1. Budget
Never spend your money before you have it. -Thomas Jefferson
1) Talk to your loved ones about what your dreams are: It seems like an odd way to save money, but think about it. If you spend time with the people you love the most and come to some consensus about your dreams, it becomes easy for you all to plan for it. If you’re all planning and working together towards this dream, it becomes easier to stay focused on it and reach it. Set a big, audacious goal together and encourage each other to be financially fit – soon, you’ll find you’re doing it naturally and your dreams are coming closer than ever.
2) Plan your purchases: Has the $100 spent on a dress for fresher’s night left you broke? Simple mathematics and a bit of planning could have helped you avoid the situation. Cutting down your expenses by $25 every month would have saved you $100 in just four months and made the dress affordable. Planning ahead is an easy way to prevent bankruptcy.
3) Set savings goals: For short-term goals, this is easy. If you want to buy a video game, find out how much it costs; if you want to buy a vehicle, determine how much of a down payment you’ll need. For long-term goals, such as retirement, you’ll need to do a lot more planning (figuring out how much money you’ll need to live comfortably for 20 or 30 years after you stop working), and you’ll also need to figure out how investments will help you achieve your goals.
4) Establish a time-frame: For example: "I want to be able to buy a house two years from today." Set a particular date for accomplishing shorter-term goals, and make sure the goal is attainable within that time period. If it’s not attainable, you’ll just get discouraged.
5) Plan: Figure out how much you’ll have to save per week, per month, or per paycheck to attain each of your savings goals. Take each thing you want to save for and figure out how much you need to start saving now. For most savings goals, it’s best to save the same amount each period. For example, if you want to put a
$20,000 down payment on a