5 simple ideas to help you start paying yourself first:
1. Automate it!
Set up an automatic payment from the account your paycheck is deposited to a savings account specifically for savings.
2. Create a bill for it.
Just like you have bills for your rent/mortgage, utilities, credit cards, loans, or whatever, create a bill for your savings. You can even go so far as to charge yourself a late fee if you do not make the payment on time. Choose a cause or person to give those late fees to (bonus points if it is a cause or person you really do not like so you have extra incentive to pay on time).
3. Visualize it!
Create a chart that shows your progress. You can use the classic thermometer that fills up from 0-100% or you can create the outline of what that money means to you. It could be a house, boat, airplane, outline of a country you want to visit, horse, shoe, ribbon, whatever. Add a few hashmarks to indicate progress and start filling it up!
4. Cash, please!
Withdraw the cash from the bank. Put it in an envelope, jar, piggy bank, etc, so you can literally watch your savings grow!
5. Gamify it!
Y’all know how much I love to make things fun. So, grab a buddy who also wants to save and challenge each other to see who can save more. You can decide if the winner will be based on meeting the goal, or maybe even exceeding the goal. And, of course, decide what the prize will be. It could be something you do together or one makes a donation to the other’s savings. You could even create a savings club.