How to Save Money

Deposit a portion of your income in a savings or retirement account. Don't accumulate new debt, and pay off any debt you currently have. Establish a realistic timeframe for your savings goals. Create a budget and keep track of all your expenses. Invest in the stock market only if you understand the ins and outs of the gambles you make. Spend money only on the essentials, and look for cheaper options where available, from housing to food, transportation, or energy usage. Save for an emergency fund. Spend money on luxuries only occasionally.

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Saving Money Responsibly

1. Pay yourself first. The easiest way to save money rather than spending it is to make sure that that you never get a chance to spend the money in the first place. Arranging for a portion of each paycheck to be deposited directly into a savings account or a retirement account takes the stress and tedium out of the process of deciding how much money to save and how much to keep for yourself each month — basically, you save automatically and the money you keep each month is yours to spend as you please. Over time, depositing even a small portion of each paycheck into your savings can add up (especially when you take interest into account) so start as soon as you can for maximum benefit.^[1]
   
   • To set up an automatic deposit, talk to the payroll staff at your job (or, if your employer uses one, your third-party payroll service). If you can provide account information for a savings account separate from your basic checking account, you should generally be able to set up a direct deposit scheme with no problems.
   • If for some reason you can't set up an automatic deposit for each paycheck (like if you support yourself with freelance work or are paid mostly in cash), decide on a specific cash amount to manually deposit into a savings account each month and stick to this goal.
2. Avoid accumulating new debt. Some debt is essentially unavoidable. For instance, only the very rich have enough money to buy a house in one lump sum payment, yet millions of people are able to buy houses by taking out loans and slowly paying them back. However, in general, when you can avoid going into debt, do so. Paying a sum of money up-front is always cheaper in the long run than paying off an equivalent loan while interest accumulates over time.
   
   • If taking out a loan is unavoidable, try to make as big of a down payment as possible. The more of the cost of the purchase you can cover up front, the quicker you'll pay off your loan and the less you'll spend on interest.
   • While everyone's financial situation differs, most banks recommend that your debt payments should be about 10% of your pretax income, while anything under 20% is considered healthy. About 36% is seen as an "upper limit" for reasonable amounts of debt.^[2]
3. Set reasonable savings goals.^[3] It's a lot easier to save if you know you have something to save for. Set yourself savings goals that are within your reach to motivate yourself to make the tough financial decisions needed to save responsibly. For serious goals like buying a house or retiring, your goals may take years or decades to achieve. In these cases, it's important to monitor your progress on a regular basis. Only by stepping back and taking a look at the big picture can you get a sense for how far you've come and how far you have left to go.^[4]
   
   • Big goals, like retirement, take a very long time to achieve. In the time needed to reach these goals, financial markets are likely to be different than they are today. You may need to spend some time researching the predicted future state of the market before setting your goal. For instance, if you're in your prime earning years, most financial commentators say that you'll need about 60-85% of your current yearly income to maintain your current lifestyle each year you're retired.^[5]
   • If you can't save money, forgive yourself. Saving is hard and most people aren't able to do it. If it's not possible for you right now, try investing in skills to grow in your career or try to reduce your expenses in the meantime.^[6]
4. Establish a time-frame for your goals. Giving yourself ambitious (but reasonable) time limits for achieving your goals can be a great motivational tool. For example, let's say that you set a goal of being on your way to owning a house two years from today. In this case, you'd need to investigate the average home cost in the area you'd like to live in and start saving for the down payment on your new house (as a general rule, down payments are often required to be no less than 20% of the purchase price of the house).^[7]
   
   • So, in our example, if houses in the area you're looking at are about $300,000 apiece, you'll need to come up with at least 300,000 × 20% = $60,000 in two years. Depending on how much you make, this may or may not be feasible.
   • Setting time frames is especially important for essential short-term goals. For instance, if your car's transmission needs to be replaced, but you can't afford the new transmission, you'll want to save up the money for the replacement as quickly as possible to ensure you're not left without a way to get to work. An ambitious but reasonable time frame can help you achieve this goal.
5. Keep a budget.^[8] It's easy to commit to ambitious savings goals, but if you don't have any way to keep track of your expenses, you'll find that it's difficult to achieve them. To keep your financial progress on-track, try budgeting out your income at the beginning of each month. Assigning a set portion of your income to all of your major expenses ahead of time can help ensure that you don't waste money, especially if you actually divide each paycheck according to your budget as soon as you get it.^[9]
   
   • For instance, on an income of $3,000 per month, we might budget as follows:

     • Housing/utilities: $1,000

       Student loans: $300

       Food: $500

       Internet: $70

       Gasoline: $150

       Savings: $500

       Misc.: $200

       Luxuries: $280

6. Record your expenses. Keeping a tight budget is a must for anyone looking to save money, but if you don't keep track of your expenses, you may find that it's difficult to stick to your goals. Keeping a running tally of how much you've spent on various types of expenses each month can help you identify "problem" areas and adjust your spending habits to fit your budget.^[10] However, keeping track of your expenses can require a serious attention to detail. While everyone should keep track of major expenses like housing and debt repayment, the amount of attention you devote to minor expenses generally increases with the seriousness of your financial situations.
   
   • It can be handy to keep a small notebook with you at all times. Get in the habit of recording every expense and saving your receipts (especially for major purchases). When you can, enter your expenses in a larger notebook or a spreadsheet program for your long-term records.
   • Note that, today, there are many apps you can download to your phone that can help you keep track of your expenses (some of which are free).
   • If you have serious spending problems, don't be afraid to save every single receipt. At the end of the month, divide your receipts into categories, then tally each up. You may be shocked by how much money you spend on purchases that are far from essential.
7. Double check all payment amounts. Always ask for the receipt when making a purchase in-person, and always print off a copy of any online purchases that you make. Make sure that you’re not being overcharged or billed for items that you do not want; you'll be amazed how often that happens.
   
