Wipe our Debt (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)
$32,000 in debt after 5 years of college. For a certain age group among us, that probably sounds laughable. Not that any debt is a laughing matter; but it could be so much worse. Why – I haven’t met anyone with a “Craftsman house-sized student loan debt” since this morning.
One year’s tuition, room and board borrowing can easily run between $26-$52,000 in the 21st century. The average student is graduating with $35,200 in debt in 2013.
The book Walden on Wheels, is one man’s story of debt freedom. I will divide the story into two posts-how he discharges his undergraduate debt and how the author pays for graduate school. I am not sure most of us could do what he did, as it involves three difficult accomplishments:
- Delayed gratification
- 99% less spending and embracing isolation to do it
- Severe behavior modification
The hero of this story (author Ken Ilgunas), begins in a Puritanical place:
“I didn’t see work-at least my line of work as a virtuous undertaking. Rather I saw it as nothing but a penance for my sins, for the profligate decisions I had made as a clueless eighteen year old…To make the best out of a bad situation seemed like an act of resignation. Instead I embraced my bitterness and hatred and ungratefulness.”
In order to direct his dollars from a new job in Alaska (in Coldfoot), Ken adopts the idea that his debt is “a villain that needed to be vanquished”.
“I bought nothing and kept nothing in the bank. I squealed with pleasure when I tortured it [the debt] with payments, like a sadist plucking legs from a captured mosquito.”
The Happiness Project, this book is not. Or is it? You tell me.
In various, low wage, isolated jobs, Ken goes about reducing his debt-the book chronicles his success job by job, while contrasting his situation with his good friend Josh, also in debt for his undergraduate education. Josh’s nut is $66,000 however.
Would you give up salon haircuts, all your “electronic gizmos”, new or ‘new to you’ clothes, shopping, the gym and isolate yourself at a minimum wage job in the middle of nowhere to meet your goals? PS he had free ‘room and board’. I think many of us wouldn’t be able to do this, but it is a mesmerizing tale. There might be a technique, or a mind-set, or a tale in this book that will inspire you!
Related articles
- Duke Grad Student Secretly Lived In A Van To Escape Loan Debt [PHOTOS] (businessinsider.com)
- Walden on Wheels (rebelwithoutadime.wordpress.com)
- Saving Money, Even When the ….Hits the Fan
No Dollar Left Behind 
I have triple your amount of debt. And I still truly believe that if we put our minds to it — we can get rid of the debt.
Thank you for the comment. To be clear, it’s the Walden author’s debt, (now paid off) not mine! Keep up your debt plan and discipline. I think it is good to see how others have gone about their reduction plans, for continued motivation. What is working best for you?