I would not take out a loan. A loan has interest charges of its own whereas medical bills do not (some doctor's offices charge late fees but calling and talking to then and setting up a payment plan can take care of that). A loan would just add another layer of debt. I would learn to tolerate a bit of debt; getting ahead is hard for everyone. I don't know anyone who does not owe money of one kind or another. I think once you have learned to live pretty much "even" then you can practice cutting back here and there a bit and savings some but first you have to make sure you have no bills that require interest charges. What you would "make" saving money is less than what you would owe with interest charges so you would actually get further behind, not ahead, and any savings would only be an illusion.