   • Let's say you're at a bar with your friends and one of them orders margaritas for the group; make sure they don't end up going on your card. Depending on favors like this to be returned later on is one way to find yourself in a financial hole - potentially, a very deep, deep hole.
   • Don't split the bill just for the sake of convenience. If your meal costs ${\displaystyle 1/3}$ that of your friends, you should not pay for half of the bill.
   • Consider downloading a phone app to help you more accurately calculate tips.
8. Start saving as early as possible. Savings isn't something you have a choice to do. It's something you have to do eventually, but we all need to start somewhere.^[11] Money that's squirreled away in savings accounts usually accumulates interest at a set percentage rate. The longer your money remains in the savings account, the more interest you accumulate. Thus, it's in your advantage to start saving as soon as you possibly can. Even if you're only able to contribute a tiny amount to your savings each month when you're in your twenties, do so. Relatively small amounts of cash left in interest-yielding accounts for long periods of time can eventually accumulate to several times their initial value.^[12]
   
   • For example, let's say that, by working a low-paying job during your twenties, you eventually save up $10,000 and put this money into a high-yield account with a 4% annual interest rate. Over 5 years, this will earn you about $2,166.53. However, if you had put this money away one year earlier, you would have made about $500 more by the same point in time without any extra effort — a small but not insignificant bonus.
9. Consider contributing to a retirement account. During the years when you're young, energetic, and healthy, retirement can seem so far away that it's almost not worth even thinking about. By the time you're older and begin to lose steam, it can be all that you think about. Unless you're one of the lucky few who stand to inherit serious wealth, saving for retirement is something you'll need to think about once you establish a stable career — the sooner, the better. As noted above, though almost everyone's situation is different, it's wise to plan on having about 60-85% of your yearly income available to maintain your current standard of living for each year that you are retired.
   
   • If you haven't already done so, talk to your employer about the possibility of contributing to a 401(k). These retirement accounts allow you to automatically deposit a set amount of each paycheck in the account, making saving easy. Additionally, the money you deposit into a 401(k) is often not subject to the same taxes as the rest of the money in your paycheck. Finally, many employers offer proportional matching programs with their 401(k) services, meaning that they'll match a certain percentage of each payment.
   • As of 2014, the maximum amount of money you are allowed to place in a 401(k) per year is $17,500.^[13]
10. Make stock market investments cautiously. If you've been saving responsibly and have a little extra money at your disposal, investing in the stock market can be a lucrative (but risky) opportunity to make extra money. Before investing in stocks, it's important to understand that any money you invest in the stock market can potentially be lost for good, especially if you don't know what you're doing, so don't use this as a method for long-term saving. Instead, treat the stock market as a chance to essentially make educated gambles with money you can stand to lose. In general, most people don't need to invest in the stock market at all to responsibly save for retirement.^[14]
    
    • For more information on making intelligent stock investment decisions, see How to Invest in the Stock Market.
11. Don't get discouraged. When you're having trouble saving money, it's easy to lose your nerve. Your situation may seem hopeless — it may seem almost impossible to save up the money you need to meet your long-term goals.^[15] However, no matter how little you're starting with, it's always possible to begin saving money. The sooner you start, the sooner you can be on your way to financial security.
    
    • If you're discouraged about your financial situation, consider talking to a financial counseling service. These agencies, which often operate for free or very cheap, exist to help you begin saving so that you can meet your financial goals. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), a non-profit organization, is a great place to start.^[16]

[Edit]Cutting Expenses

1. Remove luxuries from your budget.^[17] If you're having trouble saving money, it's wise to start here. Many of the expenses that we take for granted are far from essential. Eliminating luxury expenses is a great first step to improve your financial situation because this won't impact your quality of life or your ability to perform your work significantly. While it can be difficult to imagine life without a gas-guzzling car and a cable TV subscription, you may be surprised how easy it is to live without these things once you remove them from your life. Below are just a few easy ways to reduce your luxury expenses:^[18]
   
   • Unsubscribe from optional television or internet packages.^[19]
   • Switch to a thriftier service plan for your phone.
   • Trade-in an expensive car for one that is fuel-efficient and cheap to maintain.
   • Sell any electronic gadgets going unused.
   • Buy clothing and home furnishings from thrift stores.^[20]
2. Find cheaper housing. For most people, costs related to housing make up the single biggest expense in their budget. Because of this, saving money housing can free up a substantial amount of your income for other important activities, like saving for retirement. While it's not always easy to change your living situation, you'll want to seriously re-examine your housing situation if you're having a hard time balancing your budget.
   
   • If you're renting, you may want to try negotiating with your landlord for a cheaper rent. Since most landlords want to avoid the risk that comes with looking for new tenants, you may be able to get a better deal if you have a good history with your landlord. If you need to, you may be able to exchange work (like gardening or maintaining the house) for cheaper rent.
   • If you are paying a mortgage, talk to your lender about refinancing your loan. You may be able to negotiate for a better deal if you're in good standing. When refinancing, try to keep the repayment schedule as short as possible.
   • You may also want to consider moving to a cheaper housing market altogether. According to a recent study, the cheapest housing markets in the U.S. are in Detroit, Michigan; Lake County, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; Palm Bay, Florida; and Toledo, Ohio.^[21]
3. Eat for cheap. Many people spend much more on food than is necessary. While it's easy to forget to be thrifty when you're biting into a gourmet meal at your favorite restaurant, food-related expenses can become quite large if allowed to get out of control. In general, buying in bulk is cheaper in the long run than buying small quantities of food — consider getting a membership at a warehouse retailer like Costco if your food expenses are high. Buying individual meals at restaurants is the most expensive option of all, so making an effort to eat in rather than eat out can also save you lots of cash.
   
