I’m guessing there are a few recent graduates reading this who are feeling the crippling weight of student debt at this very moment. While student loan and credit card debt pile up it can feel like you are holding the world on your shoulders. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible for most people to get through college these days without incurring some form of debt because it’s gotten so damn expensive.
John Kapetaneas found himself graduating with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from NYU with $90,000 in student loan debt, another $10K+ in credit card debt, and monthly interest piling up faster than he could pay it off. John felt like he was trapped under the weight of debt until he came across the website ‘No More Harvard Debt‘ which changed his life. After buckling down and reorganizing the way he lives, John went on to pay off $111,000 in debt in just two years.
John appeared on a recent episode of the podcast ‘So Money‘ to discuss how he was able to crawl out of six-figure debt in such a short period of time:
He knew he needed to increase his income and reduce his spending, so Kapetaneas took on extra shifts, worked holidays and weekends, and eventually moved back in with his parents.
More importantly, Kapetaneas said, he consciously decided to “endure the discomfort” of working more and living on less.Here’s Kapetaneas:
“Everywhere I could squeeze money out of my self-expenditure and plow it back into my student loans, I did. The reason being is because every single payment, every little bit that you put down once you kind of accept this journey. If you kind of frame this as, you know, hero’s journey … the end goal is this debt paid off, this is zero something day, and every step along the way is your various challenges, your call to action, you’re facing various challenges.
“Every little extra bit that you put down on your loan, every time you see that number drop from your principle, it will be a small win. Over time, you’ll begin to feel so much better about this, you don’t really even think about all the sacrifices that you have to make.”
In July 2016, Kapetaneas finally made his last payment on the total debt: $111,354.33. If he could go back to the beginning, he said, he would tell himself “don’t be so hard on yourself, that light is there.” (via BusinessInsider)
This isn’t exactly rocket science: stop spending money on frivolous things and find ways to bring in more income. That might mean picking up weekend and night shifts working in the retail or service industry. It might mean outfitting your car as a mobile home so you aren’t paying for rent for the next year or so until you can pay off that debt. John’s story is interesting not because he found some unique way to pay off debt, it is noteworthy because he actually buckled down and did the work required to pay off his debt and he saw immediate results. There’s no easy way out in life, bros, so just do the hard work.