How We Paid Off Six Figure Debt in Three Years

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Last Updated on January 7, 2020

Y’all I am excited to share this six-figure student loan debt success story!

Kate Kingsley the content creator behind That Debt Free Life on Instagram is officially debt-free! I watched her and her family on Instagram Live this morning as she made her last payment. What I most admire about Kate is that she is just like the rest of us. She was at a low point in her life where she was over having this insurmountable amount of debt. Instead of complaining, she took action and developed a plan to become debt-free.

As I immerse myself into this debt-free journey, Kate motivates me to keep pushing. I’m sharing her story with you because she proves that paying off six-figure student loans is possible.

This is why I love this debt-free success series. I want readers to see that we can defy all odds if we put our minds to it. According to Boston Magazine, some 2.5 million U.S. graduates carry six-figure student loan debt. There are so many individuals who have decided that their debt wasn’t going to hold them down. Kate was 1 in 2.5 million U.S. graduates. She defied all odds by taking action, developing a plan and sticking with it. Today, she’s debt-free and inspiring others to do the same.

Read her story to find inspiration to make your own “debt-free” story!

Tell me a little about yourself.

My name is Kate, and I’m a civil defense attorney from Texas. My husband is also an attorney and we work at the same firm and live in the suburbs outside of Houston. We are parents to an incredible 8-year-old little boy, who we love with all our hearts. I love naps, chocolate, wine, and binge-watching Netflix. 🙂 He loves spending money on Amazon.

Complete the sentence “I knew I was debt-free when….”

I knew I was debt-free when I got close to the end of the journey and realized I’d be able to make my last debt payment in just two weeks. Although I felt debt free long before the day of my final payment! When I realized I had enough money in savings to cover my total outstanding debt balance, I felt debt-free.

I remember thinking to myself, I could cash out my savings right now and be debt free this instant if I wanted to! (Spolier alert: I didn’t want to–since I really value the security of a hefty savings account!).

What did your debt consist of and how much did you (or do you) owe?

Our debt was 100% student loans, which, when I started tracking it in January 2017, totaled $104,901. Those loans were undergrad and law school combined. Now, after 34 months, our total debt is down to $7,215.

It is worth noting that I didn’t borrow $104,901. I deferred my undergrad loans during the 3 years I was in law school and deferred my law school loans for a brief period after graduation until I could find a job. Meanwhile, the interest grew and grew, landing me in six figures of student loan debt.

At what point did you realize you wanted to be debt-free?

I am Dave Ramsey fan. I listened to his radio show for years before taking his advice seriously and implementing it in my life.

One day, my husband came home and told me he had been laid off. When he lost his job, we lost 2/3 of our household income. We were close to clearing out our savings while trying to make ends meet. He received a substantial amount of interviews and always came down to the last two candidates, but never seemed to get an offer.

When we were out of options, we decided to move in with family. While we were living with family, I hustled to pay off all of our debt, except for our student loan debt. That was in 2014 and I paid off two cars, a credit card, medical bills, the whole 9. I didn’t touch my student loans, though, because that was just too overwhelming to even think about.

Time passed, my husband found work, we bought a house, and promptly forgot about everything Dave Ramsey taught us, because we were no longer financially desperate.

But then I began to hate my job as a civil defense attorney. I wanted to leave the practice of law, but with all the student loan debt, I couldn’t. I needed the high-ish salary (I say “ish” because I’m pretty underpaid as far as litigators go) to pay off the student loan debt before I could leave.

After a particularly stressful day at the office, I came home and began crunching numbers. I devised a plan that would leave us debt free in 6 years, and kept reworking it until I got it down to 3 years.

What steps did you take to eliminate your debt?

We did all sorts of things, but mainly, we worked a LOT of overtime at our normal jobs. Throughout the 34 months, we’ve been on this journey, my husband and I have earned about $30,000 in overtime pay alone (and our overtime rate isn’t time and a half like most people–it’s our standard rate). We made a commitment to send 100% of our overtime to debt, too. There was probably never a week that went by that we didn’t work at least some overtime, even if was just 1-2 hours.

We also sold lots of things. We de-cluttered our home and listed so many things for sale: furniture, decor items, books, video games, toys, jewelry, clothes–you name it, we sold it!

After learning that you can make money online, I decided to generate income on the side through my blog, which I started to document my debt-free journey after the first 2 years. I generated revenue through affiliate marketing and ad revenues. Through my blog, I offered personal financial coaching which also brought in some extra money.

What was the most difficult challenge you faced eliminating your debt?

The biggest challenge was deciding to be 100% focused and committed to getting out of debt, to the exclusion of everything else. Once I made up my mind and really realized how much I wanted to be debt-free, the sacrifices were easier than I thought they would be. I finally realized I wanted debt freedom more than I wanted some shiny new object. Other things that were tough though–cutting back on eating out (my budgeting weakness!) and remaining gazelle intense throughout the whole journey. Spoiler alert: I didn’t. Our intensity rose and fell throughout the journey, but we found a pace that was challenging, but doable.

Now that you’ve reached this goal, what’s next for you?

We have a ton of plans for after we reach complete debt freedom. As far as the celebration is concerned, we are planning a big family trip to Disney orld! We delayed making quite a few purchases while on our debt-free journey. This includes purchasing new kitchen appliances, replacing the kitchen floor (the tile is literally cracked and broken in several areas), and replacing the fence at our home (before the HOA sends us a letter!).

As far as financial goals, we have so many! We want to start maxing out our 401Ks and Roth IRAs, start putting aside more money into our son’s 529 College Savings Plan, and of course, pay off the house early!

A lot of people ask if I’m really going to leave the practice of law once I’m debt-free. Funny thing is, I don’t think I am. I want to take full advantage of my salary. Being able to keep it all for myself instead of sending it to my creditors will be amazing! This will also help us reach the rest of our financial goals even faster. There’s something totally different about working a job you HAVE to work versus working one you CHOOSE to work, even if you don’t 100% love it.