Monday was a pretty good day. I don't dread Mondays because I don't have piano lessons after work... which means when I get home at 4pm I am done for the day!
The first thing I did when I woke up was pay off my student loan! This is my undergrad student loan. (I paid for my masters as I went along.) I graduated college in 2004, so this was a long time coming! My balance was just getting so low that it made sense to just pay it off in one fell swoop.
My run was awesome. I felt strong, but was shivering because it was so cold. (Like 51 haha!)
I had to wear a shirt for the first time in months! When I got home, I immediately threw the shirt away. This was my 2009 Baltimore Marathon shirt and it just REEKED. It has reeked for a long time.
I watched the Today Show when I stretched after my run. They were talking about the presidential candidate's debate prep. I learned that Hillary did a mock debate on Saturday night. She did the whole 90 minutes with no break with someone playing the part of Trump. The mock debate even started at 9pm, just like the real debate!
Her debate strategy totally reminded me of something us runners do from time to time- we sometimes do sort of a dress rehearsal run for our big races. Like if we're training for a marathon, we'll try to have our longest run simulate the race as much as possible. We'll wear the clothes we plan to wear for the race, use the same hydration and fuel we plan on using for the race, run a route similar to the course or the actual course...
I just thought it was a cool analogy!
Well, that's my off the cuff post for today! I hope you have a great Tuesday!
Did you pay off your student loans yet?
Ever have to throw a shirt away due to reekage?
Ever have to throw a shirt away due to reekage?
I had a goal to pay off my student loan by the time I was 30! I wasn't all that close to paying it off so I did what you did, just paid the lump sum and it felt SO good to not have that hanging over my head!
ReplyDeleteI've never had to throw anything away cus it smelled so bad but I find it ironic that you are talking about the Baltimore marathon cus just last night I put the Baltimore running festival on my list of races that I "Maybe"want to do someday.
I enjoyed the Baltimore marathon! And it's not too far from where I live so that's a plus as well!
DeleteMy husband has student loans (he has two degrees) and is paying them off pretty aggressively. I was lucky enough to get by without any because I started college in 2003 and it was cheaper then and I had state scholarships. I think it's about impossible now to get through college debt free without how much tuition has increased. But student loans are the best debt to have because you got a degree and a job... it's not like a big old credit card payment. Lots of my college classmates had those because back in 2003-2004, credit card companies could try to sell to college students (grr... don't get me started).
ReplyDeleteI have run trail runs in shoes and thrown them away after!
Luckily my loans weren't as bad as a lot of people's because I went to a state school and I started college 16 years ago. I don't know how people pay for it now??? But I am dooooone with that monthly payment! Now all I have to do is pay off my house and I will be debt free! Hmmm will need another 15 years for that to happen!
DeleteCongrats on paying off your student loans! I think you guys deserve a vacation, You can start saving after you pay for the trip!
ReplyDeleteI think you should run the Baltimore marathon again so you can get another shirt!
I like your idea about doing the vaycay first AND your idea about running Baltimore again. :) I enjoyed it the first time I did it!
DeleteCongrats on paying off your student loan!! I'm with Lisa, I think you should take a couple/few months worth of your student loan payment money and go on a nice vacation (Hawaii?!?!?!) and then start putting it into retirement!
ReplyDeleteAlso I'm so glad that you said you want to put the extra money towards retirement! Adam and I are obsessed with retirement savings, but it seems like so few people our age care about it! We're still young-ish but not that young!
Hawaii is definitely on my bucket list! I keep trying to get Paul to commit to doing something tropical and all inclusive this winter. Some fancy child free resort where all we have to do is lay around and eat and drink for 4-5 days!
DeleteWay to go on paying off the loan--that is awesome. I was very grateful to go through college on scholarship but I did have about 3K of loans for books, misc expenses so paying that off felt really great. Now, we are focusing on our house -- without being over aggressive. I honestly feel that once you are doing decent savings you should enjoy the extra and live. Not to be morbid but I have seen too many people that didn't get to enjoy retirement. So for sure plan, but for sure live! Like they (or actually Tim McGraw) says "live like you were dying".
