5 Creative Ways to Pay Off Student Loans Faster

There are over 43 million adult Americans who currently carry some form of student loan. The loanees combined owe approximately $1.5 trillion in government student loan debt and another $119 billion in student loans from separate sources. Paying off your student loan can seem quite a hilly undertaking though it doesn't have to be. It doesn't matter whether you just graduated from college or have severely tried to get rid of these loans for a while, you can make a plan to help you pay the students loans faster. Follow the steps below to get on a fast and reliable track to get your student loan off your back for good:

Make a budget

The time to make a realistic budget that you can stick with is now. A monthly budget will show you where your income goes and which expenses to cut back to make savings. The extra dollars you save will come in handy in paying off a portion of your student loans. If you consistently pay a little over time, you will be surprised at the progress you make towards clearing the loan.

Use your raise and tax refund

It is typical for people to quickly blow away any salary raise or a tax refund on a trendy but expensive lifestyle. Any raise that comes with promotions should be used to pay off some portion of the student loans. Whenever you receive a raise or tax refund, fight off the temptations to buy a new car or move into a bigger house. Essentially, maintain your current lifestyle and use the extra money to pay the loans.

Pay extra than minimum

Student loans require a set minimum repayment amount. However, if you are only paying a minimum, you are only extending the period it will take to clear the loan. Besides, the more time it takes to repay the loan, the more the interest it will accrue. But when you make larger payments, you are essentially attacking the amount you owe at a quicker rate.

Get a side hustle

You can increase your monthly income if you pick up a part-time job to do at nights or during the weekends. The extra cash you stuck up can be used to offset those student loans. Some of the top side hustle options include house sitting, walking dogs, or driving Uber. You can also offer freelancing services on sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, TaskRabbit.

Make reasonable financial sacrifices

It is time to sit back, take a sobering look at your lifestyle, and do away with the needless habits that put a significant dent on your budgets. Look around your house for the extra stuff you live with and which you can do without. Can you cut your house rent by living with a roommate? Can you rent out that guest room for extra cash? Is there a pile of household junk you don't need and which you can quickly dispose of for some extra bucks? When you make financial sacrifices by adjusting your lifestyle, you are sure to make some savings, which you can use to pay off a huge junk of yore student loan.

In a nutshell, there is no magic bullet when it comes to paying off your student loans. However, the tips we have provided offer some creative and practical ways to save some extra income or earn a little extra money you can use to pay off part of your loan. It is always best to pay now even if the payments are not required for the federal loans to quickly clear the loans