<prompt> Human: Its getting to the stage in my life now 21 where I need to be considering how Im going to pay for my future and it seems that a lot of people on here have been caught up in debt in their 20s and 30s. Now I understand why it happens and how easy it is to get in over your head, but what could you have noticed sooner to help you realise you had perhaps made the wrong decisions?  <response>: Used car loans. I tried to roll financing from one car that was dying into another used car purchase really left me underwater at all times in my car. I did this a few times in my twenties. Whatever was wrong with the car had to be put on the credit card because I didnt have any cash savings and I couldnt sell the car because I owed more than it was worth. One day I realized that I owed 15k on a car worth maybe 10k. How ridiculous is that?I used the credit card as an emergency fund rather than having the cash in savings. Car needs to be towed? Credit card. Plumbing leak in the house? Credit card. Then it became non-emergency items. Forgot about a friends birthday until the last minute? Credit card. Just one expensive Christmas gift for a significant other? Credit card. I guess this was just careless and a lack of being prepared for life events.Thinking back, if I just had 1,000 in the bank to use for minor emergencies, I would have been much better off. Also, I should have just driven that first crappy car a few more months and paid cash for the next car rather than financing a used car at 17.99 and rolling the remainder into the next car loan, and the next, and the next. 