   • Pick cheap, nutritious foods. Rather than buying prepared, processed foods, try checking out the fresh food and produce aisles of your local grocery store. You may be surprised by how cheap it is to eat healthily! For instance, brown rice, a filling, nutritious food, can come in large, twenty-pound sacks for less than a dollar per pound.
   • Take advantage of discounts. Many grocery stores (especially large chains) give out coupons and discounts at the check-out counter. Don't let these go to waste!
   • If you frequently go out to eat, stop. It's generally much cheaper to cook a meal at home than it is to order an equivalent dish in a restaurant. Regularly cooking your own food also teaches you a valuable skill you can use to entertain friends, satisfy your family, and even attract romantic interests.
   • Don't be afraid to take advantage of local free food resources if your situation is serious. Food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters can all provide meals for free to those in need. If you need help, contact your local Department of Social Services for more information.
4. Reduce your energy usage. Most people accept the price on their utility bill each month without question. In fact, it's possible to greatly reduce your energy usage (and thus your monthly bill) with just a few simple steps. These tricks are so easy that there's practically no reason to avoid them if you're looking to save money. Best of all, reducing the amount of energy you use also reduces the amount of pollution you indirectly produce, minimizing your impact on the global environment.
   
   • Turn off the lights when you're not around. There's no reason to leave the lights on if you're not in the room (or in the house), so flip them off when you leave. Try leaving a sticky note by the door if you're having a hard time remembering.
   • Avoid using heating and A/C when it's not essential. To stay cool, open your windows or use a small personal fan. To stay warm, wear several layers of clothing, wear a blanket, or use a space heater.
   • Invest in good insulation. If you can afford to pay for a substantial home improvement project, replacing old, leaky insulation in your walls with high-efficiency modern insulation can save you money in the long run by keeping your house's warm or cool internal air from escaping.
   • If you can, invest in solar panels. As a serious investment in your own future (as well as the planet's), solar panels are the way to go. Though the up-front cost can be quite high, solar technology becomes cheaper with each passing year.
5. Use cheaper forms of transportation. Owning, maintaining, and running a car can eat up a large portion of your income. Depending on how much you drive, fuel can cost you hundreds of dollars per month. On top of this, your car will also cost you in licensing fees and maintenance expenses. Instead of driving, use a cheap (or free) alternative option instead. Not only will this save you money, but also potentially allow you to spend extra time exercising and cut down on the stress from your daily commute.
   
   • Investigate public transit options near you. Depending on where you live, you may have a variety of cheap options for public transit at your disposal. Most big cities will have metro, subway, or streetcar lines running in and out of the city, while mid-sized towns can have bus or train systems for you to use.
   • Consider walking or biking to work. If you live close enough to your job for this to be feasible, both are excellent ways to get to work for free while simultaneously getting fresh air and exercise.
   • Consider booking flights and train tickets in advance online, to not only save time but to also save money. Often 'Early bird' deals exist for those booking early.
   • If taking a car is unavoidable, consider carpooling. Doing this allows you to share fuel and maintenance expenses with the other members of the carpool. Plus, you'll have someone to talk to during your commute.
6. Have fun for cheap (or free). While reducing your personal expenses can mean cutting frivolous luxuries out of your life, you don't necessarily have to stop having fun if you're trying to save money. Changing your leisure habits and recreational activities to more affordable ones allows you to strike the perfect balance between fun and responsibility. You may be amazed at the amount of fun you can have for just a few dollars if you're resourceful!
   
   • Keep up-to-speed on community events. Today, most towns and cities will have an online events calendar listing upcoming events in the local area. Often, events put on by the local government or community associations will be cheap or even free. For instance, in a medium-sized town, it's often possible to explore free art exhibitions, see movies in a local park, and attend donation-based community rallies.
   • Read. Compared to movies and video games, books are cheap (especially if you buy them at a used bookstore). Good books can be absolutely captivating, allowing you to experience life through the eyes of exciting characters or learn new things you might otherwise never have encountered.
   • Enjoy cheap activities with friends. There is almost no end to the number of things you can do with your friends that require little or no money. For instance, try going on a hike, playing a board game, catching an old movie at a cheap second-run theater, exploring part of town you've never been to, or playing sports.
7. Avoid expensive addictions. Certain bad habits can put a serious damper on your efforts to save money. In worst-case scenarios, these habits can become serious addictions that are almost impossible to defeat without help. Worse yet, many of these addictions can be extremely hazardous to your health in the long term. Save your wallet (and your body) the trouble of going through these addictions by avoiding them in the first place.
   
   • Don't smoke. Today, the harmful effects of smoking are well-known. Lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and a variety of other serious illnesses are known to be caused by smoking.^[22] On top this, cigarettes are expensive — depending on where you live, up to about $14 per pack.^[23]
   • Don't drink excessively. While a drink or two with friends won't hurt you, regular heavy drinking can cause serious problems in the long run, like liver disease, impaired mental function, weight gain, delirium, and even death.^[24] In addition, nursing an alcohol addiction can be a massive financial burden.
   • Don't do addictive drugs. Drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine are extremely addictive and can have a variety of seriously harmful (even lethal) effects on your health and can be much more expensive than alcohol and tobacco. For instance, country musician Waylon Jennings is purported to at one point have spent over $1,500 per day on his cocaine habit.
   • If you need help overcoming an addiction, don't hesitate to contact an addiction hotline.

