Buyers Remorse and Piggy Banks

Have you ever had buyers remorse? I am recently cursing all the things I bought from 1998-2004 as this was where the scope of my c.c. debt came from. What did I buy in those years.....Nothing I still have now or remember. Here is my take on the way the Credit monsters totally screwed not just me, but many of the young Americans. Women were always looked at as being a property of man for the early years of credit. A women couldn't even get a loan without a man being present. Many women were never taught about credit and proper handling of money. They were told how to spend it on groceries and that's it. Then we became independent, left evil husbands that treated us poorly and got jobs that didn't pay fair wages. Women were given credit that extended far beyond the scope of the wages and in times of crisis, women will do what it takes to put food on the table or keep a roof over the heads of their children, because women were almost always left with the task of child rearing, whether they worked full time, part time, or stayed home. There were opportunities for credit companies to take advantage of these societal, domestic, and common beliefs/ mindsets that women were vulnerable and they could get them to sign away anything. Many of the women did. I am one of them. When I turned 18 I was mailed my first credit card, and I had $11 in the bank. It was too easy to buy my college books or pay for registration, buy food or go out to dinner when they hand you one of these easy swipe money cards. They don't teach you that they can take up to 25-100 years to pay off the accumulated totals. I am totally independent, but this is not about being smart or easy it is about these companies leading someone to the promise of a diamond and finding all you have is a cubic zerconia. They gave me a credit I could not afford to pay and gave me more still.I take full responsibility for my actions, but with the current crisis it shows that we were not the only ones spending beyond our means. Hopefully the next generations will be better informed of how the system works.

My spending habits have been a bit more thrifty and responsible in the last few years, I even cleared out some student loans I had before my first daughter was born. But how does one make it out of the deep ocean of debt when they don't have the money to buy a boat? My debt could be worse then it is and in fact it is pretty reasonable (as long as you don't include the car loan).
How do I teach a better financial foundation to my children when my financial sense sucked?
I will have to teach them to be honest to themselves about spending $ wisely and about spending what you can afford. wish me luck, as my 5 year goal is to spend less and pay off old debts.