By David Blondeau

That’s it! That’s the one I’ve been looking for. It’s perfect! As you admire the bike, its sleek metallic body glistening under the store lights, you reach into your pocket for your wallet. Your eyebrows crest into a frown. Uh oh—it feels really thin. You unfold it, and to your immediate displeasure discover it’s void of any monetary material, save one quarter tucked in the corner. Great—I’ve already spent all my money. How come I can’t seem to save anything? Do you find yourself in a situation like this from time to time? Here are four easy steps that, if applied, can help you to save up your money.

If you desire to save up your money, you must start with this question: What am I saving it up for? What is my ultimate goal? Without a target to aim for, you have no purpose and little motivation to save up your money. Instead of carefully aiming each arrow, you’ll be shooting them wildly all over the place. You must have a worthwhile goal to give yourself a reason to be disciplined. Maybe it could be a new bike. Or perhaps PYC. Once you establish your goal—how much you want to save—you can start to map out how you’ll get there. You may have multiple goals—some goals may be longer term (saving for college), while others may be shorter term (saving for a new bike).

So you’ve found the target you want to sink your arrow into. Now you need to ask the question, How much time do I need to reach this goal? Once you know how much time you’ve got, you can figure out how much money to set aside to save up for it, and how frequently. Let’s say you want to pay for the PYC fee all by yourself this year. It’s the beginning of January, and the fee of $300 is due in June. That means you’ve got six months to save $300. Divide $300 by six months, and that works out to $50 a month. So whatever your source of income may be, whether a job or an allowance from your folks, if you know the time frame, you know how much you need to set aside and how frequently. Knowing the time frame to reach your goal allows you to plan every twist and turn you make on your way to it.

At this point, you know your target and how to hit it. Now you need to make the next step by creating a budget to save up that money toward your goal. Take an honest look at how you currently use your money. You know how much you make/receive, and how much you set aside for things like tithes. You also know how much you spend on things like tickets or movies or candy bars. If you find you’re spending more than you can set aside for your savings goal, ask yourself: Are those things necessities—needs—or are they just desires? Are they more important or less important than your savings goal? If the latter proves true, then you have found your solution to creating your goal-oriented budget. Eliminate the excess spending. You have to sacrifice some little things you may want in order to reach your larger goal.

This step is the most important and calls for the most perseverance. All of the first three will prove useless if the fourth is not applied. You have your goal, your target. You know how much time you will have to get to it and how you’ll get there. Now you need to stick to your plan! This is the time to be disciplined. Be tough on yourself if you have to. Remind yourself of what you’re doing it for. If you’re saving up for PYC, ask yourself: How badly do I want to go to PYC? Is a Sunday splurge at the mall worth not going to PYC? If your goal is worthwhile, your desire to reach it will give you the motivation you need to stick to your budget—your plan—and reach it.

You’ve just been given a four-step run-through that can help you save up your money. You know where you want to go. You know how you’ll get there, and how much time you’ll have. And you know how to avoid all those traffic jams on the way there. You’re good to go. So go, save your money, and reach your goal! Happy saving!