Yes, the point Skoorb was trying to make points directly TO ME, albeit I make the half the money she does, I drove a perfectly fine '98 Saturn SC2 and traded it in for a Brand NEW 2002 Honda Civic because I felt like I could "handle" it. I could "handle" it, but it was not the best thing for me. About 1 month after I bought the new car, I felt like crap that my fiancee and I did that because I looked at it like this:
Two New 2002 Honda Civics.... after our trade-ins, the $2800 or so in interest, and everything else, were $20,000 EACH. As a young (we were 19 years old) couple making $10/hr, having $40,000 in debt was not smart. Oh, wait a second, we also owed about $8,000 in CC debt, so that's $48,000 in debt.
It has taken me about 1.5 years to turn things around. I told the Honda (this week) and I owe about $4000 in CC debt, as well as opening up a $8,000 used car loan. So I effectively changed my personal debt profile from $24,000 to $12,000 but it has taken a while to do it. Eventually, I want to owe nothing.