Saving money in high school can be tricky. When you have a job that is bringing in income, every human wants to spend and get the things they want. Notice the word want, not need. I have a few tricks that can help students, and make it much easier to save money throughout high school. For example, establishing a budget, saving for a purpose for motivation, and calculating purchases not based on the money, but based on the hours worked. 

Let’s start with establishing a budget. Without a budget, you will never be able to reach your money goals in life. It is smart to set a budget for the month for how much you want to spend. Stick to that budget, never go over! For example, if you have $1,000 for a month and you want to put away half into your savings account. You have $500 in your checking, but you never want to spend all of that. At maximum, you should only spend $300 of the other $500 throughout the month because, just like your savings, you want to continue to grow your checking account in case of emergencies. With the 300 dollars left you have to allocate the money towards gas, food, and bills. Gas and food are both necessities, so you are going to want to put as much money as you can into the necessities first, then you can put the rest to what you want, however never go crazy! 

You need to also re-adjust your mentality financially.  Instead of thinking in terms of price, think in terms of hours worked in order to buy that item. That is when you can determine if it is really worth it. For example, you really want a pair of pants and they are $45. Say you get paid $15 an hour, that means it would take 3 hours of work in order to own those pants. Ask yourself the question, are the pants worth 3 hours of work?  If the answer is “yes”, have fun and spend.  If the answer is “no”, you should probably put those pants back! 

Let’s talk about paychecks. Whether you get paid once a month or bi-weekly when you get paid you will become eager to spend. The strategy is not to spend right away and to put away at least half of that paycheck into your savings automatically. Out of sight, out of mind. Meaning if you do not see that $500 that is in your savings you are less likely to want to spend that $500. 

Lastly, always remember the goal you set for yourself and why you are saving. Whether you are saving for college or just for emergencies, never lose sight of why you started saving in the first place.