It is sometimes difficult for a newbie to know whether a spam attack is in progress. It's too late to do anything when the transaction is send with a standard 0.0001 fee. So it is good practice to check the network before sending. An easy way is to check:
https://www.blocktrail.com/BTCFollow the optimal fee specified on the page, can't go wrong.
Then Bitcoin is done in its current stage.
Stupid ppl still argue that "we have lots of time." " blocksize limit is there because of spam"