I will never forget the weight of my $72,000 graduate student loan bill. It didn’t just affect my bank account – it shaped my daily spending choices, delayed my dreams, and literally kept me in anxiety.
At my lowest point, I sobbed with shame and regret. Then I made a decision that changed everything. I was planning to pay back my student loan in two years. What happened next was surprising to me. I repaid them in a year, not in the 10 cases I was prescribed.
If student loans are crushing your dreams, here is the step-by-step plan I used to crush them first. Spoiler alert: You need to change your money habits and create a game plan, but the financial and emotional freedom on the other side is very valuable.
Step 1: Set a bold payoff date
Please select the date when you want to be relieved of student debt. Even if it feels unrealistic, it’s still bold about it. I chose two years to pay off $72,000, but I felt that was impossible.
To avoid the overwhelming feeling of paying off such a large amount of debt, I reverse engineered the numbers until I reached an amount I felt was feasible:
- $72,000 in two years is $36,000 per year. That was more than my salary at the time.
- $36,000 a year divided by 12 months was $3,000 a month. Wow, I still feel I can’t get over it.
- $3,000 a month is about $750 a week. Can you win that many working retailers?
- $750 a week is just over $100 a day. Bingo – I believed I was capable enough to find $100 a day.
Start with the total loan amount and drill down to the monthly or weekly level to set debt reward targets. I realized that the only person who knows whether I failed or not is me (and my partner if I told him), and the freedom to fail gave me permission to try various solutions out loud.
Step 2: Dive into the details of your debt
It’s appealing to try not to see and worry about stressful debts, but you can’t crush the things you can’t see. Put your pen on paper and collect all the details of your debt, including:
Some people like spreadsheets, but I prefer to see everything in my own handwritten form. I grabbed my notepad and listed all the loans I had. It wasn’t beautiful, but it was necessary.
I used a student loan calculator to understand how much I would benefit from paying the minimum amount. Looking at the enormous number, my urgency helped me get out of my debt and get out quickly. Some experts will instruct them to be repaid according to the highest interest rates, also known as debt avalanches.
But for me, those diagnosed with anxiety and depression were people who were very motivated to win on small and early days, and chose the snowball method.
Step 3: Expand savings that have not violated loan interest
Once I had a plan, I was serious about turning it into reality. That meant exceeding my minimum monthly payment. I started by looking at my savings account and asking, “Do these earn more than my loan interest?”
Most had no interest at all. So I kept a month’s worth of expenses in the Emergency Fund and a month’s worth of expenses in what is now called a cash flow cushion, and thrown all the other dollars in debt.
why? Perhaps the interest rate on student loans is higher than what you earn in a high-yield savings account, and is definitely higher than what you earn in a regular savings account.
In May 2025, the most competitive rate of return for high-yield accounts was below 5%. Compare that with the lowest federal student loan interest rate of 6.53%. You can see the problem. Your loan earns interest faster than your savings earns.
Step 4: For now, put your credit card on ice
During my debt-inflicted journey, I decided to stop using my credit card altogether. It felt like an extreme thing back then. However, I was so stressed about student loans, building my career and trying to succeed, so I often over-snatch unnecessary costs as a coping mechanism.
This has created a potential new trap: credit card debt. In fact, many of my clients have suffered from double wmmies of student loans and credit card debt.
It has become much easier to budget for additional payments for student loans when you were limited to using only what was in your checking account. I didn’t cancel my cards – I placed them on ice until my student loan was over. Yes, I was one of the people who actually frozen them in a bowl of water, so I have to thaw them to use them.
Even when I finally returned to using my credit card, I paid them back weekly, not monthly, but I still maintain this habit after years of debt free.
Step 5: Reward yourself on a budget
I used my monthly budget and remained focused on lasers with my student loan payoff goals, but didn’t cut all the joys. As long as I first met my monthly goals on student loan repayments, I still dealt with occasional bobati and voluntary road trips.
The key was to pay my student loan first every month. And then I spent the rest of my money and not the other way around. The balance of discipline and joy was consistent with my progress, especially when I felt a plateau of my energy and motivation.
A zero-based budget was the biggest habitual change in money, and using certain numbers up to the dollar was even more difficult. But the rounding number of your budget is important. Because every dollar placed on your student loan is a victory in my book!
Step 6: Side hustling without thinking again
This is where many of my coach clients get stuck. They are trying to study business ideas and try to perfect side hustles before they start.
I didn’t spend that time. Mainly because I was not ashamed to do hourly or part-time jobs despite earning a higher salary before grad school. I chose the fruit with a low flexion:
- I sell clothes, furniture, etc. I already own.
- Pick up retail shifts at local boutiques
- Freelance jobs like resume reviews
- Tell me a class about what I already enjoyed
No flashy skills were required, but I had to check my ego at the door. I didn’t worry about what other people think or coming across people I knew while doing these jobs. Okay, I did a little, but these gigs delivered extra cash faster than any startup plan back then. Not having debt was worth it to me more than temporary discomfort.
Final Thoughts: This is just a chapter, not your whole story
Student loans don’t have to be a 10-year burden. No matter what’s going on in the economy, they can become chapters that close faster than you think.
Paying back $72,000 in less than a year didn’t make you rich in one night, but that did something unexpected. It gave me the freedom to dream again. And achieving this goal has boosted my confidence in pursuing even bigger financial goals, such as starting a business, writing a book, becoming an angel investor.
So, if student loans are crushing your goals (and your soul), this is your sign to crush them instead. Kick them to the curb – and go back to building the life you love.
