Speaking as somebody who's drowning in credit card debt and fighting hard to get out of it, with a kid on the way and very little room for discretionary expenses...I 100% agree with you. I screwed up, I'm paying the price for it. It's nobody's fault but mine. I actually thought about bankruptcy, but it'd have to get a whole lot worse before I'd do that. It might take me 10 more years to get out from under this, which won't leave me a lot of time to save for a retirement, but my wife and I will make it happen with God's help and some discipline.
I work in the industry, sort of (contract programming for a major credit card company), and it's interesting to see it from the inside.
}:-)4
I strongly recommend Dave Ramsey's books and radio programs for financial advice, and one of the best books I've ever read about personal finance is Ric Edelman's The Truth About Money. These two guys have one important thing in common . . . they've both scraped the bottom of the barrel earlier in their lives and use their previous difficulties as a source of immense wisdom in financial planning. If I remember Edelman's case correctly, he and his wife were in such serious distress that they sold almost everything they owned (including furniture) and "started over" sometime in their mid-30s with a run-down apartment, second-hand furniture, etc.
MOre power to you, friend!