(song excerpt to go along with reading – because then you’ll get the post title.)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Money doesn’t buy happiness.

We know this. In fact, I’m going to go as far as claiming that everyone in my generation (Hi, Gen Y) has been beaten over the head with this lesson since the days of Reaganomics.

But oh, how debt can make someone unhappy.

While all I have are student loans (that I will apparently be paying back over the course of the rest of my life), car loans, bills and utilities, freelance business expenses, and the cost of living in Los Angeles — I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself unhappy.

Okay, I’ve got the gripes that any late-20′s office worker might have, but money really isn’t one of them. Having a steady job might have something to do with it… but getting a freaking 89 on a financial fitness quiz is certainly no accident.

Yes, I am in debt. Yes, there are periods of me having less money than I would like to have. But no, I am not worried.

I think I had the unfair advantage of having been raised around good money habits.

I think this is where I thank my Mom.  I can and should thank my Mom for a lot of things, of course, but I didn’t realize it until recently that because she manages financial accounts for a living, that what I’d originally just assigned to her as a stern Filippino concern for my well-being was in fact some of the most sound advice I could get. It still rings in my ears (with a slight Filippina accent):

Start saving money. Do it now.

Don’t waste money on things you don’t need (be a minimalist).

Find a good way to have a bird’s eye view of your budget. Make a projection sheet. Look at it often.

Set aside some money for emergencies.

Make sure you know everything about having insurance.

Keep your receipts.

Don’t spoil yourself, but don’t starve yourself. Getting just some of the things you want will make you think about priorities.

When you are collecting from invoices, the better the relationship, the less pressure you put on clients. A trusting business relationship creates more revenue in the long run, and retaining a client lets you do more actual work and less business development.

Donate to charity if and when you can. The good feeling is instant gratification, and good karma comes around during tax season.

Don’t work for free. (okay, sorry Mom, I do this a lot… but my project portfolio looks healthy!)

The advice got more in-depth as I got older and deeper into the professional world.  When I started collecting freelance checks, I’d found myself talking to my Mom a lot more.  Little did I know that the more I became a professional, the more involved the conversations became. My Mom went from lecturing me to mentoring me in account management. Some conversations with her are now the same tone I have with friends. And now I find myself saying to friends, “No, I’d rather not go out drinking for the sake of drinking because I’d like to get ahead in work,” so that when I do finally go out with them I relish it a lot more, especially when I am able to buy rounds for friends because of that work I had put in weeks beforehand.

Salamat po, mama.

Money won’t buy you happiness.

Sure. Being part of the 45% of Americans who are in debt can help you figure out pretty easily that happiness doesn’t need to be bought.

But you know what?

It turns out, a little happiness can come from taking good care of your money.

This post was part of the 20SB blog carnival, Friends and Money.