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My mom, putting her tennis bracelet on me at my wedding[/caption]

Every time I go to visit my mom, without fail, she will look me up and down, point to one item I'm wearing and smirk at me while saying, "You know you're copying me right?"

With great glee, she will then show me to her closet where a similar top, handbag, or pair of shoes sits. "I keep trying to tell you, you get your style from me..."

While I always give her a hard time about her alleged influence on my style ("I totally picked this out first! I wasn't even thinking about you! You're copying off of me, Mom!"), I will readily admit my mom's impact on my financial life. Here's the 7 best lessons I learned about managing money from watching my mom's savviness while growing up:

7 Money Lessons my mother taught me

Save up! For as long as I’ve known my mom (uh…my whole life!) she has always been a saver. No matter what we needed – new school clothes, furniture for the house, a vacation, whatever – my mom was incredibly diligent about faithfully putting a portion of her paycheck away every month to cover short-term and long-term expenses.Educate Yourself. The reason I even know who Suze Orman is, is because of my mother. My mom was ALWAYS watching the likes of Suze Orman or Mellody Hobson on TV before work, or clipping out random articles on personal finance from newspapers and magazines.When I was a teenager, it was kind of annoying because she’d always be giving me the magazine clippings or emailing me random finance articles, telling me how much my after school job paycheck could be worth if I’d just invest it and let it grow over time. As a 17 year old with a penchant for business casual clothes from The Limited and Express (I wanted to dress “sophisticated” in high school), I was not trying to hear that! It wasn’t until college when I began to seriously educate myself about money that I appreciated all the financial wisdom my mother had amassed.Protect Your Credit. “Always have good credit” was something my mom preached religiously. “Would you rather be a first class citizen or a second class citizen?” my mom would often ask me and my sister. “Well if your credit is shot, consider yourself a second class citizen in this country…”She taught me over and over again that a poor credit score means you won’t be able to purchase a house or a car…maybe not even a cell phone, effectively putting you on “second class citizen” status. Because of my mom, I also learned that employers run credit checks (my employer certainly did) before they hire you and a poor credit score can mean not getting the job. Because of this knowledge, my mom never paid bills late – in fact, she’d often pay things off early. Having “dings” on your credit report was a huge no-no in my mom’s book.Pay Cash/Pay Things Off Quickly. Driven by her desire to keep a tip-top credit score and her general aversion to debt, my mom generally opted to pay for things outright with cash. In the rare event she did finance a big purchase outside of a house or a car, she would only do so at 0% interest and would structure her budget ahead of time so that she could pay it off in 2–4 big payments. Once she committed to pay something off, she paid it off – no exceptions. She even aggressively paid down the mortgage of the house I grew up in by paying every two weeks instead of once a month, effectively paying one extra house payment per year.Avoid Paying Full Price. In addition to primarily paying cash for everything, my mom is a master at getting a deal. Whether it was buying “scratch and dent” appliances in order to get a major discount, getting a great deal on a used Mercedes Benz, or simply refusing to shop at Macy’s unless there was a sale, you could not convince my mom to buy something at full price. She is also a haggling queen and not afraid to ask for a lower price, even at stores where you would think haggling wouldn’t be allowed. This “playing dumb” and bargaining with sales people often embarrassed me as a teen when we’d be out shopping, but she’d just turn to me with a smirk on her face and say, “Hey, you don’t get what you don’t ask for!”Ignore “The Joneses”. Growing up, my mom had lots of friends that were well off. The often lived in big houses, drove luxury cars, went out to fancy dinners, shopped at expensive stores, and took exotic vacations. My mom was genuinely happy for them and their lifestyle, but she didn’t allow them to influence what she would do with her money; she had different goals and was perfectly happy with her financial choices.For instance, she drove a Nissan Maxima until she gave it to me in high school, then she drove a nice but used Benz that she negotiated a great deal for. She loves fashion and has great style, but would only buy designer duds at places like Loehmann’s or consignment stores. My mom was always confident in her own skin and never felt bad that she wasn’t spending like those around her, which leads me to the last money lesson she taught me:Know What You Really Want. The thing I most respect about my mom is that she has always had a clear vision of what she wants out of life and where she wants to go. I 100% get my go-getting attitude from my mom – she has bred that into me.Once area where she most demonstrated her dedication to her goals was in the sacrifices she often made with her money. For over a decade, my mom wanted to leave Detroit and own a beautiful home in Scottsdale, AZ. For years, she worked to this end by saving her money, driving her used Benz for 10 years when she could have upgraded, and shopping at TJ Maxx when she could have been balling out at Nordstrom's. She even sold our family home just as the market took a turn for the worse in Detroit and rented a low cost condo, which freed her up financially.Don’t you know that today, my mom lives in a beautiful house in Scottsdale, AZ? She was disciplined in making financial sacrifices for 10 YEARS in order to get what she wanted.

Bonus: 3 Life Lessons

In addition to teaching me about money, my mom imparted some great general life wisdom that I’ve always kept with me:Be Generous. “If you live life with an open hand, it comes back to you.” For my entire life, I’ve watched my mom provide financial support when she could to family members, no strings attached. If she had it and it wasn’t going to break her, she’d give it because she knew how much God blessed her. My mom has always been of the mind that when you give, that much and more comes back to you.Create Your Own Future. Both me and my mom’s favorite quote is “the easiest way to predict the future is to create it.” She told me that quote years ago and its always stuck with me. I even found the quote printed on a little plaque at Target some years back – it now sits on my kitchen counter so I can see it everyday.The Reality of Other’s is Not Your Reality. If there is one life lesson I’m most grateful for, it’s this one. Throughout my mom’s life, so many people have tried to tell her that it is impossible to do all sorts of things – to get her master’s degree with two young daughters, to move up in her career, to start a business, to leave Detroit, whatever – and my mom has proved them wrong. She is a firm believer in God and she is quick to say, “Your reality is NOT my reality!” She has always taught me that what is true for another person has nothing to do with me, so don’t let their hang-ups stop me. When I am doubting myself or nervous because my circumstances seem like its not going to work out, I just remember that I am a child of God and the reality of others DOES NOT have to be my reality!

***Thanks mom for all you have taught me; I am a strong woman because of you! I love you and have a happy Mother’s Day!

Talk to Me:

What lessons about money or life in general have you learned from your mother or another woman you look up to? What lessons do your current or future children learn from you?