Its not just the US that is drowning in debt and failed markets, the situation up here with me ain't no good either. Nearly one year back, I made one of the worst decisions of my life by buying a car. It turned out to be a big time lemon. Now, I'm fairly OK with auto stuff, but this car had problems invisible to the naked eye. Within a few months its ECU failed and along with it, it took my MAF and IAC down too. Cost : $1200. Fast forward 2 months and I have a blown gasket. Several months back I had noticed that I had to top-up coolant quite frequently. I asked the dealer to check it out and he said everything was fine. Anyways, I'm here now with this great problem that needs another grand to be fixed. Excellent. Then, I have to pay my fees for my next semester - $1550. And I've been paying all this using my credit card which has no interest rate until March '09. Now I have the time bomb ticking. I need to gather a total of nearly $4000 to get out of debt in the first place, and more to get going for the next semester. That brings the total to nearly 6 to 7 grand. So now, its apparent that I made a mistake selecting the car I did. But, I'm going bankrupt ain't I? So, can I ask the US govt. for a bail-out? Or atleast a freaking scholarship!? If you find yourself in a similar situation, you could try being frugal. Since my financial position hasn't been all that great since mid-spring 08, I've learnt to cut costs and save money. Its never too late. Try this link for 50 tips for being frugal. Meanwhile, enjoy this funny video about a frugal man: