Recent college grad living on a tight...

[sgreen843]

...budget. How about those student loans? I'm a recent college grad with about $7,000 total in student loans after 4 years of school. I only make about $24,000 a year and based on my monthly budget (I live away from home), I see myself barley making ends meet with this student loan lingering, but I have so many people telling me that I'm way better off than most college grads. If that's so, why do I feel so hopeless? I almost feel like the only reason I work is to pay bills and nothing more. I keep trying to think of ways to save or make more money (other than getting rid of my credit cards), but I'm stuck. Any advice on this?FYI: I have 2 store credit cards (totaling about $600) and 1 maxed out Master Card with a $1,100 credit line. I start my student loan payments this month, but have yet to set up a payment plan. (So slack...I know)

[mayhap]

well $7000 isent to bad, if you are willing to pay more interest, ask them to spread out the payments more. but i think the min you wil be paying is $50 a month

[pag2809]

It sounds to me as though you need to learn how to manage your money. Financial management software (I use Microsoft Money but there are lots of other good ones) isn't very expensive. It'll help you to see where your money is going. I make less than $35k a year and have much more debt (both credit card and student loans) than you do. I also live in Seattle, which has a very high cost of living, and I'm making it. You have to determine what your priorities are and manage your money carefully. I would suggest consolidating your loans so that the payments are spread out over a longer period of time. Just make sure that the interest rate is reasonable and there won't be a penalty for early repayment. Once you get the credit cards paid down and start making more money you'll be able to make extra payments on your loans.

Pay everything else before the student loans because the interest rates on your other debts are much higher than the rate on your student loans. There are a lot of tools to help you figure out how to balance everything. My student loan company has financial management tools on their website, as do a bunch of the other companies.

Worrying about money is one of the costs of being an adult. If you don't have much, you worry about paying the bills. If you have a lot, you worry about what to do with it, how to keep the taxes down, and whether people are trying to rip you off. Either way... No, its not fun but think of the sense of accomplishment you'll have when you get a handle on this and see that you can do it. A second job is a possibility, if your schedule permits. This is the perfect time of year to do that, since a lot of employers hire temporary workers to help them get through the holidays. However, I think you can probably figure out how to handle this without losing all of your free time. And to add to the things you need to think about - even if you can only put away $10 a month, start saving for retirement. You will be so glad that you started now, believe me. Good Luck!