conversation: User (MLAlternate): "As a background, I am a 29 year old married man who made some terrible financial decisions that left me with a large student loan, high car payments, 26k in medical debt, and several thousand in credit card debt.\n\nFor the last few years, my wife and I have employed the hardcore mindset of personalfinance:  Have an emergency fund, put every dime you have towards debt, and grind until it's gone.  I took this to heart.  We have a decent savings, we nearly eliminated our entertainment budget(thanks netflix!), I got in shape, we made money on the side(working the flea every weekend), and we made slow but steady progress.\n\nI am proud to say that as of last month, I have completely eliminated all my short-term debts.  My car, my medical debt, all my credit card debt, is officially at zero. \n\nHowever, I still have 86K in student loans.  I am now almost 30, married, and living in an apartment.  \n\nAfter all my bills(including rent/student loans) my wife an I have a monthly surplus of 2.5K USD.  \n\nI know the right thing is to continue putting every dime I have left over into student loans, but I can't do it anymore.  For the last several years our lives have been putting every cent I have towards debt.  It's been painful and boring, and the only thing that kept me going is the joy of seeing those debts get knocked off one by one.  All free time has been netflix, gaming, and working the flea market on weekends to pay off this debt.\n\nAfter several years, I am tired, stressed, and feel like my life is going nowhere. I have been a slave to the results of my bad decisions and debt.  All my student loans add up to $600/month.  I can live with $600/month of my salary going to student loans, but I can't live the next three years of my life in this shitty apartment putting my dreams of a house and family/kids on hold.\n\nI've done my budget a hundred times.  We can have a modest house and still have a monthly surplus of $1800.  We have a modest savings to cover any large expenses.  We have enough to cover overages, save, and put money towards the house to pay it off a decade early.  Having a kid will take some compromising, but another 3 years of my life is just not worth $600/month.\n\nI know am making the wrong decision financially, but I believe I am making the right decision for my sanity.  I don't know if I'm looking for reassurance that I am doing the right thing or need a new perspective, but it feels good to vent.\n\nEDIT:  I just wanted to say thank you to everyone to responded and offered advice.  I tried to respond to everyone in the beginning, but it was overwhelming in a good way.  Thank you again to everyone, and I believe I am making the right decision to move forward with the house plans.\n\nThank you again, it is much appreciated and means a lot."
  Self: "Good job mate. Clearly you have things under control, or can control things when it is needed. \n\nGood luck."
  