Who wants to loan me $3000 dollars?

[KmH]

Sell some plasma.

 

[Steamy-Lens]

Find a rich girlfriend.

 

[blash]

I'm a pretty heavy credit card user (use up 70-80% of my limit each month) but I ALWAYS zero it out at the end of the month. It is worth it to charge everything to the credit card instead of dealing in cash due to the rewards that result from using the card (cashback, frequent flyer miles, et al) but you have to be VERY CAREFUL to monitor every cent you pay to make sure you can pay it all back at the end of the month. If you can't handle that kind of tracking then don't bother using a credit card. Mint.com helps a ton.

Carrying a balance can be OK so long as you do the math and you work out a plan on how you're going to pay it off - never carry more than 1 major purchase on balance at a time, and always zero out the balance before another major purchase.

And for the last time, CREDIT IS NOT FREE MONEY. Don't just take out a loan assuming you can pay it back; in fact, it's better to save up because you will spend less in the end.

Houses are (generally) good investments, especially in bad economies (buy low, sell high). Cars are not - always buy a used car, the more used the better.