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The path for achieving financial goals often comes down to one thing: the ability to save money. Whether we’re planning to pay down debt, buy a new bike or take a trip this year, we’ll need to save money in order to accomplish those goals. Here are three strategies to help you stay on track with your goals this year.

Pay yourself first

We often have good intentions when it comes to saving our money, but after bills, social activities and unexpected expenses, it can seem like there’s not much to save at the end of the month. Paying yourself first is a simple yet effective strategy to help you save more.

How does paying yourself work? After creating your budget and determining how much you can reasonably save each month, set up an automatic transfer with that amount from your checking account to your savings account. The longer our money sits in a checking account, the easier it becomes to spend. Paying yourself first with the automatic transfer as soon as your paycheck is deposited can help.

Use online tools

There are many online tools and apps to help manage money and increase savings. Here are a couple that can help you with your goals:

• links to your accounts and helps users establish a budget, track spending and pay bills on time. This free app can be convenient and useful for first-time budgeters who are getting into the habit of saving money.
• is an app that connects saving money to real-life experiences. After inputting your savings goal, choose one or two ‘rules’ that determine how to save money. For example, you could set a rule to round up your purchases to the nearest dollar with the difference. The change from rounding up your purchase gets transferred to a savings account. For those looking to change other habits, there are additional rule options like saving a specified amount of money every time you visit the gym, or the ‘guilty pleasure rule’ to save money when visiting places like Starbucks, McDonalds or iTunes.

Start a financial journal

A financial journal can be a great way to track spending and check-in on your savings progress. There are no rules when it comes to journaling: you can use a notebook or a Google Doc, your entries can be as long or short as you want and you can write as often as you’d like.

Additionally, a financial journal can help dig deeper into spending habits. While you track your spending, you could start to note other details in your day that may have influenced your spending choices. Tracking things like whether you’re feeling stressed, if you’re out with friends or rationalizations you make when it comes to impulse purchases can help you become more conscious of places you may be over spending.

For all things finance-related, from budgeting and saving to taxes and debt, CU Money Sense is here to help you learn and understand your personal finances.