This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money. It took Carly DeFelice until 2007 — her junior year of college — to break all her rules about money. Frugality and diligent saving had been the name of the game since Day 1 — literally. DeFelice says that her mother was balancing the family checkbook when she went into labor. The child of parents who owned a struggling business, DeFelice saw her parents clip coupons and follow a strict monthly budget. Following their lead, she pocketed nearly every dollar she made babysitting and refereeing kids’ soccer games. By the time she was an upperclassman at the University of Texas, she had spent years working in direct sales, first in high school pushing books door-to-door, then in college selling home security systems. In 2007, she earned $63,000, plus her company offered her a $500-per-month bonus to put toward a car. DeFelice bought a brand-new, white Mercedes-Benz, signing on for 60 monthly payments of $560.
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