The most common trick used by millennials to pay off their student debt is to reduce their living expenses.
Some married couples live off one person’s salary while using the other’s income to pay off their debts.
Some have gone to extremes by living in a closet, working 70 hour weeks or living in a van to pay off their debts.
This article is part of a series focused on financial empowerment for millennials called Master Your Money.
Getting out of student loan debt seems impossible, but these 12 millennials — a mix of singles and married couples — have used some creative strategies to get out of debt.
Although they used a different combination of debt repayment strategies, there were some common themes. They postponed expenses like dining out and shopping, improved their financial literacy, and diligently tracked their progress.
Married couples also have an advantage because it’s easier to stay motivated with a responsible partner, and most live off one partner’s salary while using the other partner’s income for debt repayment.
Here’s what we can learn from 11 millennials who paid off their student loans in four years or less.
Jasmine and Jay McCall.
Courtesy of Jasmine and Jay McCall
1. Jasmine and Jay McCall
Total amount of winnings: $96,452
Repayment period : 4 years
Main strategy: Sell your shares
When Jasmine McCall started working in the tech industry, she traded stock in every company she worked for as part of her benefits package. After a few years, the shares rose and rose in value, and Jasmine and her husband Jay decided to sell the shares to significantly reduce their student loans.
They also used the debt snowball method, focusing on paying off smaller balances first and moving on to larger ones.
Danielle Desire.
Natalie Jennings/Courtesy of Danielle Desir
2. Danielle Desire
Total amount of winnings: $61,823
Repayment period : 4 years
Main strategy: Focus on quick wins
Danielle Desir didn’t want to choose between traveling the world, saving for a down payment on her first home, and paying off $61,823 in student debt — so she did it all before she turned 30. , you need to understand which repayment style is right for you. For me, I’m a quick earner,” Desir told Insider.
Like the McCalls, Desir used the debt snowball method to get that “quick win” feeling. She used any windfalls, such as an income tax refund or gifts from family members, to pay off most of her debts.
After graduating, physician assistant Kristin Burton was shocked to learn she had racked up $161,000 in student loans. She worked overtime during the pandemic and used all of her pay and overtime to pay off her student loans. She and her husband relied on her $40,000 annual salary to support their family while she paid off her debt.
Courtesy of Ashley Patrick
4. Ashley Patrick
Total amount of winnings: $25,000
Repayment period : 10 months
Main strategy: Suspend 401(k) contributions
Ashley Patrick struggled to bounce back when her husband lost his job. The two became motivated to pay off all their debts as quickly as possible, starting with their biggest debt: $25,000 in student loans. Once her husband was back at work, they realized their combined 401(k) contributions were 11% of their shared income of $125,000. They have temporarily suspended their contributions to pay off their student loans.
The couple have also drastically reduced their living expenses and diligently followed their debt repayment journey.
Andong and Stelios Florinas.
Courtesy of Andong and Stelios Florinas.
5. Andong and Stelios Florinas
Total amount of winnings: $220,000
Repayment period : 3 years
Main strategy: The Debt Avalanche Method, Modified Slightly by the Pause on Federal Student Loan Interest During the Pandemic
Andong Florinas got $170,000 in federal student loans in 2016, which jumped to $220,000 with interest in 2019 when she married her husband Stelios. Andong used the debt avalanche method, which involves making minimum payments on all debts and then spending additional funds on the debt with the highest interest rate, to pay off his student loans. Once the pandemic hit, she suspended payments and took advantage of the interest break on federal student loans.
The Florinas eventually moved to Germany during the pandemic, living off Stelios’ earnings so Andong could devote all of his earnings to repaying his loans as quickly as possible.
Nicholas Natali.
Courtesy of Nikolas Natali.
7. Nickolas Natali
Total amount of winnings: $59,000
Repayment period : 1 year
Main strategy: Living in a van to drastically reduce living expenses
Nickolas Natali realized that his annual salary of $64,638 would never be enough to make a real dent in his $59,000 student loans. Natali offered to live in a van to drastically reduce the cost of living and paid $1,400 a month to shorten her debt repayment term.
Despite being able to pay off his student loans, Natali doesn’t recommend life in a van to everyone. He told Insider, “I was peeing in a bottle and hiding under curtains held up with magnets so no one could see me and yeah, that wasn’t sexy at all.”
Taylor, who goes by the Taylor Beep Boop handle on TikTok.
Courtesy of Taylor BeepBoop
8. Taylor BeepBoop
Total amount of winnings: $20,000
Repayment period : 1 year
Main strategy: Work next to gigs and live in a closet
A TikTok creator named Taylor BeepBoop thought her parents would pay for her tuition, but after graduation she had a $20,000 student loan bill in her name. She was living below her means, taking on any side gigs she could find while living in a closet she rented for $400.
She scoured the odd jobs section of Craigslist to find side gigs, but Taylor says she wouldn’t recommend any of the gigs to anyone else. “It looked like I had the most interesting life in the world, but no, I was just living in poverty,” she told Insider.
Brittany and Kelan Kline.
Courtesy of Brittany and Kelan Kline.
9. Kelan and Brittany Kline
Total amount of winnings: $40,000
Repayment period : 5 months
Main strategy: Hustle while cutting expenses
The Klines started their own financial literacy blog, teaching their readers how to achieve financial freedom. When they hit $10,000 in revenue from their blog, they kicked their efforts into high gear. They’ve taken on more hustles, including dropshipping on Amazon and flipping big-ticket items on eBay.
