Denial Isn't Just a River in Egypt - Detailed Breakdown of What I Owe

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

In tackling this debt monster head on, my first step is to outline exactly what I owe.  Here's the breakdown, in order of highest to lowest outstanding balance:

• Federal Student Loans: $107,875.14 @ 5.75%
• Private Loan 1: $11,523.96 @ 5%
• Private Loan 2: $10,139.89 @ 3.03%
• Private Loan 3: $44,745.89 (made up of 6 separate loans) @ various, ranging from 3.22-3.72%. Here's the breakdown for this one:
• $11,761.26 @ 3.22%
• $10,928.05 @ 3.72%
• $9,079.46 @ 3.72%
• $8,734.15 @ 3.72%
• $2,128.50 @ 3.72%
• $2,114.48 @ 3.72%

And the grand total is.................   $174,284.88.  

Breaking everything down in detail like this felt surprisingly cathartic for me.  Knowing exactly what I'm dealing with makes paying off this indebtedness somehow seem more doable than I imagined, because I am seeing real, finite numbers that I am totally going to tackle with a bit of planning, hard work, and some time.