Gen Credit isn't a very well travelled board compared to many here and it's one of the least "social" of them. The lack of responses isn't a surprise here unfortunately for story time, it's not you, it's not even this forum, but this particular board.
As for a quick blurb on my own wayward meanderings: I lived a cash-based existence till 36, then decided I wanted to own a house, and I couldn't write a check for it (So. Cal prices in any place I wanted to live). Wound up on Google looking for credit score building, found myFICO, pulled my reports, and then set about learning everything I could. Still crawling towards the house, waiting for one more tradeline to update before pulling scores and going shopping.
My story isn't all that different. (Note I am also from WI 
)
When I was around 18, I picked up a couple credit cards and was very responsible with them. At the time I was a senior in high school so I didn't really have much in the way of expenses besides gas, snacks, and booze (again - from WI, ha). I ended up making a pretty penny with the old Chase BP gas card. Picked up an Amex at a young age. Saved a ton while working in the Dells during summers to take a good savings to college with me in La Crosse.
Well.... then college happened. Blew threw my saved money within 6 months (while working part-time still). Started having to charge most pleasures in life. I only really made enough at the time to pay the rent, electric, etc. All extras were charged (and hey! I was 18-19... I couldn't just sit at home in my apartment doing nothing all day).
Fast foward another couple years.. All of my credit cards were maxed out - went out drinking in downtown La Crosse multiple days a week for many months in a row. Over $15,000 in CC debt - luckily no collections to this point. That then changed when I lived with two roommates and we got the top end Charter cable package (stupid)... in my name. First 6 months or so went by fine.. Then the one girl living with us decides she doesn't want to pay for it anymore. Okay. That's fine I thought. We can take care of it. Nope... I start having to pay it all my own. At this point in time the rent, regular bills etc starts to become way too much when you include my minimum payments on my CCs. Seriously seemed like a very ending spiral. This dark time in my life lasted several years. I was lucky to have a great GF at the time with me that stuck through it.
Well in the Spring of 2013 - I finally graduated (yes took my sweet ol' time), got married, and moved away from La Crosse for my first professional job. Nothing out of this world - about $45,000 a year. Started paying back CC debt (at this time up to around $18,000). Within 6 months I was down to about $14,000 in CC debt along with a car loan for $10,000.
That winter, I received a new job offer in Madison. It was perfect. A jump in salary to around $60,000 doing work I love. 6 months later, another raise to approx. $70,000. My wife and I have since paid down my CCs to about $7,000 - all currently on 0% APR promos), our one car loan is paid off completely (trade in for something nicer), our student loans are down from about $45,000 combined to $32,000), and we are looking to purchase a home within the next 6-12 months. We are both in our late 20's, and our scores are finally in good shape to secure a great rate with the mortgage - just waiting to save up a little more - would like to avoid PMI if at all possible.
It was a long journey, and while I can look back and wish I did things differently... I learned a lot along the way and had a great time doing stupid stuff in La Crosse.
I came from a family that was not great at financial management. Both my parents grew up poor, but made a decent living as adults. Then they had a very contentious divorce and for a variety of reasons neither one was prepared to teach my sister and I anything about making smart finance decisions.
At 18, I got a few credit cards and behaved irresponsibly with them. I paid them off and closed them and decided I could live a credit-free life. Which is true! You can, if that's your focus. It's not impossible, and I wasn't at all planning on buying a home so I got to a place where I made enough money to pay bills, maintain savings, and pay rent. It was fine, for what I was doing at the time.
Then I got pregnant unexpectedly. This was maybe naive on my part, but I had a good job and good health insurance and I figured I could manage. Funny how life throws you curve balls: at the ripe old age of five months, my beautiful baby girl was diagnosed with cancer. We had great insurance, but in terms of money it was immediately catastrophic. I had to cut way back on work, and she needed specialists in other states so there was a lot of travel involved. I did my best to keep up but four hospitals in three states? The collections just got overwhelming. I had to let it all go, in my head, so that my head was in the game for her treatment. I figured once she got better, then we'd work on rebuilding.
Thank heavens, she did get better. I got married, had another baby (a son), and then got divorced. I just kept chipping away at the debts as best I could, and also worked on getting some positive tradelines reporting. Her last treatment was October 2006, so at this point all but two of the medical debts have fallen off after payment. (I'm working on a possible PFD for those.) My scores, once something I didn't even care to look at, have steadily gone up. I'm less focused on the score itself than I am about continuing to be vigilant about on-time payments and what "black marks" are still showing, but the increased scores were key in getting us into our first home purchase. 
I closed last Friday.
I'm really grateful to this forum. Single parents of former cancer patients don't generally get to purchase homes. I'm very aware of how lucky we are. And it's completely changed my view about money & finance. I'm determined to give my kids the lessons I didn't get growing up. My daughter is 13 now, and given that she'll have lifelong medical needs based on her history, it's imperative that she's able to prepare herself as best she can.