So What if I Am STILL a Server!?

I moved to Nashville to go to Belmont University in order to be in the music industry. I took a job right before enrolling at a downtown bar/restaurant/music venue to help support myself through school. Fast forward almost 9 years, and I am still working at this same place part-time on nights and weekends in order to help support my Belmont student loan pay-off. I am no longer in the music industry as I took a job in corporate America working 8-5 for a bigger salary in order to pay off the loans I accumulated while at Belmont.

Target (The Store)

I usually refrain from shopping at this store due to the overwhelming temptation to buy everything. From the enticing smell and trendiness of Starbucks greeting you upon arrival, to every single (this is so me!) item screaming your name, it is, at the end of the day, a place I cannot afford to love. I am often price comparing groceries, and Target has never really won any store comparisons, but lately I have heard they are a little lower on a couple of items. There is a store on the way home from my normal shopping places, so I stopped in to get 4 grocery items they offered a low price on.

When checking out, my total on the screen was $8.22. The cashier said aloud, $82.20 then quickly corrected himself and apologized by saying, “Sorry, I am used to seeing large totals all day.” I chuckled and told him I completely understood. Then as I was walking out, I felt sad for a moment, and the Starbucks that so enticingly greeted me upon arrival was now mocking me upon my departure. I felt poor. Poor for only buying $8.22 worth of items in this super-store; then poor again because who wouldn’t love a delicious $5 latte, but I simply didn’t have room for that impulse buy in my budget.

Then, as it always does, pride came around and got in my passenger seat as I was pulling out of the store. I could have purchased hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise. I could have purchased that $5 latte. I chose not to. I chose not to because what I truly want is to be debt-free, and to keep the momentum of throwing a couple grand a month at my student loans; not to have that perfect tote bag, or to have that wonderful smelling candle on my dresser. I can have those things later down the road, but for right now, I have a way bigger goal in mind, and I would be foolish to place a bag and a candle as a roadblock in my own path. By the time I got home, I felt overjoyed about my $8.22 purchase, and more motivated than ever to keep going.

I am not saying I always walk away from tote bags and Starbucks, but for the majority I do, and in this instance, I did. And I can tell you, it feels better in the long run to walk away. For those of my peers still in debt and prowling the isles of Target, may the odds be ever in your favor. My hope for you is that you find an accountability friend. A friend you should alert when entering Target so that he/she can give you a fake emergency call about 30 minutes into your trip that ultimately saves you from the super-store’s predatory ways; just as you would want on a horrible first date. That right there sounds like my kind of friendship. Stay the path, friends! 

Financial Sweatpants

Today I paid off the first of my two federal loans! This, my readers, is what I would like to call unbuttoning and unzipping my tight business slacks. This loan was the one that was sold to the Department of Education when my other one stayed under the same Sallie Mae name. Although it was under another name, I believe Sallie Mae still had some sort of ownership over it because I was still paying on it through their website. I chose this one as my second loan to pay off because it was the lowest of the 2 federals; both started out at $4,500, but where the other one had a 0.5% higher interest rate, its total balance was higher. I will tackle that higher one sitting at a little over $4K next.

If you had told me 2 years ago that I put down almost $17K towards my student loans between March of 2013 and May of 2014, I would have a). told you to walk away, you've got the wrong person or b). figured I hit it big while gambling during the Vegas bachelorette party I knew I was about to attend. I would not have thought it was from budget discipline based around some financial dude’s theory.

It has not been the easiest, especially during changing seasons when I would rather give my hard earned cash to Macy’s over ole’ hag Sallie. However, I know that in the end I will be glad I chose the road to financial sweatpants.

2 down, 4 to go.