Impulse Spending Fixes and PSLF Choices When You’re in Grad School

Feb 2, 2026

Kate Wood, lending expert on student loans, explains PSLF rules and repayment choices. Amanda Barroso, personal finance contributor, shares no-spend and low-spend tactics. They discuss month-long spending challenges, friction strategies to curb impulse buys, and whether to keep making loan payments during grad school to protect forgiveness eligibility.

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ADVICE

Design Your No-Spend With Purpose

Define what you want from a no-spend challenge before you start so it serves a long-term goal.
Tie saved money to a clear priority like an emergency fund or a sinking fund to stay motivated.

INSIGHT

No-Spend Can Backfire Without Strategy

No-spend challenges can trigger binge-and-purge behavior if you pre-buy or rebound later.
Use the month to set groundwork for sustainable habits, not just a willpower test.

ANECDOTE

Elizabeth's No-Major-Expenses Month

Elizabeth will do a February rule of no major expenses to avoid post-holiday overspending.
She opened a sinking fund to cash-flow her birthday to prevent surprise splurges next year.

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Get ideas for spending less in February and learn how deferment affects Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) payments.

How can a month-long spending challenge reset your money habits? Should you keep paying student loans while in grad school if you’re close to Public Service Loan Forgiveness and planning a move? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss no-spend experiments and “friction” strategies to help you build spending habits that stick while juggling big life changes. Joined by personal finance Nerd Amanda Barroso, they begin with a discussion of designing a February no-spend challenge, with tips and tricks on setting rules that fit your life, deciding where the saved money will go, and avoiding a binge-and-purge rebound.

Then, lending Nerd Kate Wood joins Sean and Elizabeth to help answer a listener’s question about how to weigh student loan payments against saving for a new home. They discuss how deferment affects qualifying PSLF payments, what to check before switching repayment plans or taking out new grad school loans, and how to prioritize cash flow when you’re balancing a car payment, a mortgage, and an emergency fund.

See NerdWallet’s list of the best private student loans: https://www.nerdwallet.com/student-loans/best/private-student-loans

See all the winners of NerdWallet’s Best-Of Awards: https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/awards?utm_source=sm&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=cm_organic_020226_podcast_sm_desc_allepisodes_best-of-awards

Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header

In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: no-spend challenge, low-spend challenge, spending freeze, budgeting challenge, money habits, impulse spending, track expenses, friction-maxxing, cash-only budget, stop online shopping, takeout spending, spending triggers, phone addiction and spending, Brick phone blocker, attention and spending, sinking fund, emergency fund, high-yield savings account, student loan deferment, student loan payments in grad school, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, PSLF qualifying payments, PSLF payment count, qualifying employer PSLF, income-driven repayment, PAYE repayment plan, Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, Repayment Assistance Plan, graduate student loan changes 2026, Grad PLUS loans, federal student loan borrowing limits, professional degree loan cap, nursing graduate student loans, buying a house with student loans, mortgage planning, moving costs, car payment budget, and student loan forgiveness uncertainty.

To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com.

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