[Edit]Spending Money Intelligently

1. Spend money on absolute essentials first. When it comes to spending money, there are some things that you absolutely, positively cannot do without. These things (namely, food, water, housing, and clothing) are your first priority when it comes to spending your cash. Obviously, if you become homeless or suffer from starvation, it becomes very, very difficult to meet the rest of your financial goals, so you'll want to ensure that you have enough money to cover these bare minimum requirements before devoting money to anything else. ^[25]
   
   • However, just because things like food, water, and shelter are important doesn't necessarily mean that you have to splurge on them. For instance, cutting down on the amount that you go out to eat is one easy way to drastically reduce your food expenses. Along the same lines, moving to an area with cheap rent or home prices is a great way to spend less on housing.
   • Depending on where you live, housing costs can eat up a large chunk of your income. In general, most experts recommend against agreeing to any housing arrangement that will cost more than one-third of your income.
2. Save for an emergency fund. If you don't already have an emergency fund with enough money in it so that you can survive if you suddenly lose your income, begin contributing to one immediately. Having a reasonable amount of money stockpiled in a secure savings account gives you the freedom to comfortably sort out your affairs in the event that you lose your job. After you cover your essentials, you'll want to devote a chunk of your income to building up this savings account until you have enough saved to cover about 3-6 months of living expenses.^[26]
   
   • Note that living expenses can vary based on the local financial climate. While it's possible to survive on $1,500 for a few months in Detroit or Phoenix, this might not even pay one month's rent for a cheap apartment in New York City. If you live in an expensive area, your emergency fund will naturally need to be bigger.
   • Besides giving you the peace of mind of knowing that you'll be OK in the event of career difficulties, having an emergency fund can also earn you money in the long run. If you lose your job and you don't have an emergency fund, you may be forced to take the very first job you're offered, even if it doesn't pay well. On the other hand, if you can survive without working for a while, you can afford to be much pickier and potentially land a better-paying job.
3. Pay off your debt. Left unchecked, debt can seriously derail your efforts to save money. If you're only making the minimum payments on your debt, you'll end up paying much more over the life of the loan than if you had paid it off more quickly. Save money in the long-term by devoting a good chunk of your income to debt payment so that you can pay off your debt as quickly as possible. As a general rule, paying off your highest-interest loans first is the most effective use of your money.
   
   • Once you've covered your essentials and built up a reasonable-sized emergency fund, you can safely devote almost all of your extra income to paying off your debt. On the other hand, if you don't have an emergency fund, you may have to split your extra income up so that you use a portion to pay off your debt each month while simultaneously diverting some into your emergency fund.
   • If you have multiple sources of debt that are proving overwhelming, look into consolidating your debts. It may be possible to roll all of your debts into one loan with a lower interest rate. It's important to note, however, that the repayment schedules for these consolidated loans can be longer than those for your initial debt.
   • You may also want to try negotiating with your lender directly for a lower interest rate. It's not in your lender's best interest to let you go into bankruptcy, so s/he may agree to a lower interest rate in order to allow you to pay off the loan.
   • For more information, see How to Get Out of Debt.
4. Put away money next. If you've established an emergency fund and paid off all (or nearly all) of your debt, you'll probably want to start putting your extra money in a savings account. The money you save this way is different from your emergency fund — whereas you'll want to avoid dipping into your emergency fund unless you absolutely have to, your normal savings are available for big, important purchases, like repairs to the car you use to drive to work. However, in general, you'll want to avoid using your savings so that, over time, your total savings grow. If you can, try to devote at least 10 -15% of your monthly income to your savings starting in your 20s — most experts agree that this is a healthy goal.^[27]
   
   • When you get paid, it can be tempting to immediately make an impulse buy. To avoid this, deposit your savings into an account as soon as you get paid. For instance, if you're trying to save 10% of your income and you get a paycheck for $710.68, immediately deposit 10% (find this by moving the decimal point one space to the left), or $71.07. This practice can help you avoid unnecessary spending and accumulate a good amount of money over the years.
   • An even better idea is to automate as much of the saving process as possible so that you don't even have the tempting money to begin with. For instance, talk to your employer about setting up an automatic deposit system through your bank or with a third-party app. This way, you can transfer a set amount or percentage of each paycheck to a checking or savings account without having to make any extra effort.
5. Spend on smart non-essentials.^[28] If, after adding a healthy amount of your income to your savings each month, you have extra money left over, you should consider making certain non-essential investments that can improve your productivity, earning potential, and quality of life in the long run. While these types of purchases aren't essential in the way that food, water, and housing are, they are smart long-term choices that can end up saving you money over time.
   
   • For example, buying an ergonomic chair to sit in while you work isn't absolutely essential, but it is a smart long-term choice because it allows you to do more work while minimizing back pain (which, coincidentally, can be expensive to treat if it develops into a serious problem). Another example is replacing your home's old, troublesome water heater. While the old one may have sufficed in the short term, buying a new one means you won't have to spend money on repairs when the old one breaks, saving money in the long run.
   • Other examples include purchases that allow you to get to work for cheaper, like monthly or yearly public transit passes, tools that help you work more effectively, like a phone headset if you're in a job that occupies your hands, and purchases that make it easier for you to work, like posture-improving gel inserts for your shoes.
6. Spend on luxuries last. Saving money isn't all about living hard and lean. When you've paid off your debt, established an emergency fund, and spent money on smart purchases that pay off in the long term, it's OK to spend a little money on yourself. Healthy, responsible luxury spending is one way to stay sane while working hard, so don't be afraid to celebrate getting your financial situation in order with a reasonable luxury purchase.
   
   • Luxuries include anything that's not an essential good or service and provides little or no long-term benefit. This broad category can include things like trips to expensive restaurants, vacations, new vehicles, cable television, pricey gadgets, and much more.

[Edit]How Do I Choose My First Credit Card?

