Get to Know Your Money!
Here’s this week’s Joy of $aving Secrets…
One of the most important relationships you will have in your lifetime is the one you have with your money. Here I share with you an excerpt from my book, The Joy of $aving: Money Lessons I Learned From My Italian-American Father & 20 Years As a Consumer Reporter. This may be the most important section because without learning how to have a healthy relationship with our personal finances, all the money-saving tips in the world really won’t matter.
The Holy Grail
It was during a conversation I had with my father that I discovered the Holy Grail — the secret to saving money. When talking about the feeling we both had the day we got our first paycheck, I was surprised by how vivid his memories were. My 90-year-old father said, “My first paycheck was on June 29, 1942. It was for $3.63.” He then proceeded to show me something that finally got me to sit down and write this book. In my father’s hands he held a green, leather-bound journal engraved with his initials, GP. As he opened the yellowed pages, I saw a living example of the key to gaining financial freedom. Since that first paycheck in 1942, my father wrote down every penny he earned. On each line of his journal, he kept a log of what he earned that week, the gross, and his take-home pay. Every week for 60 years.
I looked at what he earned the week I was born in May of 1963. His take-home pay that week? He earned $143.22; that month, he earned $572.88! I realize things were far less expensive back in 1963, but c’mon! That check had to provide food, housing, medical, education, clothing, incidentals, gas, electric, insurance, and every other expense that would come while providing for a family of seven. I was at a loss. How in the world did he do it and with so little income? How did he get to a point where he and my mother could have retired comfortably? The answer lies in that leather-bound book that he kept religiously for decades. He didn’t have software or bill pay. He had a journal where he wrote what he earned. In another journal, he wrote his expenses. He divvied his paycheck into envelopes. He had a relationship with cash that we don’t seem to have these days. That relationship has been replaced with plastic.
“It’s not what you make, it’s what you save” was my dad’s philosophy. And after years of tackling every consumer topic imaginable, news story after news story, I realized something: everything I learned from my 90-year-old father about budgeting and money is 100% right. Managing money today may be more complex, and it may be harder to use cash – especially currency. But these saving and spending lessons are fundamentally the same as those used by successful people for generations. The challenge is to use technology wisely, and know the tips, tricks, and strategies to use it to our advantage.
Knowing how much money you have coming in and going out is very empowering. If you do just one thing this week, start forming that relationship with your money. The Joy of $aving will show you that financial security is well within your reach. You can also check out my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for quick tips on how to save money in daily life.
Here’s to Joy, $aving, and cultivating a healthy relationship with our personal finances in 2021! Thanks for subscribing!