ive done everything I can to save. literally buying nothing but food and paying bills. I have no debt at all except this loan. I volunteer for as much overtime as possible. I work too long of shifts to fit another job in and have a dog who i am the sole caretaker of so the ot is the only viable solution. i get at least 2 saturdays a month of ot so the idea of a weekend job doesnt make sense since even that amount of money is far more than anything except waiting tables and im too old and my body cant do it anymore. trust me on the frugality thing I think i could take on nearly anyone at r frugal. my entertainment budget is internet access and a vpn.

the idea of paying down the debt is great but realistically most people cant just do this and in fact I get pretty sick of seeing posts of people with high incomes paying it off as if its so easy. no kidding its that easy and its stupid if they didnt however for most people living day to day there isnt much extra left over. the 50 a month ive put towards it actually took away from my emergency budget. however with what ive saved this year plus my return puts me at an ok number and on track to be safe.

the things I was talking about were items posted here such as the credit card that goes towards your loan debt which seemingly requires a relatlively high score to get as well as ideas like having another company buy the debt which seems to need a high score too. at this point my 401k and loans are the same exact interest rate so with the tax breaks it seems a good idea to contribute as much as i can to that while chipping at the loan. at this point i cant do anything but save more as i will need a used car within a year as mine wont last much more. my 401k has 2 years of contributions and starting this late in life my retirement is way too late hence why I want to keep at it while hopefully getting rid of the debt asap and maxing the 401k after that.