I paid off $46,514.91 in 20 months.

My journey was long. I took out (a lot of) student loans to study abroad and get through college - ensuring I had the true college experience along the way, duh.

I have not always been good at finances, yet few of us were.

I didn't have a parent who didn't believe in debt or a teacher that went outside of the standard curriculum.

I graduated from college with around $60,000 in debt (I would tell you the number but I don't actually know). But I was ok with a 10-year term and excited for the day my loans would be gone! That was the term I signed up for, right?

Right?

After college, I had worked odd jobs and continued to waitress to pay my student loans. I even spent a couple of years abroad as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal teaching basic principles in business (making zero progress on my debt).

Once I returned to the states I worked in the nonprofit sector and let's just say that I wasn’t rollin' in dough.

I always complained that I had to pay $500 a month JUST to student loans, I remember being horrified by that number, but I didn't think there was anything I could do about it.

Student loans don't go away in bankruptcy (trust me, I checked!) and I was already making my full payments.

With time, my loans got sold and consolidated for a better rate. I discovered that eight years later I had made no dent in the principal. How could this be?

I was that person that balanced her checkbook until I was 29 years old. Yes, that meant pen, check register, and holding up the line at Target. Ensuring every penny I had in my account so I wouldn't get an overdraft fee.

I lived like this for years, always stressing about how much money I had and how much money I owed - there had to be a better way.

Then I learned the ways of the debt-free world, those paying off incredible amounts of debt in 1-3 years and I thought, if they can do it, I CAN!

I guess you could say that I fall in the "over-achiever" bucket. I am usually obsessed with one thing or another, and becoming debt-free was my next big obsession!

In 20 months, I was able to pay down $46,514.91 of debt.

Here we are today, and looking back, I would tell my younger self that there is an easier way.

A way that didn't involve interest payments. A way that involves a little bit of accountability for a lot of happiness. No more stressing about how much money I owed, or had, or didn't have. No more checkbook registers!

Join me, my story can be your story. I didn't make six figures, I didn't inherit money. I knew some basic, yet real, principles to help guide my life into a money-positive lifestyle.