How can you pay yourself first when creditors are calling for their payments or you use your entire paycheck for necessities before the following payday?  Try one of the following methods to ensure you pay yourself first:

401K Plan: If you are lucky enough to work for an employer that offers a 401K plan, you absolutely must take advantage of it!  In some cases, the employer will match all or a percentage of what you put in, which is free money.  Even if your employer doesn’t match your contributions, the benefits of a 401K plan include automatic deposits- before you even get your paycheck the amount you specify is placed into your 401K plan.  Even if you use every last penny of your check now; you would get used to the slight reduction in your check if it was taken out before you even got your hands on it.  Best of all, the money you contribute into your 401K is taken before your taxes are paid.

Automatic Savings Account: If you don’t have a 401K plan option, you can create the same type of automatic-deposit situation with a savings account.  Look for one with high interest- many online savings accounts offer higher interest rates than your local bank.  Every week, set it up so a specific amount of money is taken from your checking account (or wherever you deposit your paycheck) and placed immediately and automatically into your savings account.  The idea is- if you don’t see it, you won’t miss it.  It is much more difficult to physically make a savings account deposit every week if you have to do it manually.  Also, to reduce the temptation to withdraw money from your savings account, don’t have it connected to another account and don’t get an ATM card for the account.

It’s not important how much you save at this time, only that you get into the habit of saving every week (or bi-weekly if you’re paid every other week).  After you get used to it, you can slowly increase the amount you “pay yourself”.

Pay Yourself Before Everything Else was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, and almost everyone who does breaks them. If you could follow through on just a couple of these tips, you’ll absolutely start off the New Year more financially fit than you ended the previous year.

1. Be selfish- and pay yourself first. Is the money you earn spoken for before you get it usually? If you’re paying for expenses with every last cent of your money, you really need to think hard about your savings. If it helps, consider it a must-pay expense every month, and no matter what, make sure you pay yourself that $50 or $100 a month just like it was a creditor.

2. Decide what type of savings you need. Since you’re absolutely going to make sure you set aside a certain amount of money every single month, no matter what, you need to figure out where you will “set” that money. Consider online savings accounts with high interest, or automatic contributions into a mutual fund.

3. Cut back on junk. You know exactly what “junk” is. The gym membership you keep for the day you might go back to the gym to work out. That’s $19.99 a month you’re just throwing out the window if you don’t use it! Do you buy lottery tickets every week? Set that money aside and you’ll have better odds at winning.

4. Send extra money to your mortgage. If you’ve got a mortgage that doesn’t penalize for pre-payments, try to send an extra $50 to $100 with your payment each month towards the principal. You can easily save $50,000 or more. Even sending an extra $20 each month will make a huge difference on the amount you owe.

5. Refuse to pay late. If you fall behind on your bills and pay late fees more because you forget to send the payments before they’re due rather than not having enough money to send- set up automatic payments so you never have to worry about forgetting.

6. Throw away the credit cards. Stop using credit cards all together. You don’t need them. They’re robbing you with interest and finance fees and that money is better spent in a savings account that will eventually let you pay cash for the things you want rather than paying two to five times the original price after you make payments and get charged interest.

A Resolution You Must Keep: 6 Ways To Start Out the New Year Financially Fit was created by and is property of American Consumer News.