CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Mandy Velez had her fair share of student debt after graduating from college back in 2013 - $75,000 worth of it to be exact.
Over the course of 6 years she managed to pay off all her loans plus the accumulated interested - a whopping $102,000.
How did she do it? Well, Velez had one goal: become debt-free by 30.
To do that, Velez said that she lived off less than a third of her salary, worked hard at her job and picked up various side-hustles. She said “nothing was beneath me.”
She walked dogs, babysat, became a TV extra, watched cats and cut her food budget down to the bare-essentials: salad, eggs, chicken and rice.
Velez paid everything off as fast as as she could in an attempt to avoid as much interest as possible.
In August, she officially “killed” off her loans two years early at the age of 28.
Finally, it was time to celebrate - and what better way to celebrate the death of her loans than a commemorative photo-shoot in a cemetery.
See more about Velez’s journey to becoming debt-free below.
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