re: How do people let themselves get into such dire straits financially?

Taxes are my largest "bill" each month even when I have a huge lease payment, other than that I don't really have any bills that are significant...$350 for my car note and nothing else over $100. I pay my estimated taxes monthly instead of quarterly because writing those big checks makes me so fricking irate.

ETA: Forgot about my health insurance, that is $400+ at the moment but it's the best I can get. Max out of pocket each year is $1000 and that covers everything.