Personal finance writer J.D. Roth is walkin' the walk over at his site Get Rich Slowly, where he just celebrated eliminating $35,000 worth of debt. That's 35 THOUSAND DOLLARS, people. It took him 20 three years of being committed to new habits, like setting goals, tracking every penny he spent, lowering expenses, and bringing in extra income. Check out his full post for the way becoming debt-free changed his career, too. Congratulations, J.D.! What an incredible accomplishment.

While most debt reduction plans emphasize the slow and steady approach, blogger Leo Babuata recommends paying off your debt in bursts - using those occasional windfalls, like tax refunds, bonuses, gifts, freelance payments and eBay/Google/Amazon fees. Commenters point out that incremental debt payoff PLUS burst payments is the best way to pay off your debt, in case there's a long time in between unexpected shots of cash. Here's more on how

One of the most popular ways to pay off your debt is the Debt Snowball method. You can use the Snowball Calculator to figure out which debts should be paid off first:

Generally speaking you should attempt to pay off the debts with the highest interest rate first. This calculator allows you to enter up to 20 different debts with their associated APRs, and the total amount you want to spend per month servicing your debts, and it'll work out the order in which you should pay them together with the monthly payments.

Anyone out there actually used the debt snowball method? Let us know your thoughts, good or bad, in the comments. — Wendy Boswell

The Get Rich Slowly finance blog has some great money tips for college students shipping off to campus this week. My favorites are the first two:

* Join a credit union. Don't just sign up for a random bank giving away t-shirts or frisbees at registration. Track down a credit union in town, or do some research into online banks.
* Don't get a credit card unless you absolutely need one. Don't be a sucker. Those guys sitting behind the sign-up table are not there to help you. They're there to make money.

Many people rack up tons of bad debt when they're in school that they wind up paying off way into their 20's and even 30's. Don't let that be you! Any students or former students have tips to add to this list? Let us know in the comments or to tips at lifehacker.com. — Gina Trapani

If you find that you never quite can get a hold on your money, you might want to try calculating your debt-to-income ratio to get it down in black and white.

Sure, it's easy to stick your head in the sand and pray that the $24K car note will magically be paid off whilst working at Mickey D's for minimum wage, but it might be a better idea to crunch some numbers (or research your

When we asked "How do you get out of debt?" several readers

Destitute reader Paul writes:

Over the past few years, I've accrued some painful, albeit modest, debt. Since I trust Lifehacker readers with my life(hacking), I'd love to hear some tips and strategies for getting out of debt. So, any advice?

To begin with, you might want to try a few suggestions from the Lifehacker debt pool. But it's always nice to get the goods from our readers, so get out your visors, arm bands, and adding machines everybody, and give Paul your suggestions for climbing out of debt in the comments or at tips at lifehacker.com. &