<prompt> Human: Ive been thinking about posting for a while, but Ive decided to bite the bullet and share my story. I love reading success stories from others so I hope this helps someone. I paid off my 26,000 in student loans in less than three years while making 30,000-50,000 per year and living on my own.As a bit of background, I graduated from a small private college in 2014 with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication with a student loan balance close to 23,000. Not a terrible amount by any means, but certainly not debt free. I took out a total of 26,000 in student loans during college, but I paid off close to 3000 while I was still a student thanks to multiple part time jobs. Thankfully I got lots of scholarships and grants in my financial aid package, otherwise I probably wouldnt have gone to a private school. I paid for college on my own. As a graduation gift to myself, I upgraded from a 2003 vehicle to a 2010 vehicle, taking on an auto loan of 7500. I got my first full time job at a radio station right out of college with a starting salary just shy of 30,000. My total loan balance was about equal to that starting salary.I held that first job after graduation for 15 months before taking a new job that came with a pay raise to a bit under 40,000 and great benefits including 401k matching my default contribution was 4.5 while my employer contributed about 9. While at both jobs, I rented a two bedroom apartment 800m and then 1075m, including utilities. I rented out the spare room both summers during my first job summer vacation town and one semester in my current apartment college town plus Airbnb when I didnt have a roommate.I delivered pizzas as a side gig the first year out of college. When I took the new job, I started doing radio sports play-by-play on the side. Its something I did as part of my first job out of college and I really enjoyed it, so its been a great side gig for me. I signed up for Uber and did that for about 9 months, but it wasnt really worth the wear and tear on my car so I stopped doing that. Even with side gigs, I havent earned more than 50,000 in a year.Before finding this subreddit, I was already budgeting, tracking balances on all of my accounts and loans, and being pretty frugal. Once I found this sub, I got more into investing and maxed out my Roth IRA for 2016 and 2017 through Vanguard. When my student loans were gone, I upped my 401k contribution by about 90 per month. As of today, my 401k and IRA total about 27,000.A few weeks ago, I looked through my spreadsheets to see how much Ive made on side gigs since I graduated college close to 24,000, which is basically what I owed on student loans when I graduated. Side gigs have been the single biggest contribution to me paying off my loans quickly. But even with that, sticking to a budget helped keep me on track.Fast forward to 2017 and I have paid off all of my student loans as of March and auto loan Feb 2016. I like to think Ive always had a pretty good head on my shoulders financially, but finding this sub helped me speed up the process of paying down debt and investing wisely. I was on the standard repayment plan for my loans all federal and paid extra toward the highest interest rate loan each month. I had my balance down under 12,000 in March when I decided to pay them off. I had enough left over for a healthy emergency fund and extra savings to feel comfortable throwing that much at them at once.There are lots of posts about people paying off their student loans quickly, many of whom make 6 figures or live at home while they pay down loans. Theres nothing wrong with that at all, but I thought Id share another story of someone doing it on a more modest income and not living at home. I should mention that I have been very fortunate to be able to stay on my parents health insurance since graduation. TL;DR Paid off 30,000 in loans in less than three years while living on my own and making less than 50,000 annually. Side gigs, frugality, budgeting, great work benefits, and this sub all helped immensely. Still made investing a priority too.In case anyones interested, heres a typical monthly budget for me now.Monthly income from work gross, pre-tax: 3450Side gig income: 200-1500, depends on the monthHousingcell phone: 1150Transportation: 180Insurance premiums and out of pocket auto, life, vision, health, dental: 170Investing 401k and Roth IRA: 700Food Groceries and dining out: 200Entertainment: 100Etc: 100Taxes: 750I usually come in under budget in most categories. I also make sure that my full time job income covers all expenses so my side gig income could go straight to student loans and now to investingsavings.Ill be happy to answer questions andor update my post as necessary.  <response>: Really enjoyed reading this post. Im 26 with an almost identical situation from income, side job, 25k in student loans and currently beating that debt down and contributing to 401k and a Roth.Really reassuring hearing a totally reasonable, normal success story. No 120k salary right out of college or a large inheritance. Most people can accomplish this with discipline. Thank you! 