[Edit]Help Saving Money

Sample Low Income Budget

Sample Low Income Budget

Sample High Income Budget

Sample High Income Budget

Ways to Save Money

Ways to Save Money

[Edit]Video

[Edit]Reader Videos

[Edit]Tips

• Use affirmations. For example, repeat this affirmation to yourself until it sinks in: Debt is not an option.
• Always over-estimate your expenses and under-estimate your income.
• Have a hobby? Match your funds. One important habit for saving is if you have a hobby, such as model airplanes, scrap-booking, dirt biking, scuba diving, etc., set a hard and fast rule that whatever you allow yourself to spend on your hobby, you match those funds to your savings. For example, if you buy yourself a $45 pair of riding gloves, another $45 goes to your savings.
• Even if you REALLY want something, ask yourself, do you REALLY need this? More than half of the time it will be a big no.
• Most people can save something regardless of their income. Starting to save a little will help build the habit of saving. Even saving as little as $5 a month will teach you that you don't need as much money as you think.
• If you get paid about the same amount on a regular basis, it'll get easier to budget your money over time. If you have a variable income, it'll be harder to anticipate your expenses because you won't know when's the next time you'll get paid. List your budget categories in order of importance and fulfill the most important items first. Play it safe; assume it'll be a while before you get money again.
• If you can't bring yourself to destroy all your credit cards, at least freeze them. Put them in a container, fill it with water, and stick it in a freezer. That way, if you feel the urge to use credit, you have to wait until the ice melts, and during that time you may come to your senses and realize you don't really need to buy what you wanted to buy.
• If you can afford to share things you have, from food to living space to appliances, try to do so. What goes around comes around when it's between close friends, soon enough, you'll find your friends doing the same, and everybody benefits.
• Enjoy the simple pleasures in life. During the Great Depression, people still had fun, just not lavishly expensive fun. Children had soapbox derbies, teenagers had dance contests, and everyone played Monopoly, did puzzles, read, and listened to the radio. Get together to discuss philosophy or pray; play poker or make crazy quilt pillows; play instruments and dance. In those days, it took some imagination and ingenuity, but they had plenty of fun, and so can you.
• Make purchases with paper money, not exact change, and always save the change. Use a piggy bank or jar for your coins. Coins and change may look insignificant but when accumulated over time they can help you save. Some banks now offer free coin counting machines. When you redeem your coins, ask to be paid by check so you won't be tempted to spend your newfound cash.
• If you receive unexpected cash, put all or most of it into your savings, but continue to set aside your regularly scheduled amount as well. You’ll reach your savings goals sooner.
• Every time you go to buy something think of the thing you are saving for and the rough percentage of your savings so far that the thing costs and quite often you won't buy it.
• Take care of your possessions. In this way, you'll need to replace items less. Also, don't replace items until it's absolutely necessary. For instance, just because a motor in an electric toothbrush breaks doesn't mean it stops functioning as a toothbrush. Continue to use it, and, when ready, go buy a new one or check the warranty.
• Try to find at least one penny on the ground every day. Put the money you find in a jar and see how fast it adds up!
• Serious about saving? Try doubling your matched funds! These savings plans will do two things: Save money regularly and quickly, and really show you how much you are spending on your hobby, when it costs you twice as much.
• Sharing accounts with friends and family like Netflix, HBO or YouTube Red is a good way to get premium services, at little the price.

[Edit]Warnings

• Do not go out "window shopping" with any money on you. You will only be tempted to spend money you cannot afford to lose. Only shop with a predetermined shopping list.
• If you have spendthrifts in your circle of friends, you may need to formulate a list of ready excuses to explain why you can’t go out with them all the time.
• Unless you're in truly desperate financial straits (like 10 seconds from eviction and your three children are starving) don't try to cut corners connected to health. Basic preventative care for yourself, your family, and your pets might cost you a $60 office visit or a $30 heart-worm pill today, but the skipping it will contribute to expensive problems and heartache down the road.
• If you do mess up don't beat yourself up about it. Just try to do better the next time you get paid.
• After a long week of working, you may want to indulge in some luxury, telling yourself, "I deserve this". Remember that the things you buy are not gifts to yourself; they are trades, products for money. Say, "Of course I deserve this, but can I afford it? If I can't afford it, I'm still a worthy person, and I still deserve to meet my savings goals!"

[Edit]Related wikiHows

• Buy Nothing
• Save Money Fast
• Reduce Expenses
• Save Money
• Get Children to Save Money

[Edit]Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about saving money, check out our in-depth with [v161596_b01].

[Edit]References

__SUMMARIZE__

[Edit]Quick Summary

1. ↑ [v161300_b02]. 11 March 2020.
2. ↑ https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-your-debts/making-a-plan-to-pay-your-debts/
3. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
4. ↑ https://financialaid.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/managing-your-money/saving-and-setting-financial-goals/
5. ↑ https://www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2022/steps-to-take-before-you-retire.html
6. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
7. ↑ https://positivepsychology.com/goal-setting/
8. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
9. ↑ [v161300_b02]. 11 March 2020.
10. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
11. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
12. ↑ [v161300_b02]. 11 March 2020.
13. ↑ https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-23500-for-2025-ira-limit-remains-7000
14. ↑ [v161300_b02]. 11 March 2020.
15. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
16. ↑ https://www.nfcc.org/
17. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
18. ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/addictions.html
19. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
20. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.
21. ↑ https://www.gao.gov/blog/affordable-housing-crisis-grows-while-efforts-increase-supply-fall-short
22. ↑ https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/about/
23. ↑ https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/i-want-to-quit/reasons-to-quit-smoking
24. ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/3909-alcoholism
25. ↑ https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/moneybasics/assessing-how-you-manage-money/1/
26. ↑ https://moneysmart.gov.au/saving/save-for-an-emergency-fund
27. ↑ https://www.consumerfinance.gov/an-essential-guide-to-building-an-emergency-fund/
28. ↑ [v161596_b01]. 31 January 2023.

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How to Teach

Teaching well is an art rooted in practical, applied, behavioral sciences. There are definitely techniques that have been proven to work better than the typical "stand and deliver" lecture or presenting them with only linear or sequential information such as reading or listening to lecture. Pictures, maps and hands on efforts can teach several concepts simultaneously, instead of only receiving line after line to read or write. Successful teachers focus more on facilitating meaningful, expanded, multiple representations of information in learning experiences--and, all in all, that isn't so difficult to learn how to do. Read on to learn basic steps for becoming a good teacher in common teaching situations--from analyzing student needs, developing and facilitating meaningful learning objectives for your lesson plans, to following through on the learning design and giving feedback, with appropriate assessments.

