<prompt> Human: In 2008 I graduated college and along with my diploma and starting real life, I accumulated a ton of debt:Student Loan 1 public: 7400 6 interest Student Loan 2 public: 6000 2 interest Student Loan 3 private: 58,000 3 interest Car Loan: 13,000 .9 interest USAA Personal Loan: 25,000 2 interest Best Buy Credit Card: 2000 0 deferred At first I didnt understand the scope of my problem - I owed a lot of money. In college, I had a job and paid for my own apartment, but I made so little money that I simply didnt understand how much 10,000 actually was. Once it dawned on me that I owed a ton of money, I knew I had to act on it and started my plan. I tackled the debt based on a modified snowball approach. Instead of paying off the loans with the smallest debt first, I paid off the loans based on a worst case scenario approach. The rationale was what would happen if I lost my job tomorrow. So, I made it a goal to pay off my car first. Sure, it had one of the lowest interest rates but here is my thought process: if I defaulted on my debt, they at least couldnt take my car I know that it is possible for assets to be seized but that takes time. I saved my student loan debt for last for 2 reasons. 1 - the interest was tax deductible. 2 - if I defaulted, they couldnt take away my degree.Throughout most of 2009, I paid only the minimum payments on all my debts. Towards the end of that year, I started doubling my car payments. By 2010 I was triplingquintupling them. I paid the car off in July of 2010. This is what got the snowball rolling because now I had 359 extra a month. I then focused on the Best Buy credit card. Yes, it was at 0, but I just wasnt comfortable with the looming 23 interest that I would get if I didnt pay it off in time. I paid off that card by September of 2010. Following the credit card, I focused on my highest interest loan. This was the public student loan 6. That was paid off in January of 2011. Another big break happened to me in 2011, I decided to get my Masters degree. So, even though I still accumulated interest on my private student loan, I no longer had to pay the minimums. Using this break, I paid off the 25,000 personal loan. This was paid off in August 2011. After that I paid off the smaller student loan, it was at 0 interest at this time, but I wanted to get it out of the way. That was paid off in November 2011. That left one final loan. The big one. from December 2011 to October 2014, I focused on paying off this enormous loan. I was more than quintupling the minimum payment. I started paying the minimums in 2013 because I moved to the East Coast. Having lived in the midwest and mountain west I was unaccustomed to the high cost of living. But, this past month I moved back the the mountain west and my living expenses dropped significantly while my salary remained the same. This allowed me to sprint towards the finish line and finish paying off the student loan account. Total debt payment including interest: 115,379.56Other than the Best Buy credit card, I had no credit card debt. I paid off my balance in full every month and have earned several hundred dollars in rewards as a result. During this time period, I also managed to save up 60,000 in assets stocksmutual fundsIRA. I also have an emergency fund that is sitting at 10,000. I realize that I was extremely fortunate in that I have had well paying jobs in mostly low cost of living areas. I didnt really live frugally and I only had roommates for a handful of months. But I didnt make crazy purchases either or spend all my money eating outgoing to the bars. Going Forward:Even though my student loans says account paid in full, it really wont dawn on me that I dont have to pay any more monthly payments until next month. Im still pondering what to do with my extra cash now. Ive already decided I am increasing my 401k contribution. Im also going to buy some toys that I have wanted for a long time 15TB NAS file server and a road bike. I want to increase my IRAmutual fund contributions but I need to research that heavily before I do. Its been a long ride, and I am glad its over. Definitely willing to offer advice or further explain the methods of my madness.  <response>: This must be a hard time for you. I have some college debt you can have... you know... for old times sake. 