I don’t want to cloud over the significance of this event with words, so this will be short and sweet.

Today on March 20, 2017, I paid off my student loans for good! (!!!!!!!!)

It was no accident that I made the last lump payment today; on this date in 2007 we both put my sister Pixie – a shetland sheepdog – to sleep, and I was offered the chancellor’s tuition waiver that ultimately lured me to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

No, I’m not able to pay off my loans because I make the big bucks. It’s because I’ve been thrifty for years – even when traveling. (friends, Couchsurfing, Airbnb, hostels, floors, buses, and trains) It’s because Scott and Frank have let me crash on their couch in 3 different Fairbanks homes during my stints in town. It’s because my trusty Trekker has safely transported me over pavement, gravel, snow, and ice for almost 8 years – sparing me the expense of gas. It’s because I’ve been paid to play in amazing places with amazing people for months at a time and have no expenses.

I couldn’t be at this point today without the help of everyone in Fairbanks who’s ever given me lifts now and then or helped me move a load from storage to real housing. Nor could I be here without the guidance of my financial advisor, my dad, the engineer turned H&R tax guy who’s encouraged me to fund my retirement fund for years. Now he’s agreed it’s time to pay off my loans rather than refinance them, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

I’m finally free from wasting money on an expensive piece of paper every month. My UAF experience is nothing I would have traded, as I’m now eating Pub nachos and enjoying a pint of Hoodoo IPA. To say I’m beyond thrilled to be done paying money to a mysterious entity would be an understatement. It’s time to start the free life