Gotta love the Student loans...

[BigBear]

Well, a question has arisen in my mind... but before that, brief history:

Bachelors in Music Education, Masters in Music Performce, recently moved here (about 6 months or so) after getting married and was not in the right "season" for getting a job in my feild. Hence, I work a "administrative assistant" job in a field I have no interest in. So, I'm right out of school, student loans are coming due. I do not make enough to cover them all. Was denied forbearance/deferrment as I was late on an inital payment. I understand, my bad. Now, the wife and I are kind of minimalists, meaning we don't have knick-knacks or a $1K leather couches or a 50 inch flatscreen TV (though that'd be nice, lol) or any stuff like that. I dream big but really have only a few pricey possessions... mainly my trumpets and firearms.

I may be thinking of selling some of these possessions to get the student loan debt taken care of...

Music is my love (outside of my God and my wife). I cannot fathomly see selling my trumpet. I still use them almost everyday... however, I am not currently in a job to where I use them to justify holding onto it even though I hope to find a job this summer... Confusing huh? lol I would be sick giving any of these up.

Firearms... part of my culture. I only have a select few that all serve a certain purpose. Some of my greatest memories are with my father and grandpa firing some weapons. How many 12 year olds (at the time) can say they fired the main turret of an Abrams or gotten to unload the cannon on an AH? Again, I would be sick giving these up.

So, how does a guy figure out which way to go? Any words of wisdom, advice, etc is appreciated. Do I just hold onto them all and tell the credit companies to blankety-blank?

hmmm... poll inbound if I can figure out how to work it.

[Irving]

I've been doing some work getting my debt paid off and what has been working for me is to make minimum payments on all cards and big payments on just one card at a time, then once that is paid down, roll those payments into the next card and so on. That is the most popular thing to do and has made me better at watching my spending. However since you are dealing with loans, I'm not sure how that info can help you.

I guess I'm just trying to say good luck and hang in there.

[mutt]

Will selling your prized possessions actually pay off your student loans? Or are you considering selling them just to have $ to start making payments?

[BigBear]

Mutt, they are the only things I really own that can actually being a return. So I am considering selling them to have some money to start making bigger payments. Granted, I get by each month but it's just barely, no unnessecary spending (except teh occasional range trip or date night with the wife). However, with both a BM and a MM to pay for, the payments are getting larger. Minimun payments won't cut it. My student loans will (most likely) not be paid off for several years. Total is around $40K +/-.

I feel sorry for the robber if I ever get robbed. Most people don't know the value of musical instruments and the guns are locked up. I guess they could try to steal the VHS player and the TV that only gets three stations but only in a blue/green shade! HAAHAAHAHA. They could steal my car but then... oh wait, why would they want it! (no suspension, no front bumper, no electronics, hood won't open, etc) HAHAHA.

[Batteriesnare]

Being a fellow musician with a similar predicament, I'd recommend the firearms. Your trumpets are your work and though you may not be playing as much you should hold on to them (a carpenter doesn't sell his hammer, does he?) The firearms would have a higher value (compared to what you paid) and you could probably make a deal with a good forum member to be able to buy them back in the future.

[GreenScoutII]

Well, I'm not trying to pry into your personal business too much, but how much do you owe in student loan debt? I think that would be the determining factor. If you owe a couple of thousand, but the payments are killing you right now, it might make sense to sell some possessions to knock them out and be done with it.

On the other hand, if you are in the situation my wife and I are in with another 30K of student loan debt, it doesn't make any sense to sell 2K worth of stuff to be looking at 28K of remaining debt and not have the funds to replace your stuff.

At the risk of exposing myself to the machine gun fire that will surely result from mentioning this here, this issue was one of the things I liked about Obama's State of the Union address. He mentioned making changes to student loan repayment. I haven't read up on the details, but I think a lot of people are struggling with student loan debt.

Ok, here goes: (I'm ducking for cover now)

The government pumped BILLIONS (our tax dollars) into failing banks, why not give the regular folks a break?

[ChunkyMonkey]

Who's your student loan carrier? Missing payments on gov't sponsored or direct student loans can negatively impact to your ability to borrow from Federal in the future.(FHA guaranteed loans, fannie, freddie, SBA etc).

Good luck to you

[newracer]

Although you were denied forbearance/deferment you should still be able to get the payments set to what you can currently afford. I'd try that before selling an possessions.

[Irving]

Donate Plasma. Or I should say sell plasma really, since they pay you for it.

[BuffCyclist]

Being a musician and owning instruments that were given to me by relatives that are quite costly, I could NEVER sell them for money. I would be quicker to sell a firearm, my firstborn, or the neighbors cat.

In all seriousness, you can always pick up musical gigs on the side (look around, a lot of churches pay good money for talented musicians). And, if all else fails, you can play your trumpet on the street and make a few bucks.

Granted, you could also play your firearms on the street and make quite a bit more, but at that point I doubt student loans would be your biggest worry...

Remember, quality instruments (performance) increase in value with age. Firearms decrease slowly. It's hard to say. Any way you can ride it out and not pay the payments until summer when you get a job (as in, how much extra interest would accrue if you didn't start paying?)