[Edit]Steps

[Edit]Identify Needs

1. Identify crucial academic skills. These include reading and essential math skills used in many other subjects. Prioritize crucial lessons. Think about what skills your students will need to employ in order to make it through elementary and secondary school, be ready for higher education and progress onward throughout their lives. Think about the skills you use as an adult, such as good communication skills, including questioning and courageous speaking skills, and finding/looking up what you need to know. Plan and follow through on ways to build those skills in your students. These should be skills which students will need to function in various areas of life.
   
2. Identify complementary, life-improving skills. Encourage not only following learned processes and procedures, but also to find ways to use initiative, self-expression within guidelines -- without being unruly or disruptive. Once the crucial skills have been identified, consider complementary skills for happy, productive lives. Praise and place value on their using creative skills and problem solving, being opportunity makers and help them be providers of interesting questions and giving answers and information in class.^[1]
   
   • Give them crucial emotional outlets including participating at their age level in arts, music and expression as a creator and a performer, not only being a spectator.
3. Identify emotional and social skills. It’s not just academic skills which make people more functional, self-actualizing human beings. Apply techniques in your classroom to help students develop self-confidence, overcome shyness/"stage fright" by many steps, building self-esteem one effort at a time, coping with stress and disappointment (not just taking the easy escape), learning to not be overly defensive. They need to learn to accept reality without embarrassment by encouraging their efforts and trying again, and not unfairly blaming others for difficulties. They need ways to interact, being inclusive of other students needs, and productive coordination with others.
   

[Edit]Set Goals

1. Determine overall goals. Once you’ve identified the major skills which your students will need to succeed in life, determine some goals based on those skills.^[2] If you have a bunch of kindergarteners who will eventually need to read, for example, you want them to know their alphabet, the basic sounds of some special letters, and also be able to recognize simple sight words (eventually you can get around to advanced ideas such as: c in cat sounds like "k" -- "keh", and an example of k might be "keep". But c in ceiling sounds like "s" -- "sss", an exciting example of s might be "snake"/pronounce the "sssnake" and show them the "ssss" of a "hissing snake" -- but do not mention it so soon as to confuse the idea of phonics).^[3]
   
2. Set specific goals. Once you know what your general goals are for the class, think of specific goals which will serve to show you that those overall goals have been met. Have your kindergarteners from the previous step be able to read and write the alphabet forwards and backwards and read basic three letter words, for example.==
   
3. Outline how those goals will be reached. Now that you know what you want your students to be able to do, outline the smaller skills which be necessary to get them to those larger goals. These will be mini-goals and will serve as a road map. With the kindergarteners, an example of these mini-goals would be learning each individual letter, learning to identify compound sounds, and then learning how to string sounds together.
   

[Edit]Develop Lesson Plans

1. Outline each course that you teach to achieve education goals; the school may require each teacher to have a course syllabus or similar document. Now that you have your educational roadmap, make a lesson plan which specifically lists how you will get them to each step in that road. Every skill that will need to be mastered in order to get them between those mini-goals will need to be planned and written down.^[4]
   
2. Consider learning styles. When making your lesson plan, keep learning styles in mind. Every student learns differently and if you want your whole class to have equal opportunity for success, you will need to accommodate these. Plan to use sound, visuals, manipulatives, physical activity and the written materials along with your student centered lessons for facilitating, introducing, modeling, giving guided practice and periodic homework all for each subject, whenever possible.
   
3. Mix subject matter to build cross-curricular, multiple skills. If you are in an environment where you can interrelate subject matters, such as science and math or English and history, do some of that. This will help students understand how information is applied and is more related to the situations they will encounter in the real world.^[5] Life is not broken up into class subjects, after all. Find ways that you can collaborate with other teachers to provide your students with engaging, integrative lessons.
   

[Edit]Engage Students

1. Use visual aids and multiple representations of concepts. Introduce as many visual aids as possible into your lessons. This is not only for social studies, math, earth, physical, chemical, biological and social sciences. Social studies and many science related classes can use graphs, charts, maps, the globe, photos, movies and timelines -- such is true for their history and government studies. Certainly, math can involve grouping, recognizing changing patterns in sequences of numbers, contextual clues and shapes, with mathematical modeling often including formulas, graphic representations, diagrams, charts, "mappings of data" by various kinds of graphs. Also, collecting, organizing and presenting data can show the student how data is used in all kinds of subjects. Such things will give students more concrete experience, non-linear, multiple forms of applications/uses of data, visualizations, images and examples of the things which you are discussing. Complex concepts are often difficult to imagine and having a chart, an image to work, a choice of techniques, or an understandable formula will help many students stay engaged with the material, rather than tuning out because they can’t follow a dry, linear discussion.^[6]
   
2. Employ activities. Generally, it is better to never lecture for more than 15 minutes at a time. Besides reading, writing and written activities. You will want to often be getting your students active in the material and learning process. You can do this by having hands-on learning opportunities like learning activities (don't call them games), peer-to-peer discussions, or question and answer time (where either you ask the questions or they do).
   
3. Engage everyone. How? Create a variety of ways to use questions and answer/discussion sessions. One basic is keeping all students "on-deck" in the batters circle, so anyone may be the next one "up to bat". This will keep students from tuning out while others engage.^[7]
   
   • One method would be to keep a jar with student’s names written on a popsicle stick. Pull from the jar at random and the student will be required to either ask a pertinent question or answer one.
   • Wait for the answer. Count to four to remind yourself to wait, when you use open questions where anybody can volunteer to ask or answer them. Avoid giving in to the urge to jump in to answer your question or to finish their answer. Draw out important issues from them. Don't to quickly rescue the student, allow them to answer deliberately, not freaking them out by pressure or showing how smart you are. You defeat their motivation if you have to wow them as a genius/expert.
   • Class wide actions such as getting quiet when asked, ready to go to lunch or putting away one/getting another kind of book and materials can be time to utilize a classroom scoreboard with positive and negative marks that can lead to a reward or penalty for the whole group.
4. Relate material to the outside world.^[8] Since the point of learning is to gain real-world skills, you will want to constantly relate the skills and information in your class to the student’s lives and things which will affect them in the future. Students should never question why they need to learn the material they are learning and if you can’t come up with a real-world example then maybe you shouldn’t be teaching it.
   
