Savings Steps

According to a recent study, 27 percent of Americans have no savings. Don’t let that number include you. Here are some steps to take to start a savings account and get moving in the right direction.

Budget Time

If you don’t have a budget or aren’t sticking to one, it’s difficult to save money. You don’t know where your money is going, so there’s no way to cut back and use that cash to pad a savings account. As USA Today reports, once you have your budget set, you can see how much you can save. If there’s no wiggle room, you need to reduce expenses.

One Big Cut

Speaking of reducing expenses, don’t focus just on the small things. Cutting your weekly lunch out, which you enjoy and ultimately isn’t that expensive, won’t give a big boost to your savings. Instead, try cutting one big expense. Maybe you can move to a smaller apartment. If you live in a city, maybe you can sell your car and use a bike supplementing with Uber or public transportation. Whatever you choose, take the money you would’ve spent on that big item and put it into savings.

Set It

Finally, one easy way to add savings is to take away the choice. In other words, set your bank accounts up to automatically deposit some money into a savings account every payday. Instead of looking at one account and deciding how much to put into savings, the work is already done for you. You won’t miss money you don’t have.