It happened a lot of years ago. I was 18 years old and was 'out on my own' with my first full-time job. And I wanted a stereo. I wanted a nice stereo with a turntable, radio, the whole deal. And back in those days, you could get a pretty nice one for, oh, a couple hundred bucks or so.

Which I didn't have.

So I went to a place that was all happy to loan me every penny I needed and the monthly payment was real, real low. It all looked pretty doggone good! Except that, as I made that 'low, low' payment, after a year I was still owing essentially the same amount of money. Well, this wasn't going well.

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Long story short?

My dear old dad bailed me out and lesson learned. Be very wary of places that seem a bit over-eager to lend you money. And yep, go ahead and read that fine print, too.

Lesson learned. Mostly, anyway.

There are a lot of places you are throwing away money without really realizing it. Money traps we used to call them. Nowadays, a lot of those same places are called 'conveniences'.

Fabulously Frugal has put together a list of 10 Things People Waste Their Money On, and there will be at least one, and probably several, that will ring true in your life.

And yes, something similar to what I did is on that list. Credit Card interest can be a real financial killer. Things may be a little more 'out in the open' now with credit companies telling you how long it will take to pay off that loan if you make just the minimum payment (very close to forever!).

But there are plenty of other places too, like those ATM Fees. Are ATMs convenient? Oh, you betcha! But those fees are what you pay for that convenience. Then there's overdraft fees at the bank. It's nice not to bounce a check or have your debit card rejected, but...

The list goes on with things like that Gym membership you had good intentions to use, those fancy designer clothes for your baby (your baby probably doesn't care if he/she is in designer bibs), and that up-graded shipping is probably not worth it.

Check out their whole list and I'm bettin' you'll find ways to save some pretty good bucks over the course of a year.

Oh wait....on second thought, I'm not bettin'. That would be just throwing away money.

LOOK: Most commonly seen birds in South Dakota

Stacker compiled a list of the most common birds seen in South Dakota from Project FeederWatch.

Gallery Credit: Stacker