Excel Budget Template We Used to Pay Off $55k Student Loans in 14 Months (Video Walkthrough)

Screen Shot 2015-05-03 at 4.08.48 PM

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article detailing how my wife and I managed to pay off $55,000 in student loans in 14 months.

After a TON of requested, I shared the excel budget that we used available to anyone who wanted it.

(Download the excel budget)

Everyone knows the student loans problem exists, heck you probably see it every month when you are making a $300 to $1,000 payments.

But the numbers have gotten seriously out of hand lately. This is the original data from the US Federal Reserve and national credit bureaus:

  1. 40 million Americans are now in debt because of their university education, and on average borrowers have four loans with a total balance of $29,000.
  2. According to the Fed, “Student loans have the highest delinquency rate of any form of household credit, having surpassed credit cards in 2012.”
  3. Since 2010, student debt has been the second largest category of personal debt, just after a home mortgage.
  4. The delinquency rate for student loans is now hovering near an all-time high since they started collecting data 12 years ago.
  5. Only 37% of total students loan balances are currently in repayment and not delinquent.

It’s bad but as I mentioned in a few tweets last week:

The trick is Produce > Consume and save the difference. Just because you have more money due to a raise, or a business success, doesn’t mean you spend it. You SAVE IT!

Don’t just increase income OR cut expenses, do both. Income is harder to increase than cutting expenses so first step is to get on a scorched earth written excel budget. No Netflix, no eating out, no clothes, nothing! If you can’t pay for your car in cash, you don’t but it! I drove around a $6k beater and it sucked. But it was the right thing to do.

From there, work on a plan to increase income. In the last 14 months, I’ve done a lot to increase income. Start 4-5 businesses, worked part time accounting jobs, took on extra writing gigs to earn cash, etc. Anything I could do to make it happen.

I tell you this story not to brag. I’ve been there. Completely BROKE! Owing $50,000 more than I am worth plus having a lease I can’t afford. It was a mess!

Before you watch this video, know the excel budget is just a tool. It’s YOU that has to change. You need to change your spending habits, your need to make more money. The excel budget is there to help you but nobody every got out of debt by simply doing a budget. YOU need to change!

Download the excel budget here