All too often working adults get so caught up in the everyday struggle of working to pay bills and maintain their households that they often find themselves living from paycheck to paycheck. When living paycheck to paycheck, the prospect of squeezing a little something out for yourself to put aside for a rainy day seems impossible, but with a little commitment and discipline you can watch your savings account grow right before your eyes.

If you are one who applies the principle of tithing to your regular pay schedule, then you are half way there. You already possess the discipline to set aside at least 10 percent of your income for God, now apply that same practice to yourself. Get in the habit of setting aside at least 5 percent of your earnings for your savings account. If you can manage 10 percent, that’s even better! It may feel like a pinch at first, but the more you do it the easier it will become.

Another way to help you in your quest to save more money is to try to avoid eating out as frequently. Take time to cook in the evenings and take leftovers for lunch. If you really stop to examine how much money you spend on fast food, you would see that on average you could probably put aside a minimum of 30 extra dollars per week.

Are you a smoker who is considering giving up the habit? One incentive to help you along with that decision is to consider how much money you can save by depositing your cigarette money into your savings account. If you a smoke two packs a day, at an average of $5 per pack, that’s an additional $3,650 you could save in a year!

And last but not least, who doesn’t look forward to a nice tax refund every year? Do yourself a favor this year and start planning out how you will use your tax refund now so that when you receive it, the urge to run out and go on a shopping spree will not overpower your sense of good reason.

Make a list of the things you would like to do with your refund and number them from the most important to the least. Evaluate the things that you must have and those you can do without. After you ascertain what is necessity and what is not, allocate enough to buy one thing that you really want for yourself and then make a commitment to put the rest into your savings account. You’d be surprised at how far tax refund money can carry throughout the year.

Your ultimate goal should be to have at least six – minimum three – months worth of your total expenses set aside, so that in case of an emergency you are not at a complete loss financially.

Learning to pay yourself not only prevents you from being totally dependent on living paycheck to paycheck, but it also teaches you to plan effectively for your future. Though the future is never guaranteed, it’s always good to have a back-up plan. You would never go sky diving without a parachute, so why go through life without saving money for unforeseen circumstances?

Learn to pay yourself; you won’t regret it.