   • Math skills should be related back to things like paying bills, getting a good mortgage, and future work tasks, such as: choices of fields such as futures involving more and more technologies, and of course inspire dreams of engineering and architecture, etc. English skills can be used to write stories, books, business reports, personal and business letters, resumes, cover letters or grant proposals. Science skills can be used to understand electrical motors, electronics, the solar system and universe, chemicals, fix clogged sinks or evaluate illnesses. History and social studies skills can be used to understand civilization, community and government, determine political values and voting decisions. Sociology skills can be used to help hypothetical family, future children, friends, or strangers.

[Edit]Allow Independent Exploration

1. Get your students outside. This isn’t just about getting them active or getting them out in the sun (although those are good things!). The point of going to school isn’t only to build skills for passing some test, it’s important to teach people how to adapt, grow and live better in the real world. Get them out of the classroom to put their skills to use such as collecting information, going to the library to do research. Get students to interview someone for information about a profession or skill.
   
   • Take a science class to the beach to identify animals and plant life or geological features. Take an English class to an early-stage play rehearsal, so that they can see how dialogue choices and changes affect perception of events and characters. Take a history class to interview nursing home residents or a sociology class to interview prison inmates.
2. Let them experiment. Allow for creative interpretations of assignments. Allow students to pose questions and follow other routes. Letting them guide their own learning will help them learn better and keep them interested in what they’re doing.
   
   • For example, in a lab experiment about putting mice in mazes, if your student suddenly wonders what would happen, if mirrors were introduced into the maze, let them do that. An assignment does not have to be strictly adhered to in order for students to gain valuable knowledge from it.
3. Encourage innovation. Success fosters/breeds success. Let your students make new designs and create things. Give them broad assignments with specific goals and let them come to their own method of reaching that goal. This will let them create a relevant learning design and personal method which is best suited to their style and interests, keeping them invested in the assignment and encouraging daily progress (which is success).
   
   • For example, you can have an occasional English assignment where a student must write a certain number of words on a particular, broad topic. However, tell them that how those words are arranged and presented is entirely up to them. They can make a comic, write a song, write and do a stand-up routine, write an essay, make a poster or a presentation... anything that speaks to and engages them in their interests, being relevant.

[Edit]Reinforce Learning

1. Interact during independent study. While students are working on assignments in class or engaging in other methods of independent study in the classroom, you will want to go around the room and engage them about what they are doing. Ask how things are going. Don’t just ask what’s wrong, ask what they feel they are understanding really well too. Get more out of them than “I’m doing fine” or “Everything’s okay”. You can even ask them to explain what they are doing or what their understanding of the assignment is.
   
2. Discuss weak points. After an assignment, look at the overall performance of the class. Identify common problems or potentially common problems and discuss these. Talk about why the mistake is easy to make and how to identify the problem. Talk about how it’s fixed or a better approach. Understanding a problem beyond “this is wrong and this is right” will give students much stronger abilities to problem solve later.
   
3. Occasionally revisit old material. Don’t cover something at the beginning of the year and never talk about it again. Constantly tie new material to the skills established in previous lessons. This will solidify and reinforce the skills that a student has gained, much like learning a language requires study every day.
   
   • For example, an English lesson on writing argumentative papers may want to draw on the skills learned earlier regarding narrative works by discussing how one can use stories within argumentative papers to make emotional appeals or how voice can affect a reader’s perception of information.

[Edit]Assess Progress

1. Construct well balanced tests. Have you ever had a test which was way too easy to fail or a final which was almost exclusively material covered in the last three days of class, rather than material covered over the whole semester? These experiences will help you understand why it’s important to balance your tests. Draw material as is appropriate for the significance of the test and weight it such that it will not make or break a student’s grade. Not everyone tests well.
   
2. Consider alternatives to standard tests. Standard tests can be a very inaccurate method of gauging student’s mastery of the material. Very intelligent, successful students can be terrible at taking tests and students who otherwise absorb material very poorly can be excellent test takers. Devise alternative methods which do not put so much pressure on students to succeed in very specific ways.^[9]
   
   • Consider educative evaluation, rather than auditive. Ask your students to devise a real world scenario in which they would use the skills they’ve learned and ask them to write a paper or prepare a presentation explaining how they would handle the situation. This reinforces their skills and gives them the opportunity to show that they not only understood the material itself but that they also understood the significance.
3. Put a spin on presentations. Public speaking is an important skill, to be sure. However, not everyone learns this by being put on the spot. Work your students up to full-class presentations in order to not only evaluate the extent to which they’ve learned the material but also give them the ability to learn valuable public speaking skills. Once they’ve mastered these easier presentations, you can have full class presentations and see how they fare.
   
   • You can have students give a presentation, individually, to just you, one by one while others are working on a written assignment that they can do without much help other than an introduction and example. This presentation can be conducted like an interview. Prompting will make them less self-conscious, which should allow them to build presentation skills much more efficiently than immersion into a comprehensive report. It will also give you the opportunity to ask key questions to gauge how well they’ve organized their understandings and learned to apply the material.^[10]
   • You can also have them give presentations to their peers, later in the course. They can go one-on-one with peers, as they just did with you, or you can have them go in front of a small panel of their peers, in an organized group process. Have the class students come up with a list of questions beforehand, which will also serve as a learning experience and way for them to demonstrate that they understand the material and evaluate fellow students presentations.

[Edit]Reward Success, See Mistakes as Opportunities

1. Let students choose their rewards. Create a list of acceptable rewards for excellent performance, either for individual students or the class as a whole, and let your students communally decide how they want to be rewarded. This will help make sure that the reward is an actual incentive, rather than just something you’ve pushed on them that doesn't motivate them to work harder.
   
