Sharon Marchisello's Blog

Socrates' Book Reviews...: Spotlight: Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (G...:   Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (Giovanna Rogers Mysteries) by Sharon Marchisello

Sapphyria's Books: Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (Giovanna Roge...:   Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (Giovanna Rogers Mysteries) by Sharon Marchisello About Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos:   Mu...

Maureen's Musings: Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours Presents: Murder ...: Murder at Leisure Dreams: Galapagos (Giovanna Rogers Mysteries) by Sharon Marchisello About Murder at Leisure Dreams: Gal...

Writers Who Kill: Real vs. Fictitious Settings: by Sharon Marchisello When I was writing my first published novel, Going Home (Sunbury Press, 2014), I set it in Tyler, the small East Texa...

Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and Meows: Trap, Neuter, Die by Sharon Marchisello - Blog Tou...:   DeeLo Myer, newly transplanted from Los Angeles to Pecan Point, Georgia, gets sentenced to forty hours of community service with the local...

Cozy Up With Kathy: Trap, Neuter, Die - An Interview, Review, & Giveaway: I'm pleased to welcome Sharon Marchisello to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Sharon writes the DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mystery series. TRAP, NEU...

CELTICLADY'S REVIEWS: Trap, Neuter, Die: A DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mystery...: Trap, Neuter, Die: A DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mystery by Sharon Marchisello About Trap, Neuter, Die Trap, Neuter, Die: A DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue ...

Maureen's Musings: Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours Presents: Trap, N...:   Trap, Neuter, Die: A DeeLo Myer Cat Rescue Mystery by Sharon Marchisello About Trap, Neuter, Die Trap, Neuter, Die: A D...

Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers: AUTHOR SHARON MARCHISELLO CRAFTS A MYSTERY SET IN ...: Sharon Marchisello is the author of two mysteries, short stories, nonfiction, training manuals, and screenplays (as well as a blog and book ...

To celebrate the audiobook release of my self-help, personal finance book, Live Well, Grow Wealth, I'll be sharing excerpts each week on this blog. 

This excerpt is from Chapter Two, Find the Best Value, and it discusses the importance of focusing discretionary spending on the things and experiences you value most. Getting the most value out of your money is not unlike deriving the most satisfaction from your allotted calories when trying to reach and maintain a healthy weight. 

All my life, I've struggled to keep my weight under control. I tried every kind of crash diet: grapefruit, bananas, fasting, Atkins, Slim-Fast, seven pounds in seven days, counting calories, counting carbohydrates, low-fat, low-sugar, etc. Most of them worked well enough, and I lost the weight. But then I celebrated finishing the diet and went back to my old eating habits. The weight returned.

One New Year's Eve I reviewed several past years' resolutions, and weight loss always led the list: lose five pounds this year, lose ten pounds this year, get back to 110 pounds, get back to 120 pounds, fit into my skinny jeans again by summer.

In 2004, I joined Weight Watchers. Rather than a diet, Weight Watchers is a lifestyle change. The program incorporates good health habits that can be sustained for a lifetime. You eat normal food, not pre-packaged menu items. There are really no foods off-limits, so you don't have to say goodbye to your favorite fattening snacks forever; you just have to work within a daily and weekly "point" allowance. The program forces you to make choices that balance the taste experiences you crave with eating foods that are good for your body.

For example, if someone brought donuts to work, I didn't necessarily have to shun them because I was doing Weight Watchers. But at the time, a donut cost six points, a big chunk from my daily allotment of twenty. That twenty points had to include three servings of milk or milk products (lower point deduction for the low-fat variety), two teaspoons of olive oil, a source of protein, and four to five servings of fruits and vegetables (fortunately, many fresh vegetables contained one or zero points). If I gave up my glass of wine with dinner (two points) and my scoop of ice cream after dinner (four points), I could sink my teeth into a sugary donut. If the treat were day-old glazed from the supermarket, I’d pass. If the donuts were fresh and hot from Krispy Kreme, or one of my favorite frosted flavors, and I was craving something sweet, maybe I’d succumb, but I’d choose carefully and eat the treat slowly, savoring the flavor. No chance that I would wolf down two; twelve points was definitely too much to spend on empty calories. And eggnog? I can still enjoy it occasionally, but I can no longer chug a cup a day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s—not if I want to pass December's weight check.

Financial fitness works something like the Weight Watchers program. Most of us have a finite amount of money to spend each month, and there are essential expenses that must be covered. There’s not enough left over to satisfy every whim, so we have to choose the splurges that give us the most pleasure, and then savor them, make them last, make them worth it.

For more tips, read or listen to Live Well, Grow Wealth by Sharon Marchisello.

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