It's the first day of March! Finally!
No more snow!
No more snow!
No more snow!
As you can see, I'm excited about the beginning of this new month and a bit optimistic. Probably a little too optimistic. Isn't it supposed to snow next week or something?
I'm so excited about March I want to blog! And en route to actually blogging about what I'm going to blog about, I want to play a little game. We'll call it "Word Association" (because that's what it is).
Here's a practice round for you:
I say "Boston."
Naturally, you would say "Celtics."
Alright, we're getting somewhere.
Right?
Wait... You think I'm putting words in your mouth? Don't be silly. I'm just... Well, alright. Fair enough. I'm putting words in your mouth. Work with me here, people.
The real stuff (Round 1):
I say "The square root of the third root of the 6th prime in any given Fibonacci sequence."
You say...
...
...
Yup! You got it right!
The correct answer was, in fact, "I go to Bible college and I'm not required to take a math class to get a Bachelor's Degree. I won't need one for my Master's, either! Take that, college!"
Okay, so maybe I bent the rules a little for that one...
The real stuff, for real (Round 2):
I mean, we did just mention college, so let's go there.
I say "college."
You say...
Higher education.
Oh. Wait. Well... that's not really what I was going for. Try again.
New opportunities.
Well, not really... I have faith in you. Third time's a charm.
Interesting classes? Future spouse? Lots of drunk people?
Though in any other circumstance I would accept all of the above answers... you're still wrong. Let me help you a little. I was looking for the word money. And not as in "I'll earn a lot of money while I'm in college," because that defies some sort of law of physics, or "I'll earn a lot of money when I'm out of college," because we all know how much of a crock that is. It's more like "I'm going to owe a buttload of money when this is all said and done."
Of course, if you know me well at all, you're shaking your head right now (well, you might be anyway, but I don't want to know about it). You're shaking your head because you know I've accrued something in the range of $0.00 in student loan debt. Zero never looked so beautiful.
Here's the deal: I'm riddled with diseases. Maybe I'll blog about it some day. But that's the short of it. And because of these pesky illnesses, the state of Kansas has decided that it would rather spend a few thousand dollars to put me through college now rather than allowing me to be a drain on the economy later. I would take student loans over the lungs I have, but apparently I don't get to decide these sorts of things.
However, there's a catch: though I owe a whopping $0.00 in student loans, this was not the case for my beautiful, wonderful, and amazing wife (who I will have been married to for 1 year and 9 months tomorrow!). Little did I know that I not only married her, but I married her debt.
Now mind you, it's not that bad. Honestly, it really isn't. She only had one year to dig herself into a hole; I quickly rescued her by marrying her and allowing her to get loads of student aid by being a poor, married college student. However, that money is still... well, it's still money. Thousands of dollars of money.
Here's the deal: I'm riddled with diseases. Maybe I'll blog about it some day. But that's the short of it. And because of these pesky illnesses, the state of Kansas has decided that it would rather spend a few thousand dollars to put me through college now rather than allowing me to be a drain on the economy later. I would take student loans over the lungs I have, but apparently I don't get to decide these sorts of things.
However, there's a catch: though I owe a whopping $0.00 in student loans, this was not the case for my beautiful, wonderful, and amazing wife (who I will have been married to for 1 year and 9 months tomorrow!). Little did I know that I not only married her, but I married her debt.
Now mind you, it's not that bad. Honestly, it really isn't. She only had one year to dig herself into a hole; I quickly rescued her by marrying her and allowing her to get loads of student aid by being a poor, married college student. However, that money is still... well, it's still money. Thousands of dollars of money.
Thousands...
I shudder just thinking about it.
And that is why I decided to make it a goal to pay off part of Kalyn's student loans this year. And, lo and behold, I was able to, via a scholarship (ironic, isn't it?). To be exact, we were able to pay off $230.98.
Man, I really should have sprung for those extra two pennies...
Now, as exciting as it is to get a head-start on paying off Kalyn's loans, it was a little discouraging to see that we haven't actually even scratched the loan - all of that money paid off interest.
Bah humbug.
Regardless, I did it. I was able to pay off part of Kalyn's student loan debt and accomplish the 63rd goal on my list of 111 in 2011, even if I would've rather put that $230.98 toward something productive, like steak.
Any tips for dealing with debt that I might need for the future? Let me know via a delightful (or not so delightful, if you please) comment!
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1 comments:
Two words: DAVE RAMSEY! Check out The Total Money Makeover from the library. I promise it will change your life and how you think about money.
I wish Kevin and I knew what we now know at your age. DR has changed the way we look at money and how we work with our money. I know it's hard at this stage, being young married, broke, and in college. We've been there; it's rough! Do whatever it takes to avoid debt. It will be harder and rougher later if you have debt hanging around your neck.
By the way, kudos to you for starting now paying even a little of your debt.
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