One of the most important – and often stressful – things in life is money. You need it for a variety of things; bills, food, spending money, etc. If only everything in life could be cheap or free, oh what a dream…

Anyways, trying to save up money can be hard for people, whether that means you just are struggling to start saving, not sure how, or if you just love to blow your money. I am sadly guilty of all of it, but I have done some research and talked to friends and family to figure out the best ways to save my money,and I am going to share those ways here today.

• Set a goal
  • One of the best ways to start saving money is set a goal for yourself. You can either start small by doing “$50 by the end of the month in my savings” or go a little bigger by doing a whole year “$1000 by the end of the year.”You can pick whatever you think will work best with your schedule and your goal.
• Record your spending
  • This is something that I know my parents specifically do. Any time that they spend even less than $5, they always record it just to have it there and know where your money is going. It will also help by seeing how much you are spending and how frequently. If you spend a lot of money practically every day, this could help you realize you’re spending too much sooner, and it can help you reduce that issue.
• Create a saving chart
  • This is something I personally have in my Bullet Journal, which is what my last blog post is about explaining how to do it and why it helps. I have a little savings-jar drawn out and lines as to where I am as I save up for my goal. Right now, I am trying to save up $1000 as quickly as possible. My lines go up by 50s, so anytime I hit a line, I fill it in, and it can show me how close or far away I am. You don’t have to draw a jar and lines if you don’t want, it could just be more of an actual chart and just write down how you’re doing.
• Have a limit in your bank transfers
  • I know with my bank after a certain amount of transfers from your savings to your checking you eventually get charged. I believe that this is an option, but I think that knowing you can’t take a certain amount out of your savings is a good way to keep it all in your savings.
• Getting a saving app
  • Personally, I have downloaded the app “Mint” to help me with my savings. It shows you how much you’re spending, lets you set how much you want to spend on food, retail, etc. So, if you go over your limit you get a notification informing you, and when I get those notifications, I feel guilty inside, which makes me want to stay under my set limit. Also, it helps you with credit scores and all things along those lines, but I do not have a credit card, so I am not 100% sure what it does for that.