debt free at graduation 💸

if you have known me since poly, i might have MIA because I went to work to pay off my school fees🫣 money from work helped to repay debt - here's how i did it, though it may not work for everyone.

disclaimer:

- i was from a private university, school fees are lower because the course term is shorter. however, there was no fluff like hall life or exchanges in my school) which i kind of regret).

- it's gonna be tiring (i fell asleep when teaching tuition 🥲) but it's going to be worth it!

1️⃣ work

i managed to cram all my classes in a few days of the week so that i could work.

bubble tea shop 6/10 ($7/h)

i thought working in a bubble tea shop allowed me to drink all the bubble tea i wanted for free. it gave me more hours to work, but the pay just wasn't enough.

f&b 7/10 ($10/h)

i worked in F&B, where free meals were provided, this helped me spend less on other meals because food provided at work was great!

bar service crew 7.5/10 ($10/h)

i transitioned to work in a bar after working in f&b because the hours were better (started later), and tips from customers in bars tend to be high, which helped supplement my income.

full-time contract 8/10 ($2k/month)

i appealed to be a part-time student, and started working in a full-time contract job, paying way more than any part-time job can give per hour. this also helped fluff my resume to land a full-time job before i even graduated. my first taste of ADULT MONEY 🤑

tuition 9/10 ($30/h)

teaching tuition earned me a whopping $30/h, i did it at the side when working full-time. even though i was only teaching math, the parent of the kid asked me to teach english and chinese as well (more hours!)

2️⃣ spend less

it helped that at my workplace, there was a cheap option of $2.80 (2 veg, 1 meat) caifan! i mixed it up everyday with different dishes.

i opted for cheaper food options and challenged myself to cook more budget meals, too. when friends cabbed to school because they were late, i was disciplined to take public transport only.

i did go to clubs to experience nightlife in poly, but the cab fares, alcohol, and entrance fees got too expensive for my wallet, and i had to reject whenever my friends jio-ed me :(

i motivated myself with bubble tea or the occasional kopi c kosong peng when studying.

if i had to buy things, i would definitely buy them on taobao as things cost a fraction of how much they are in singapore.

3️⃣ loans

for background, my loans incurred from poly came from CPF education loan (2.5% pa) and uni in OCBC Education loan (4.5% pa).

even though my ocbc loan interest rate was higher than cpf education loan, i had saved up money by working through poly to clear off that debt first. by doing so, i did not have to manage repayments on both sides, and that greatly motivated me to tackle the big MONSTER ($35k) of a loan 😵‍💫

i then constantly calculated how much i would SAVE by repaying the ocbc loan early (even if i incurred a 1% early repayment fee.

🤔 thoughts after paying off my debt?

- i needed a lot of self-motivation and a good relationship with money. sometimes, it was better to part with $1.50 for coffee to tide myself mentally through the week.

- i felt like weight was lifted off my shoulders, and i could finally start to invest and build wealth.

- it is definitely easier to increase your income than to save more.

to all the zesties working to put yourself through school, you got zis 🍋💪🏻

#unistudent #universitytips #parttimejob #university #lemon8finance #mylemon8diary