Here are a couple of tips that will guide you in starting your own savings plan.

1. Set your goals you want to achieve – Depending on what you need to save the money for, you need to know approximately how much money you want to save. Is it for a new car, is it for your children’s schooling, is it for your new Hawaii vacation? Is it for ‘darker days’? Once you know what the money is set aside for, you will be easier able to achieve those targets.
2. Monitor your finances – you need to start keeping track of your finances, to see how much you’re spending and now much your income is. Get bank statements, ATM card statements, collect all your spending receipts, and have them all in one place. Start budgeting your money because you will soon see a pattern emerging and you will realise where you need to tighten a bit the belt, and where you can keep on doing what you’re doing without problems.
3. Thought of investing? Investing is not only for rich people, who already have their pockets full. If you have a low amount of savings, you can also invest this. As by your bank what investing opportunities you have, maybe you can set up an Investment Opportunity Plan with your bank.
4. Start saving. I’ve already mentioned a couple of saving strategies in previous articles, for example, you can save money on water usage, save money by using fans instead of air conditioners, and a few other ways of saving money, check them out here.

Here are teh main 3 steps involved in budgeting your money in a proper way:

• Calculate all your earning income (salary and any other income you are currently getting). For example if you are working in a restaurant as a waiter/waitress, calculate all the tips you are getting as well. If you are divorced and you are getting child support, add that in too.
• Identify your expenses. Take into account all your personal expenses, your housing expenses, everything that goes out in terms of money, add it in.
• Now compare your earning with your expenses. If you have more income, all is good. But on the other hand, if your expenses outweight your income, you have a problem that you need to address.

Sadly there are very few people who do that in their personal lives. We all think that budgeting, financing is only for corporations and the accountants at our day job. But once you learn to budget your own personal finances, with time you will start to see a pattern, and should the pattern be on the downslope, you will be able to bring it back up. But if you are not budgeting, how will you know when is it  time to tighten the wallet a bit more?