YOUR MONEY: MAKEOVER REDUX

Then: In June, Medina, 26, was aggressively saving $800 a month for retirement but had only $1,700 in regular savings. That wasn’t enough to achieve his goal of buying a first home, especially with $1,100 in credit card debt. The planner advised him to redirect his retirement savings temporarily and build up $15,000 for a down payment. The planner also told him not to buy a home for more than $350,000. She urged the rookie Los Angeles police officer and Iraq war veteran to apply his experience in strategic planning to his finances.

Now: Medina took the planner’s advice to heart. He canceled plans for a trip to Italy with his girlfriend and diverted his retirement saving toward the house fund. He worked overtime and paid off his credit card debt. Adding in a $5,000 signing bonus, Medina saved $17,000 quickly.

Less than six months after his makeover, he bought a three-bedroom home for $352,000. It has become the unofficial home base for his extended family. More than 20 people celebrated New Year’s Eve there. The home also enabled Medina to adopt two rescue dogs.

Medina is building his savings account back up and hopes to take advantage of the depressed real estate market by buying a second investment property.

New habits: Medina approaches saving as if it were a game and tries to see how much he can avoid spending every day. He brings his lunch to work. He cooks at home and bought an energy-saving refrigerator. He’s uprooting nonnative plants at his home and replacing them with water-sparing natives.

Instead of going to Italy, Medina and his girlfriend took a trip up the coast to Monterey. He has invited two friends to live with him to help cover the mortgage payment.

“If I wanted to accomplish my goals, I had to be very strict,” Medina said.

“I like saving money now. I clip coupons when I buy groceries, which is kind of fun.”

-- Ann Marsh