The Guys And Gals Guide To Saving Money.: How To Save More, Spend Less and Feel Like a Million Bucks!

By Lisa Dellarossa

A guide for men and women, teens to seniors, on how to eliminate debt, make savings grow and find security, confidence and value within oneself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781619277380

Book preview

The Guys & Gals Guide To Saving Money:

How to Save More, Spend Less and Feel Like a Million Bucks

Copyright © 2007, 2013 By Green Rose Publishers,

& BookBaby™

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Inquiries should be addressed to:

[e-mail]

www.lisadellarossa.com

printed in the USA

ISBN: 978-1-61927-712-0

eISBN: 9781619277380

Copyright Editor: Kay Johnson

Cover Design: BookBaby™

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

My Greatest Inspiration

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Introduction

Chapter 1 My Story

Chapter 2 How I Got Myself Out Of Debt

Chapter 3 Start Paying off That Debt

Chapter 4 Where to Start?

Chapter 5 Monthly Obligations

Chapter 6 The Salon

Chapter 7 Eating Out

Chapter 8 Money Saving Programs

Chapter 9 Shopping

Chapter 10 Clothing and Accessories

Chapter 11 Extra Income

Chapter 12 Finances

Chapter 13 Children, Money & Discipline

Chapter 14 Education

Chapter 15 Conclusion

Afterword

Resources

Acknowledgments

Dedicated to my mother Antoniette and my grandmother Rose for vicariously passing on their frugal ways. There will never be another two women like you.

Dedicated to anyone who has ever given me a job and then pulled it out from under me—and to me for not letting them get me down.

Thank you immensely to my Copy Editor Kay Johnson for your support and contribution.

Thank you to my dear friends, family and Facebook peeps for your personal stories.

Lisa Dellarossa is a full-time vocalist originally from New York and now residing in South Florida. She has performed at many venues ranging from small to large and has sung in Italian Festivals all along the East Coast and all around Ohio. She is currently performing her Cabaret act in South Florida. She holds two degrees, Music and Broadcast Television Production. Lisa has also worked at WXEL, a public broadcasting station for a few years in the Production Department. She is currently married and has one step-daughter and two dogs. View her website at: www.lisadellarossa.com.

My grandmother is a tremendous inspiration. Here is a woman who never drove, never worked after getting married, and never had a credit card. She never went on a lot of vacations, never felt the need to update anything if it wasn’t broken, never went out to eat. She cooks most of her food and still maintains a garden. (Today, she’ll occasionally go out for Chinese with the seniors.) She never went shopping out of boredom. She was rarely sick.

Even after my grandfather died, she maintained a nice lifestyle with just social security and a pension. She only spent money when it was necessary. She never needed a loan for anything. She always had a little something to give her family members on every holiday or special occasion. She has been in the same house for over 60 years. She told me that the money was for when she gets older. And she was so right. At 92 years old, she can afford any assisted living facility she wants.

These days, we hear about the dilemma dealing with seniors who lack savings or whose retirement funds run dry. Because of the financial burden and strain, some move in with their children or even face the reality of going back to work. Sadly, many live a lower quality of life.

Grandma always says, See wasn’t I right? She sure was. And even though we always make fun of her emerald green couch with the plastic on it, Grandma’s house is still the most fun place to go to.

This book is for anyone who is buried in debt and doesn’t know how to dig out. My expertise was won the hard way. It started with doing things the wrong way. I spent over two decades squandering my money. The long climb back began with a very difficult two years. First, I downsized. No one told me what to keep and what to throw away, but I learned how to streamline through the process. Then I scrimped and saved, pinched and purged. Over the years, I also educated myself, and in the process I discovered that there were experts out there whose advice affirmed all that I was doing. Between my experience and what I learned from financial experts, I know that the tips in this book work.

This guide is meant to be used as a starter when you really don’t know where to begin, but you are serious about managing, saving and finding your money. I started out writing this book because I wanted to share my experience with young gals and guys and to teach a little about saving money, cutting out unnecessary spending, and fully realizing your self worth. I consider this guide a self-help book. It’s intended for everyone, but it’s especially written for people who suffer from low self-esteem and insecurity. The reason many females find it hard to save money is because they are always spending it to make themselves look and feel good. Why? Because they are not happy with the person they see in the mirror. Most women spend $1,000 annually on temporary improvements to their appearances. (Dacyczyn) And, yes, men are guilty too. (Ever hear of pec implants?)

Once we find, accept, and love ourselves for who we are, spending decreases, savings increase, and we feel great too. Thank you for taking the time to purchase my book (a wise investment) and allowing me to share with you my experience.

How Does It Start?

Before I share with you my story, allow me to introduce to you my best friend, Melissa:

The more in debt I got, the less I cared. I would stop using my credit card when I reached the limit. Every time I used the card, I thought, It’s just another $20, $50, $100. When it gets to seven or eight thousand, you just don’t care anymore. You promise yourself you’re going to pay it off, but you wind up paying just the minimum payment, so the balance would stay the same, but I never had any money. Before you know it, it was $25,000.00 before my marriage, and it just went up afterward because my husband and I couldn’t make the payments, and then came the babies, formulas, food, etc. It was the credit card company that suggested Consumer Credit Counseling Service when I told them, I just don’t have money to send you, even though my husband was making $90,000 a year. Oh yea, and we were paying for a Toyota Land Cruiser for $700 a month. Then we were paying a high rent, and we were away from parental funding. It was so much easier to charge things than to pay off the debt.

Does this sound familiar? The post-boom generations, Gen Xers and Millenials, were raised to believe we were entitled to whatever we wanted. The 80s was the decade of plenty, and it started with our parents. If they indulged themselves, most likely the indulgence trickled down to us. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that the vast majority of our parents didn’t grow up with the niceties they obtained for themselves later in life.

Both of my parents grew up very modestly in a rural town, hours away from major cities in Italy. To this day, there is still one gas station in their town. They did not grow up with color TV, cable, department stores, manicures, designer clothes, fancy restaurants or yearly vacations. They came to America to find a better life for themselves. At age 70, my father was still working as a landscaper until this past spring when he retired, and my mother was a seamstress until she died in 1987. They started with very little, and like millions of others, they achieved the American dream--paying off their mortgage early, saving a lot of money, buying nice things and treating themselves to vacations once a year. They also paid for everything with cash.

Many times parents want to give their children what they never had when they were growing up, but sometimes the parents don’t know when to stop. When it’s time for the kids to leave the nest, they don’t want to leave all the luxuries behind. If a parent can afford to give a child an electronic device worth hundreds of dollars, the child thinks there’s no reason he or she has to live without it once it breaks or is