Every month I planned to save “whatever’s left”. Every month, nothing was left. Funny how that works.
Most people save last: they pay bills, spend through the month, and save what’s left over. The problem is that there’s rarely anything left over. Spending expands to fill whatever money is sitting in your account.
Paying yourself first flips the order. The moment you get paid, your savings come out first, before you spend anything. Then you live on the rest.
Make it automatic
Willpower runs out. Automation doesn’t. Set up an automatic transfer that moves your savings into a separate account on payday, so the decision is made once instead of every month.
A few tips:
Use a separate account. If your savings sit next to your spending money, they’ll get spent.
Start small if you need to. Saving a small amount automatically beats planning to save a big amount and never doing it.
Increase it with every raise. When your income goes up, raise your savings transfer before you get used to spending the extra.
James
I started with a tiny amount, just so the habit existed. After six months I barely noticed it leaving, and I had more saved than ever before.
