Imagine you are at an auction, and an antique lamp you love is about to come on the block. When you viewed the auction items earlier, you placed a value of $100 on the lamp. It is late in the auction, you have planned your bidding carefully, and you have exactly $100 in cash left in your pocket.

Do you have good reasons for not paying off your debt? Good for you. But what you need to understand is that with interest, every month that passes means you pay hundreds or thousands of more dollars. Even if you are making all of your minimum payments, you aren't really getting ahead.

Most everyone has, at some point in their lives, accumulated personal debt—some more than others. Whether debt is a cause for concern depends upon a number of factors, including: how the economy is functioning; your particular earning and economic prospects for the near and long term; and the type of debt you incur. By being conscious of your spending habits including credit card use, and large purchase habits, you can better understand ways to control debt—before it starts to control you.