My Debt Free Journey: How I Paid Off $26,000 in Student Loans in 9 Months.

Kelvin Dankwa graduated from Seattle University in June 2019 and since then, he’s been on a mission to pay off his student debt.

A Year Full of Challenges

In a year full of failures, I’m thankful that it has had its victories.

With the ongoing pandemic, there were many plans I was forced to abandon but, one goal I refused to concede on was getting out of debt. With about 26k in student loans, I set up a budget that would put me on pace for debt freedom by the end of the year. My mindset was that if I could take advantage of my low cost of living and live humbly this year, I could begin building wealth in 2021. I knew it was going to require a lot of sacrifice, a bit of exhaustion and immense discipline; more importantly, I knew that it was going to be worth it. After months of living below my means, frugality and self-deprivation, I can gladly say that on August 28, 2020 I became debt free.  

In my original budget, I set aside about $2,200 a month to get out of debt but as the pandemic commenced, my life got a lot cheaper. I wasn’t paying for my gym membership, haircuts, or clothing and I wasn’t spending as much on gas because there was nowhere to go! The biggest factor in ramping up my student loan payments was that student loan rates were set at 0% through September.  This meant that all the money I contributed went directly to the loan principal. I already had my mind set on getting out of debt by the end of the year, but was surprised I got them paid off as soon as I did. 

Budgeting During a Pandemic

Over the course of eight months, I brought home exactly $35,967. 84 and paid off exactly $25,721.49 (not quite 26k but pretty close haha). If you do the math, that equates to 71.5% of my income and $3,215.18 per month on average. As I stated before, this took a lot of discipline and exhaustion to get done.

For the first three months of the year, I worked as much overtime as I could handle which gave me a significant head start. I’m talking 50, 60 and even 70+ hour weeks. Once March hit, I was unable to work overtime and my hours as a receptionist got cut but, I was still able to work 40 hours a week because I found other ways to contribute. My days would consist of me making a bunch of phone calls in the back office, screening patients upon entry of our clinic or doing reception work. The secondary roles weren’t the most exciting but because I did my best to work as much as possible even with a reduced supply of hours, I got over the hump earlier than expected. 

Although I finished this journey four months ahead of schedule, the process made the long year of 2020 feel even longer. With every paycheck, I was sending so much money to the loan agency that it was hard to do much with the little money I had remaining. Nonetheless, there was a lot I learned along the way. I learned that I have more than enough discipline to save money intentionally and effectively. This only gives me more confidence to build wealth because I know what it looks like to live below my means, and I’ve felt the satisfaction of reaching my goal. Also, my income should only go up from this point on so reaching milestones when building wealth won’t take as long. Shoot, I can even take a pay cut in order to get better experience to increase my growth potential. I hope it doesn’t get to that point but being debt free gives me that option and mobility. 

I Achieved My Goal, Now What?

I think it’s imperative to recognize your accomplishments so I treated myself for overcoming this obstacle. I bought a gold chain, a pair of Jordan’s and booked a flight to Arizona all within a week of achieving my goal Now it is time to refocus.

Being debt free is only a small part of the marathon I’m racing. My next goals are to save a 6-month emergency fund of $10,000, find a way to increase my income and also to move out of my mom’s house. There’s still a lot to accomplish but because I’ve conquered the big hurdle that is student loan debt, I feel equipped enough to achieve all of my financial goals. The fact that I learned to handle money with a low income gives me immense confidence in my abilities to formulate a plan, budget and save money. With a low income, I was able to put an incredible amount of money towards these student loans. Now, my money will stay with me and I’ll be able to see my paper stack.

If you think what I did was way too far fetched for you, that’s fine. Just know that the difference between you and me has nothing to do with financial expertise. I don’t come from a family with money and financial literacy is a fairly new concern of mine. I’m not a finance guru that has extensive knowledge about money either. The reason I am debt free is because the last thing I want is for money to control me so I have chosen to be in control of my money. Yeah, I got a huge break by not paying a bunch of rent but I was smart enough to use that to my advantage. My privilege played a part in me being debt free but I recognized that, leveraged it and achieved my goal.

Do I expect anyone to be able to give 72% of their income away each month? Absolutely not. Was working 50, 60 or 70+ hour weeks fun? Nope. But the reality of being debt free isn’t always as far off as you think. Once again, it didn't take me being a financial savant to become debt free. It took discipline, and a bit of self-deprivation which are attributes you probably have.

My final thoughts: Budget intentionally and live frugally so you can live freely.

Want to hear more from Kelvin? Learn how he started his journey here. You can also explore his videos on our YouTube channel.