To a lot of people, it may seems unrealistic of saying pay yourself first while you are facing loads of financial obligations. Rent, food, gas, credit card payment and many other monthly bills make people living paycheck to paycheck. This also happens to me when I first started to work after graduated from college years ago. It was a really tough moment that every month I got tons of bill payments and not to mention about my student loans. Planning for future is not exist or just a dream.
Pay Yourself First
My personal financial crisis last for about couple years until I read some books about money management. At those years I talked to myself that I really don’t want to be live like that for the rest of my life then I started to follow what those finance books said, Pay Yourself First! I followed what the books said and turn these steps into my habit even thought I know it seems impossible.
1. Figure how much you can afford
If you take a close look at your expenses, even a small change in your daily spending habits such as bring lunch to work instead of eating out or making your own coffee instead of buying from coffee shops can definitely bring you at least few hundreds a month.
2. Create a saving strategy
Always have a goal in mind for your saving even you think that is impossible. I know this may be a bit too extreme but this is how I did to myself years ago. I always set a goal for myself in monthly saving say $500, I then try to make myself to save up something everyday even just a few bucks by restricting myself not to have snacks or having a simple lunch instead of having a nice combination meal with drinks etc. I always set a goal that is almost impossible to reach just to push myself a little harder to save as much as I can. It is tough but at the end of the month when you see you got an extra few hundreds buck in saving you will definitely feel that is worth to do it.
3. Manage you saving
Time flies and now after years of saving you may probably have few thousands or even more in your saving account. Now what? Think of a way to invest your money and make it even bigger such as increase your 401K contribution(or start contributing if you’re not already), tap a high-yield savings account, pay down your debts (in case if you have any) and/or invest yourself by taking some classes or even start your own business such as an online web based company etc.
Tip: Move a small amount of money every time you receive your paycheck before even using it and this is what Pay Yourself First is all about.
