Why I am Not Stressing out so much over my Student Loans

In the PF world, the pervasive message is to get out of debt and get out debt fast. People want to be free from the financial shackles of owing someone else money and some are willing to go to extremes to get it. Although I find nothing wrong with that and God knows that I stress out about other things, but I have decided not to stress out about my student loans anymore.

Okay, before you kill me, I have my reasons. I just got my loan balance down to around $11,000. They are all government backed loans so the interest is controlled. Actually, I just got some of the interest rates reduced because I now have my loans set on automatic withdrawal every month from my checking account. I am paying a decent amount on them already every month and have never defaulted. Also, besides my small car payment, it is the only other debt we have right now. I am 99% certain when we finally sell the house, we will be able to pay most if not all of my loans. At this point, I am just not stressing over it anymore. I am doing what I can to pay it off and that’s that. Do I want to be debt-free? Of course! But I refuse to do it at the expense of my sanity.

Now I know I may be paying a little more in interest, but thats just as cool as ice with me right now. What helps me sleep at night is the fact that I have an emergency fund, some retirement funds, our own house, and no credit card debt. Did I mention I am trying to chill the f*ck out on things? Recently, I took a good look at all the stuff in our apartment and am proud to say that everything in it is fully paid off. I figure I am doing good and why not savor that versus freaking out?

I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who can eat ramen 5 nights a week and wipe out six figures worth of debt in like 2 months (okay, maybe an exaggeration). The point is that I am doing fine right now and I need to remember that. I am still a frugal person. I still have only like 3 pairs of shoes that I actually use and I have been driving the same car since high school (over 200k miles, oh yeah). I just want to be able to breathe as well. So to all you brave troopers paying off debt, I salute you. I know its not easy and sometimes you want to give up, but its important to stay sane about it too.

Remember, this is just me here. Like I said, I have nothing against others who do things differently. This is just right for me at this time.