Getting Started

Hello! My name is Sunny and this is my first attempt at blogging. Thanks for stopping by!

First I'll give you a little bit of background about myself; I'm a 24 year old college graduate working in a field unrelated to my degree and up to my ears in student loan debt. Sound familiar? Thought it might, and that's why I've decided to start this blog.

I graduated high-school dead set on becoming a zoologist (I pushed my marine biologist dreams out the door in 6th grade when I realized I was kind of afraid of water). After a few semesters I knew I still loved biology but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life picking up poo, so I changed my major to Education, then to Special Education, Theatre, and finally settling on General Studies. This was all in the span of 2 years at community college, which I only attended at the urging of my parents but I'm SO glad that I did! I turned up my nose at community college, or High School Part II and I had my heart set to get away from my hometown as soon as possible.

After my 2nd year of community college I didn't really have any idea what I wanted to do with my life. That summer I moved to Louisville, KY to serve as a Summer Missionary for the North American Mission Board, it was here that I found the next clue on my path. I took an American Sign Language class in high school and I picked up on it pretty easily so I took another at the community college. It was something I enjoyed and was easy to learn but I never thought about making it a career until that summer when my supervisor kept asking what I was going to do when it came time to go back to school in the Fall. I didn't have an answer, I shared my whim of becoming an ASL Interpreter and she encouraged me to find info about colleges with a degree in that major. The first school that came up was Maryville College, I sent off for information and a few weeks later found myself on a 5 hour trip with my awesome supervisor. I was very intimidated, going to Louisville for the summer was the first time I'd stepped out of my comfort zone and here I was in a car going to tour a school that was 500 miles away from home.

When I arrived at the school I fell in love. It was beautiful and historic (It was a seminary during the Civil War) and what really sold me was that I felt like I'd fallen into an episode of Gilmore Girls, it had such a small town quaint charm to it. So there it was, I sent in my application in June, toured in July, and moved there in August. Quite a whirlwind!

The school was in fact everything I thought it would be, up to that point in my life I had accumulated no debt (Thank you community college!!) but Maryville was not exactly inexpensive. 1 full year costs nearly $40,000. Thankfully I had scholarships to cover more than half of the price but as for the other half I had no choice but to borrow. At first it didn't seem so bad, after all once I grdduated I would have a fantastic job that would pay for everything right? Well...sort of. I do have a great job working with adults with Alzheimer's and Dementia but it isn't exactly putting my degree to good use. Thankfully I'm able to pay my bills but it feels like I'm never going to dig myself out of this pile of debt I've put myself in.


That's where this blog comes in. It's not so much for anyone else as it is for myself. I'm planning to record my finances so I can track my progress. I feel much more motivated when I can see things on paper (or in pixels!) and I feel like that will keep me on track. I'll be using Dave Ramsey's book Total Money Makeover and keeping track of my student loans (how much I owe, interest rates, payments, etc.) as well as my other expenses and see where I can eliminate some of the things I spend too much money on and use that money to go toward my loans.

So there it is, it seems simple but I know I have a tough road ahead of me, I also know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13) and whatever I learn from going through this will make me a better, more financially responsible person in the future. Goodnight!