ReplyDeleteYou know that is a really good point! There is a fine line between saving but also experiencing life! I can't wait until our house is paid off! We want to live in our house for the rest of our life, just maybe do some improvements. Privacy fence so we can get dogs someday. :)
DeleteHonestly, before my mom died (well not like RIGHT before she died but in the months leading up to it) she did say to me "Susan Kathryn, make sure you don't save too much" cuz I am a serious saver. I always hear her voice when I am tempted to shove it all into savings. Oh, dogs...are you serious?!? I just assumed you were a cat-only person. You will love a dog and I am completely biased towards labs. I love them (don't love all the hair).
DeleteCongratulations on paying off your student loans!! That is awesome!!
ReplyDeleteI finished paying off my student loans a few years back... and I was very grateful, because that money went to my car payment!
I heard about Hillary Clinton's preparation, and I thought it was fantastic! I love your analogy, because dealing with Trump on a debate would be like training for a marathon all winter for a spring race, and have that race be hot, humid and grossly unpredictable (like Trump always is). But Hillary (from what I heard) handled the whole thing like the true amazing woman she is!
LOL yes debating Trump = marathon training! She was freaking AWESOME last night!!!!!
DeleteI have so many shirts and sports bras that I SHOULD throw away, but I keep thinking to myself: hit me baby one more time.
ReplyDeleteThat was me and this red shirt. I kept pushing the limit on it!
DeleteGreat job paying off your loans! You could split that chunk of money and put some in your savings and some for vacation. That way you could do both.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a great idea!
DeleteI have so many running clothes that need to be thrown out...I have my pile that I need to wear only when running alone (stinky), and those I can wear when around other people. It is just hard throwing something away that looks perfectly fine!
ReplyDeleteI completely understand an "alone" pile and a "with people" pile. I have a pink long sleeve for winter that is just WRETCHED and I wouldn't dream of wearing it anytime except on my solo early morning runs.
DeleteCongrats on paying off your loan!! Sooooo jealous. I have a big pile o' student debt, the sum seems large to me but is apparently nothing compared to what this decade's students are racking up. I guess I should be grateful? I think if I had those funds freed up I would put most of them into savings. Lately I have been trying to build up my emergency fund because sometimes I get that thought of "What if I lost my job tomorrow with no warning, would I be okay???" I know, I'm such a positive thinker, lol.
ReplyDeleteWell that is a valid thing to be worried about! We do not have an emergency fund. If I lost my job, I could actually make more money per day by being a SUBSTITUTE in some of the districts around here! I would have to pay for health insurance so it would be less overall. But it is still a substantial amount I could make subbing.
DeleteIsn't that sad subs can take home more than full time teachers lol. They don't get the benefits though but it still makes me scratch my head...
Congrats on paying it off! That is a seriously big moment! Maybe you can take a vacation now, but then after that all the difference goes to retirement? :) In other news, I hate having to toss shirts because they smell! Some of those race shirts are just not made of the best quality stuff and it can happen faster than other tech shirts.
ReplyDeleteIt was a big moment! I told Paul and he said, "Hey let's celebrate and go to Wendy's!" Hahaha!
DeleteI didn't have student loan to pay off, but when we stopped paying for daycare it was like we won the lottery every month!! It's amazing to feel like you have some $$ to play with. I would go on vacation :) Live it up while you can!!
ReplyDeleteOmg I hear daycare is soooooooooo expensive!!! I can't even imagine what it was like not to have to pay that! My friend has 3 kids and her daycare each month is the same as my mortgage!
DeleteI would be so freaking nervous if I had to debate in front of the whole country. I have to poop just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking about running and the debate yesterday! I thought Hillary must be thinking what we all do before a marathon: "You're ready for this. You're prepared. Just go out there and do what you know you can do." Funny how we can make running analogies to anything. ;)
ReplyDeleteWe sure can! Or, we are just all pretty smart women who knows how to prepare for something! ;)
DeleteI'm lucky to not have student loans, but Matt still has his from undergrad. I don't think we'll ever pay it off!
ReplyDeleteI love that Hillary took this so seriously that she did a full dress rehearsal, whereas Trump couldn't be bothered. She understands how important this is; she's in it fully with her whole heart. I like the comparison to runners' long runs and race practice...It just shows that Hillary is like a runner, which is a good thing!
It is astonishing how seriously she takes running for president and how flippant he is. And people still support him. It's like the freaking twilight zone.
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