2. Teach advances by "trial and error". Build individual growth in "Ah Hah! moments" made through calm or exciting experience, deliberate organizing and sometimes by interesting experiments. Don’t see failure, see opportunity to advance by increments/steps. Don’t say “wrong!” Say “hey", "close” or “hmm, yeah, that's an idea”, "how about other ideas?", "who tried another way?". When a student has made a mistake, don’t portray it as a tragic comedy or failure. Don’t let them say it was bad but "a reason see what may work." Say and show that "this is a learning experience"; we want to see how "incorrect or correct results can be achieved". Gently show them how to do it correctly, and ask "now, try again."^[11] Remember that a skill learned through trial and error will be much stronger than one which a student may simply get right by accident/guess -- through means they don’t fully understand.
   
3. Try community rewards. Promote the success of individual students to benefit the class as a whole and also teams within the class. Traditional learning environments tend to create a system where under-performing students are jealous of those who don’t struggle (the stigmatizing of nerds by envious comparison). You want to create an environment in which students want to work as a united whole and which does not stigmatize or over-blow obvious of success. Quick/sharp students can help others by setting good example, being patient and encouraging of the not so quick students -- . Sometimes more deliberate/slower students are strong as a big truck while others are like sports cars, but powerful trucks draw less biting remarks, not seeming as geeky. Rewarding the group will make your students much more functional adults and prepare them for real world work environments where developing as leaders and "strong" workers can help the team meet deadlines and achieve production goals.
   
   • For example, create a system in which for each student that scores perfectly on a test, everyone is rewarded. You can give everyone a few points of extra credit or poll the students to find out if they’d prefer a different reward. This encourages them to work together to achieve better results and endears higher performing students to their peers.

[Edit]Meet Emotional Needs

1. Make them feel unique and needed. Acknowledge and appreciate each student individually, for the qualities which make them unique and wonderful human beings. Encourage those qualities. You should also make each student feel like they have something to offer and contribute. This will raise their confidence and help them to find their proper path in life.
   
2. Recognize their efforts. Even if students make only occasional, small efforts, those efforts need to be acknowledged and appreciated. Tell them when they’ve done a good job, individually, and mean it. Don’t be patronizing, be appreciative. If they’ve worked particularly hard, reward them. A student who’s managed to raise their grade from a D to a B+, for example, may have earned the right to pump their grade to an A with “extra credit” for the magnificent amount of work that would have been required to accomplish such a feat.
   
3. Give respect. It is extremely important to respect your students. It doesn’t matter if they’re graduate students working on a doctoral thesis or kindergartners: treat them like intelligent, capable human beings. Respect that they have ideas, emotions, and lives that extend beyond your classroom. Treat them with dignity and they will extend the same to you.
   

[Edit]Get Feedback

1. Ask your students for feedback. Ask your students for feedback to get their (often very astute) perception of what’s going right and what’s going wrong in the classroom. You can ask them personally or you can create anonymous questionnaires in order to get their ideas on how things are going.
   
2. Ask family members for feedback. You can ask your student's parents for feedback as well. Maybe they’ve noticed an improvement in their child’s abilities, confidence level, or social skills. Maybe they’ve noticed a drop. Getting this outside perspective can help you make sure that the improvements you notice inside the classroom continue outside, as well as helping to catch problems that maybe you don’t get to see.
   
   • When getting feedback like this you also have a great opportunity to encourage parents to be more involved in school, whether through volunteering or other means.
3. Ask your boss for feedback. If you are a teacher at a school, ask the principal or a more experienced teacher to come in and observe you work. Getting their outside perspective will help you, but remember to be open to criticism.
   

[Edit]Keep Learning

1. Read up on your craft. Read the latest journals and papers from conferences to keep up with the most innovative methods and new ideas regarding technique. This will help keep you from falling behind in your methods.
   
2. Take classes to refresh your skills. Take classes at a local community college or university to keep your skills fresh. These will remind you of techniques you’ve forgotten or strategies that you tend to leave out.^[12]
   
3. Observe other teachers. Watch not only those that are known to be good at their craft but also those that struggle. Look for why the good things are good and the bad things are bad. Take notes and employ what you learn in your own classroom.
   
4. Reflect. At the end of a day/lesson/teaching cycle reflect on what you've done with your class. What you did best. What you didn't do well enough and can do better. What you should not repeat again.
   
   • Interested in finding out more about what it takes to be a teacher? Check out our "What does it take to be a teacher?" forum.

[Edit]How Do You Improve Critical Thinking Skills?

[Edit]Video

[Edit]Tips

• Show enthusiasm, speak up, smile about and relish/love what you’re teaching. A teacher that cares strongly about the material and the students growth and improvement will be much more entertaining, interesting, and engaging for a student than one who recites and "lists" facts.
• The classroom is not the only arena of learning. Your teaching should motivate the students to learn from multiple arenas of learning like visiting a Nature trail, getting exercise on the playground, learning about the work and skills, discipline needed by different professionals (attention to detail, listening, not being bored).
• You are also going to need to know how to properly grade a paper if you teach for any significant amount of time.

[Edit]Warnings

• Avoid mechanical approaches such as reading your daily lesson notes as if you're making speeches about the course material. But, instead engage students by questioning and discussing or by activities.

[Edit]Related wikiHows

• Work with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems
• Manage Conflict

[Edit]References

[Edit]Quick Summary

1. ↑ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d71187ce5274a097c07b985/21st_century.pdf
2. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.
3. ↑ https://www.elmhurst.edu/blog/teaching-goals/
4. ↑ https://crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p2_5
5. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.
6. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.
7. ↑ https://www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-participation-tips
8. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.
9. ↑ https://teaching.berkeley.edu/resources/course-design-guide/design-effective-assessments/alternatives-traditional-testing
10. ↑ https://busyteacher.org/7082-top-10-ways-to-assess-your-students.html
11. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.
12. ↑ [v161413_b01]. 14 May 2020.

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