u/IsopodGlass8624

Let me start by saying I am ENTIRELY childfree. I do not want children. I’m selfish, I don’t want to do that to my body, my mental health, my life. I love my sleep and free time and not being responsible for other people.

With that being said, I sometimes feel like I get FOMO. I want to come up with a theme for a baby shower, and throw birthday parties for kids, and see them go off to prom. I want to be able to talk about their first kiss and their crush. Play dates also seem fun.

I don’t want to deal with other parents, nor do I want to have to actually raise a child. Snotty noses, coughing and sneezing in your face, and cleaning up vomit of another human is not something that I ever want to do. I can’t deal with the whinny crying when children don’t get their way.

I just think I idolized the fun parts. Maybe the “attention” of throwing a good party? I’m not sure. But sometimes I feel like I’m missing out. Not enough to have children, but maybe enough to be a little envious? But in my mind the good does NOT outweigh the bad. I’ve helped raise younger siblings and cousins and nieces/nephews to know that parenthood is DEFINITELY NOT for me. Am I alone in these feelings?

I have roughly $16k spread across 5 different loans. Lowest amount owed being $2226 with 5% interest and highest being $4695, also with 5% interest. The other loans inbetween those amounts are at an interest of about 4.5% They’re all still in forbearance, so they are collecting interest (which I just learned a few months ago). How should I go about paying it off? Should I pay the highest one off first? The lowest one off first? Make smaller payments towards all of them and pay them all slowly? I haven’t paid anything toward them whatsoever. (Only went to college for a year and a half.)

I have a few other debts that I’m already paying towards right now that equal to less than 6k, but I don’t have much wiggle room to pay much more. (But I did just get a raise so that should help a bit!) Aside from my car loan, which I recently “refinanced”.

What would be recommended? Any suggestions? Realistically I could maybe afford $50 per loan (so about $250/mo across 5, or $200-250 towards one of them each month.

Also, it says my recertification date is 10/2027, should I wait until then to start paying them and see what happens then? I know they’ll collect more interest. I just don’t want to start paying them and then get in a position where I can’t pay them and screw it all up, on the off chance something comes up. If I start paying on them while they’re in forbearance, will I have to absolutely make those payments each month? Or will they not be considered “late” and affect my credit because they’re in forbearance? I have no savings.

Feel free to ask for more info if needed. I think I’ve added all relevant info. Thanks in advance for any help/guidance!