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March 2012

By Melissa Tosetti

Everyone has different goals. For some, it’s a dream vacation. For others it’s buying their first home. For many, it’s getting out of debt.

I worked with a wonderful client who had two major goals: get out of debt and travel to Hawaii to see her grandmother. Here’s her story:

"For a few years now, I’ve struggled with repaying consumer and student loan debt. It seemed as if I would never be able to dig myself out of the hole I’d created back in college. Just when I really felt as if I had a firm grip on my bills, an ‘emergency’ would come up and I’d find myself deeper in debt. I was truly at my wits end and staring at the possibility of filing for bankruptcy.

I knew of Melissa and The Savvy Life and thought about reaching out. Although I heard how she had helped so many other people, I was still a little skeptical. I had exhausted every avenue for financial assistance. I’d tried getting APR’s reduced, consolidating and even making payment arrangements with creditors - nothing seemed to work. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if Melissa could help me so I handed everything over to her.

She took a look at my finances and created a payment plan that would eliminate what I considered “overwhelming” debt.

I have to say…Melissa’s amazing! Sometimes all it takes is a knowledgeable person with fresh set of eyes to make the impossible, possible. She’d laid out a clear cut path for me. It’s been two months and already I’ve been able to pay off two accounts!

I’d say the greatest part of her plan is that it doesn’t eliminate fun! The goals she sets are definitely attainable. For example, one of my goals is to go to Hawaii by the end of the year…and I’m going next month! The surprising part: I’m not adding to my debt to do it; I’m still able to work on paying my bills through the current plan and use incoming funds to pay for my trip…THANK YOU MELISSA & THE SAVVY WAY OF LIFE!!!"

Jackie M.

Foster City, CA

One of the common causes of cycling in and out of debt or struggling to get out of debt at all is because we try to pay it off too aggressively.

While it’s important to pay down debt as quickly as possible, too often we set unrealistic expectations of ourselves. We’re “good” for a month or two and then, because we have stripped away all the fun, we end up swinging to the other side of the pendulum and start overspending again.

Another situation people often experience is that because all of their money is going toward paying down debt and nothing is being set aside for emergencies, when something does happen, there is no extra money to take care of it. The car repair bill or new dishwasher has to go on a credit card burying you deeper into debt.

When you look at trying to change or repair a financial situation, it’s important to look at it from an overall lifestyle perspective rather than focusing solely on the single problem. That type of hyper-focus can result in consequences that affect your overall life.

Jackie participated in The Savvy Life’s Bridging The Gap Program. If you would like to hear more about the program or schedule a free 15 minute consultation, contact us at 650-299-1500 or you can email me directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Savvy Habits

Have you ever logged into your bank account to check your balance and panicked when you realized you had spent more than you thought? I have met very few people who can keep a running total of their expenditures in their head. I easily forget that I bought a new book or spent more than usual on gas due to a trip to see my family.

In our book, Living The Savvy Life, we encourage readers to adopt six key Savvy Habits. Of the six habits, the one that most often makes an immediate and positive impact on reader's finances is Savvy Habit #2 - track your spending on a daily basis.

To track my spending, I use a simple Excel spreadsheet that is set up similar to the check register the bank sends you along with your blank checks. In our Living The Savvy Life Online Program, we offer a template that you can download. The template is titled Expense Tracking Workbook. We also have a video titled How To: Track Your Spending on the site as well. In the video, Kevin and I talk you through the process.

It is important to remember to track all of your spending for that particular bank account. That includes the bills you pay, the automatic withdrawals and incidental transactions such as groceries, gas and fun stuff.

If you're in the process of really trying to gain control of your spending, you can use a separate spreadsheet or small notebook to track your cash expenditures as well.

Once this process becomes routine, it will take you just a few minutes a day to implement. This is one of the most powerful habits to adopt and will quickly make a positive impact on your financial life.

Excerpt from The Savvy Life Newsletter

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