As a society, we become so invested in earning money, however, learning to budget our money is just as important, if not more.

If you are a beginner when it comes to budgeting money, here are a few helpful tips that can get you started. If you become organized enough with your finances, you can even start your own savings account, which would be the ultimate goal.

First and foremost, however, you need to get organized and hold yourself accountable for your spending habits:

Start off by making a list of your goals, and what it is you want to ultimately achieve. Do you want to save up for something you’ve been wanting? A vacation, a new expensive purchase? Next, take a look at your income, and see how much of your income you must spend on necessities first. Get organized by planning how much money you are spending on bills such as your internet, phone, groceries, rent, car utilities, and more.

After you have taken a look at how much you must spend on your obligations, you can then move on to look at whether you have any pending debts you must pay off.

The popular suggestion is to make sure you are spending 50% of your income on your needs, 20% on savings and any pending debts, and 30% on anything else you might want such as leisure activities and pampering yourself. There are plenty of online resources and applications that can help you get organized as you budget your expenses. Take a look at how much you are spending on eating out, or on clothes. If you find yourself tight on money by the end of the month, figure out how much less you should spend on things such as these, so you can use your money more wisely.

Set up a goal of how much you want to save each month, even a small amount of money saved a month can gather up in no time. Adjust your lifestyle to make sure you are living according to your income. Having separate accounts also makes saving easier, in which you can place the amount of money you want to save monthly.

Lastly, but I would say most important, is to track your spending. After you have set up how much money you can spend on each category, make sure to keep up with it. For example, after you’ve gone grocery shopping, subtract the amount you’ve spent from the total monthly grocery shopping budget. This way you can see how much money you have left to spend on your next grocery trip, and so on. It might seem difficult at first, but it will get easier as you learn.

Once you have learned to track, you can then make any further adjustments. If you see one of your monthly bills is higher than it usually is, then adjust your expenses and spend less on a different category.

Tracking will help you stay on track with your monthly budgeting expenses and will hold you accountable for what you are spending, while also preventing you from overspending.

Learn to take charge of your finances, and start saving for that big purchase or vacation you’ve been dreaming of!