If the real world has you feeling pressured to make ends meet, you're not alone. The average college graduate has approximately $2,000 of credit card debt and almost $20,000 of student debt. Learn how to break free of the debt burden that hounds more and more of today's college grads.

College was an awesome four years of partying, studying, partying, pondering ideas, partying, and learning. But now that you've been thrown into the juggling act of paychecks and bills, you might be wishing that there were still classes in session for you to cut. Here's a new topic to study that will make your life easier down the road: debt management.

The tenets of debt management

Student loan and credit card payment requirements can be overwhelming, particularly on your entry-level salary. But if you've learned sociology, English lit and biology, you can learn to manage your debt. To start out your new working life in the right direction, take a moment to understand the principles of long-term debt management and how debt consolidation relates to those principles.

First, the tenets of debt management:

• Budgeting
• Making regular principal payments
• Saving

In the process of creating a budget, you may be forced to realize that your paycheck doesn't adequately cover your expenses. This type of cash flow problem must be resolved quickly, before you end up with bad credit.

Debt consolidation can alleviate the cash flow problem and make regular principal payments affordable (the first two tenets of debt management noted above). A debt consolidation loan rolls your student loans and unsecured credit card debt into one longer term, fixed-interest credit loan. There are also debt consolidation programs designed solely for student consolidation debt; these combine your student loans, but not your credit card debt. In either case, an effective debt consolidation program results in a lower monthly payment and fixed pay-off schedule.

Once you have a workable budget that includes amounts for regular principal payments, you can determine what's left for the last tenet, saving. Saving is important because often, the unexpected happens, and sometimes it can be costly. Without a safety net of savings, unbudgeted expenses can quickly undermine your debt management efforts.

Unfortunately, there's no turning back the clock to the carefree college life. But with the right strategy, a carefree future is a real possibility. Now that's something to drink to.