Student Loans, Buying a House, and Babies

Okay FINE. I'll address the stupid student loan/house/babies situation, since so many people are riding my tail about it.

My undergrad student loans were not that bad. $22K. My grad student loans are going to be about $47K. Jonny's are going to be about $36K when all is said and done, for a total of $105K.

Surprisingly, that number does not bother me, because we have a plan. The plan, as I've mentioned before, is to have the car and consolidation loan gone by Christmas. Maybe earlier if Jonny can find some more permanent steady income before then. My undergrad student loans will come out of deferment in December, my grad student loans will still have a 6 month grace period. Jonny graduates in May 2011 and he will have a 6 month grace period as well.

My undergrad student loans are in an interest only repayment bracket, for the first 5 years. I'm not sure if that will change since I defered them for 2 1/2 to go back to school, However, because I will have no other debt at that point, I plan to use the amount that was going towards the debt snowball and build up the fully funded emergency fund.

But Amanda, that's not Dave's plan. You're supposed to be COMPLETELY debt free except for the house before you move on to Baby step 3.

You know what? Stuff a sock in it. Daves plan is about making changes. It's MY total money makeover. It's making smart financial choices. I am smart to know that I cannot continue to live life with a measly $1000 emergency fund. I must have more. Plus, my total money makeover is about LIVING on a budget......not isolating yourself from life and the rest of the world to stay on a budget.

Do you really think it's fair, or right, that we should have to wait to get a house just because we have student loan debt? We have made the decision to wait until we have a house to start having a family. Being debt free isnt a prerequisite to having babies, but it's a prerequisite to getting a house? Say WHAT? Yes, There are nimrods on the TMMO forums who believe this. It's okay to have a baby in an apartment. Babies dont cost anything. LIKE HELL THEY DON'T. Mind you, these are the same folks who already had houses before they started the process, so for them to wag their fingers at me like tsk tsk shame on you for not knocking out that student loan debt before getting a house, is ridiculous. Psh, to think that it's okay to have a kid and more expenses that way, but it's not okay to buy a house? So in other words, you're trying to discriminate against me because I didnt do stupid BEFORE starting the process to crawl out of debt by buying a house and then getting gazelle instense. Tsk tsk shame on me for pausing temporarily so that I can get a house and start a family. I guess my eggs just need to wait another 6-7 years and shrivle up because I must be student loan debt free first, is that it?

Yes, I realize that this is because of limitations I have put on myself. I realize that someone people are perfectly happy popping out babies while they still live in an apartment. I would not be. I know how I am and that's just not me. Jonny and I are not going to go buy some big fancy smancy house - we just want a home. But we want a home before we work on a family. Don't piss on my parade and the accomplishments we will have made by paying off $42K in STUPID DEBT because we have decided to hold tight temporarily, to the debt that is going to better our careers before moving forward.

Some people are just SO narrow minded. How dare you bark at me about temporarily pausing my debt snowball to get a house, when you have NO room to talk because you already have a house and are still in debt?

At any rate, to close everything up - the plan is that after we finish the consolidation and car loans, we will do our FFEF, and then buy a house next summer. If we have a downpayment, which I would like, then great - if not, it wont be the end of the world because we've got the VA Loan guarantee. Once we're successfull in a house, guess what? We will go back to being snowball intense and will work on knocking out that student loans at a rate of about $1500-$2K a month (and find time to have a baby in there somewhere too). If we do this, we'll be debt free but the house by ~2016. However, whats going to be REALLY awesome is if Jonny does get a great paying job and we can knock it out even faster. I really dont think that's a bad timeline to shoot for, but anything quicker depends on circumstance.

So yeah - if you want to tsk tsk me because I'm slightly deviating from Dave's plan, you go right ahead. Who are you to talk anyway?