Weddings. One of my friends, Ann Brooks, a mom who lives near Dallas and is a spokeswoman for T-Mobile, recently commented that if she could do it over again, she wouldn't have spent money on her wedding -- though she would re-marry her husband in a heartbeat. When I asked her about it for this article, she conceded that upon reflection, she would have paid money for her wedding, but if she could do it over again, "I would have done something much smaller, much less traditional, much less expensive."

I know what she means. I was lucky enough to have in-laws paying for most of my wedding, but if memory serves me right, they offered to just give us money instead of paying for the wedding and reception. Knowing what I know now, and given that the average cost of a wedding these days is $19,000, I think my wife and I would choose to take the money and sock into a savings account. And instead of throwing a lavish reception in a hall, we'd just invite everyone to a barbecue in a backyard.

Geoff Williams is a regular contributor at WalletPop. He is also the co-author of the book Living Well with Bad Credit.