Once I got out of college one of the things I stressed about the most was money! I knew I wasn’t a good saver but I still wanted to live a fabulous lifestyle in Los Angeles (girls trips, mani/pedi, shopping, Sunday brunches with the girls, all that!). I realized that I needed to get a solid savings plan together in order to obtain the lifestyle I wanted. Here are the steps I took to create my savings plan:
First, create your financial goals. This could be done on a vision board, in a journal, where ever! It’s important to set out what you actually want for yourself before you create your plan! Tip: Set a deadline for your goals! Goals without a deadline are just wish lists.
Next, calculate how hard you need to hustle in order to reach your financial goals. For example, if you want to move out of your parents house by a certain date, find your ideal place (the fun part!) and calculate how much money you’ll need to make right now in order to have at least 6-8 months of rent ready to go. I did this and realized I was going to have to work multiple jobs or one really well paying job in order to achieve my financial goals by my deadline.
Finally, find a way to keep yourself accountable. For me it was putting my money in a separate account with no card attached to it. For you it might be having part of your pay check go directly towards your savings account. Regardless, it’s NOT easy sticking to a savings plan, so finding something or someone to keep you accountable is important!
One last tip….
Someone also shared with me a simple way to categorize your money in order to save. I use this method when planning out my monthly expenses and savings. You’ll want to divide your money three ways:
Long-term savings – Savings for long term goals like an apartment or new car
Short-term savings – Savings for short-term goals like a special trip or splurge item
Spending money – Money you have every month for your everyday expenses like food and gas
Now again you’ll want to set deadlines for each category, (e.g. I want to buy a new car within the next two years). Then you’ll know how aggressively you need to save for each category.
I hope these tips helped! Please let me know what you think in the comments or on Instagram (@thefabgrad)!