Save first, then spend

Before you pay your bills or buy things for yourself, PAY YOUR SELF FIRST! 

 

Put some money (I'd say around 10% is a good amount) somewhere you won't touch it for other things.  Ideally you should have it put there automatically.  Eventually you'll have a good portion of money sitting there.  It should be some sort of interest bearing account, either a high yield savings account, a money market account, or a retirement account (401k or IRA). 
 

I am not yet receiving regular pay checks, so I have not yet implemented this myself.  BUT, when I do, I plan to automatically divert 10% of my incoming pay check to my Fidelity account.  Fidelity currently has around 5% interest on money you have yet to invest in stocks or bonds.  So putting the money there automatically earns about the same interest as if I kept it in my Citibank account.  The difference is that I never think of it as part of my available money so I won't spend it.  Once it shows up at Fidelity I think of it as already invested and there is no reason to move money out of Fidelity since I still have money at Citibank.

 

I think mayking it automatic is important pyschologically.

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Afraid of Making Money?

http://articlesifound.blogspot.com/2006/10/afraid-of-making-money.html

Maybe you could be more succesful if you settled some subconscious thoughts with yourself. This article by Patrick Chen discuesses some examples he has encountered with people being afraid of succeeding. They often believe they will be a different person if they have more money, or even if they simply accomplish their goals.

I have expereienced similar feelings at various points in my life. I first remember thinking I had the ability to entirely change who I was when I entered high school 9 years ago. There would be a whole new group of people to interact with.

I again experienced this thought when applying to colleges. Ultimately I choose a college far from home because I then understood that in order for me to change on my own I would need to isolate myself from influences that would restrain those changes. I ended up coming to GW (in DC) because it was far from home, but I had family nearby. I was close enough with the family here to have a good support system, but not so close as that they would interfere in my day to day life.

By essentially cutting myself loose from all expectations I was able to form my current personality. In a similar way, many people get into a rut of expectation from the people in their life. They need to realize that they can change (preferably for the better) even with onlookers. Those who don't support your reaching your goals and dreams don't need to be part of them anyway.

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