her financial accounts and spending in one place.

 

Blogger: Tanya of brokeat40.com

Total Starting Debt: $184,946 in May 2017

Main Payoff Tactics: Modified Snowball Method (Undebt.it)

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: Debt Report – July 2018

Tanya’s debt consists of a student loan, mortgage, unsecured debt and an auto loan. The student loan takes up almost half (44.1%) of her debt.

Currently, Tanya is using a modified snowball method using the website Undebt.it. Her progress moved from 33.8% up to 34.9% paid off, and she lowered her debt balance by $2,495.81 in July. She should be paying off her next debt just two months later!

 

Blogger: Debt Wise Dentist

Total Starting Debt: $524,556.21 in February 2018

Main Payoff Tactics: Overtime + Live Below Means

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: July 2018 Progress Report

There aren’t many dentists talking about tackling student loans, so Debt Wise Dentist progress report is a good read! After 9 years of schooling for his wife (undergraduate, dental and a one-year residency) and 11 for Mr. Debt Wise Dentist (undergraduate, dental and a three-year residency), you can imagine that this couple has a large student loan balance. They started with over $524,000 in student loan debt!!

As of March 2018, they have refinanced the $525,245 debt. As of July 2018, they have paid off over $50,000 in debt and still owe a total of $468,961. The couple uses multiple techniques to tackle their debt. But the two methods that are working best are working more (to increase income) and living below their means.

 

Blogger: Brittany of wheremysoulbelongs.com

Total Starting Debt: $125,136 in September 2016

Main Payoff Tactics: Side Hustle + Budgeting

Debt Free?:  Not yet

Latest Progress Report: Student Loan Payoff Progress Report

Brittany is a lawyer and has been paying her student loans for 5 years now. For the first 5 years of her student loan payoff, she realized she paid NONE of the principal balance on her subsidized and unsubsidized student loans.  Brittany was only paying interest! The terrible news is that the principal balance of the government loans was $82,000 and the bar exam loan was $12,500, but 5 years later (in 2016) she realized that she owed $125,000 because of interest!

Now, Brittany continues repaying her remaining $122,748.12 student loan debt by side hustling and budgeting.

 

Blogger: Kevin of financialpanther.com

Total Starting Debt: $87,000 in January 2014

Main Payoff Tactics:  Full-Time Job + Avoiding Lifestyle Creep

Debt Free?:  Yes, June 2016

Last Progress Report: A Breakdown Of How I Paid Off $87,000 Worth Of Student Loans

Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther. After graduating in May 2013, he realized that he had accumulated $87,000 worth of student loans. Luckily, Kevin was fortunate enough to land a job at a big law firm making a great salary. He then started paying off his student loans in 2014.

Kevin was eager to pay off his student loans and avoid the lawyer lifestyle trap. He made his final student loan payment in June of 2016, just two-and-a-half years after he started his debt payoff journey.

 

The Bottom Line: Financial Freedom from Debt Is Possible

You’re not alone in your struggle with student loans. And luckily, there are plenty of people out there blogging about paying off their loans. Reading these blogger’s stories, tips, and tactics could be exactly what you need to help you gain financial freedom from debt. Being in debt is difficult, but if you believe that you can triumph over whatever challenges come your way, then you will.

 

Your Turn:

Which story inspired you the most? Please comment below – I would love to hear from you!

 

WANT TO REMEMBER THIS? SAVE THESE TIPS TO YOUR FAVORITE STUDENT LOAN PINTEREST BOARD!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAVE for later on PINTEREST!

4 Replies to “Powerful Student Loan Payoff Stories (+ Strategies) From People Like You”

  1. Thanks for rounding up this list (and for putting me on it <3) Becky! I’ve actually been looking for some motivation from other bloggers who are also looking to get out of debt so I’ll definitely be checking out the bloggers you mentioned!

    1. Becky@twentyfree says: Reply

      Hi Avery – Thank YOU for sharing your story online to help others! The motivation factor is so key 🙂

  2. Thanks for featuring my story, Becky! I just realized that our stories are quite similar: I was *also* working FOUR jobs at one point during my grad school years and still graduated with massive student loan debt. Solidarity in exhaustion, lol. Anywho, wanted to let you know that I enjoy your writing and am rooting for you to keep up the momentum on the already impressive progress you’ve made in such a short amount of time!

    1. Becky@twentyfree says: Reply

      Hey JJ – love the similarities in our stories 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement, I’m rooting for you too!

Tell me what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.