Ilustration by Mark Matcho for Newsweek

Tanya Hahnel, 24, earns more than $25,000 a year helping Boston-area families find affordable housing. She has health insurance, good benefits, no credit-card debt and a frugal lifestyle. Still, Hahnel bartends at night so she can afford to fly home to the Washington, D.C., area for Christmas. Her friends, many of whom are working hourly jobs without health benefits, are faring worse. “If you’re making $7 an hour plus tips, and you don’t have insurance and something bad happens, your credit is just ruined,” she says. “Everybody I know is really struggling.”

You don’t have to be irresponsible or bad with plastic to get slammed when you’re young, out on your own for the first time. Here’s why it’s tough: starter jobs come with low salaries and, increasingly, without health insurance. Rents are high, and there’s a litany of hidden expenses in the life of a twentysomething: deadbeat roommates who “share” utilities but never actually write their checks; friends’ weddings that require costly dresses and travel; security deposits and agent fees every time you move; medical care that’s not covered by insurance; needing everything (furniture, work clothes, wheels, kitchen gear) at the same time, and, yes, college loans.

But there’s hope. Every generation faces hard times when it starts out; there are some new financial tools that can help you climb into the black without an allowance from Mom and Dad. Here’s how to get started when you’re getting started.

Priority one: health insurance. One snowboarding accident can put you in a hole you’ll never get out of, and we’re not talking about that dip between moguls. Shop at ehealthinsurance.com for an affordable policy, and consider an HMO that will cost a bit more upfront but pay all your healthy-visit expenses. If your parents want to help you, this is a good place to let them. You’ll all sleep better.

Get creditworthy. You pay more for everything—from apartment security deposits to car loans to bank overdraft fees—if you don’t have a good credit history, so learn to use plastic. Get two credit cards, suggests Gerri Detweiler of credit.com, but be disciplined about using them. One card should be the best rewards card you can get; use it for regular expenses and pay it off monthly. The other card, a low-rate card, should be kept for emergencies like medical care and car repair. Stick with MasterCard, Discovery or Visa and skip all those “10 percent off today” store cards. If you really lack discipline, just keep one card, ask the issuer to hold your credit limit to $500 and freeze it in a can of water so you’ll thaw it out only for real emergencies.

And don’t be in a hurry to pay off your student loans: they probably have lower rates than everything else out there. Make minimum payments there and put your money to better use elsewhere, such as high-interest credit-card debt.

Budget online. New socialnetworking financial Web sites like mint.com, geezeo.com and wesabe.com are made for twentysomethings, says Todd Romer of youngmoney.com, an advice Web site. You can keep all your finances in one place, check your balances from your cell phone or office and see how much you’re spending compared with everyone else. As for keeping up with those deadbeat roommates and friends who always forget their wallets: track group expenses at buxfer.com and billmonk.com.

Invest. Contribute to your company’s 401(k) at least until you get to the maximum your employer will match. Open a Roth IRA: it’s one of the best possible savings vehicles for a young person in a low tax bracket, and you can still get at the money if you really need it. Find a list of mutual funds that will start you with as little as $50 monthly, drawn from your checking account, at the Mutual Fund Education Alliance (mfea.com). Go a step further and form an investment club with your friends by following directions from the National Association of Investors Corp. (better-investing.org). You’ll learn how to research and buy stocks as a group and how to start your own portfolio.

Live small. Refuse to be seduced by Starbucks and brew your own. Brown-bag breakfast and lunch. Share potluck dinners, cable upgrades and cases of beer with your friends. Drive a hooptie. Wax and polish yourself, and check out beauty schools for cheap deals. Exercise outside in the fresh air and skip the expensive gym. Don’t go into clothing stores, except to buy that one good suit you need for job interviews. Furnish creatively with your parents’ castoffs. And don’t worry—young and poor is a time-honored stage of life. Someday you’ll remember it fondly.