In life, there are a lot of lessons that are meant to be learned the hard way. Waiting until the last second to start a term paper worth 50% of your grade. Responding to that 3 a.m. "u up?" text from your toxic ex. Telling yourself you'll watch "one more "TikTok" when you have a mountain of projects piling up around the house. But among these cautionary tales, there are a few that can and should be taken at face value. Just ask these Redditors who lived to tell the take.  

From the dangers of driving in standing water to the importance of leaving garage maintenance to the pros, here, 27 people describe a time they found out after effing around.