<prompt> Human: I graduated from college with 16k in student loans and a 45k a year job 3k signing bonus. After deciding to stay with my boyfriend in our college town, I knew I was going to need a more fuel efficient car for the commute, and my parents talked me into buy a new Chevy Cruze for another 17k whoops. When I graduated, my parents slammed me with an additional 6,500 personal loan for anything I borrowed from them during college. Total Debt at December 2013: Around 39,500.I paid off the last loan September 9, 2015!! I used a combination of avalanche and snowball grouped loans by interest and paid off each interest group by lowest balance first - very psychologically rewarding along with being extremely frugal. The two tips I almost never see:Take care of your stuff! Line dry your clothes, keep your car maintained, floss your teeth, so on... Forget about upgrading. My grandma took amazing care of her things, and I am very lucky to have her kitchen appliancespotsutensils that are still in great shape. Dont read any media that talks about how hard it is if you have student loansare young. Theres SO much out there that talks about the millennial struggle; it will make your debt feel overwhelming. Its not. Ive seen a lot of my friends succumb to this mindset, but theyre still eating outrenting the most expensive place they can affordhitting the bars. If you think you have no control over your finances, you will have no control.Good luck! Time to learn about investing next...edit: Thank you all. I didnt feel like writing my whole history into a post... Im 22. Ive worked since I was 15 and through college, so I didnt open my first bank account with nothing in it the day I graduated. Ive worked my ass off; this didnt magically happen overnight. Where Ive chosen to live, how Ive chosen to work and what Ive chosen to learn all impacted where Im at now. Additionally, these things were a big help:1. My grandma left me all of her apartment things when she went to assisted living. We did not have to buy anything to start our home.2. I sold a horse and all of my riding equipment including a small trailer because of a health issue. 3. We live in a VERY low cost area. It cost next to nothing to live here, and the weather is very temperate utilities are a lot less. 4. Im really, really good at cooking dried beans.5. Work promotion midway through the year and then another merit increase. 50k  <response>: Its mystifying why your parents pressed you to buy a new car as a new college graduate with so much other debt to service. But its wonderful and inspiring to see how you pulled out of that debt quagmire. Listen to your own advice from now on, not theirs. Congratulations. 