Many Americans find it hard to save money.  Fortunately, resources are available to help. We offer 10 tips to help you with your finances and some helpful links at the bottom of the page:

• Establish a budget. For a month, track how you are spending money by categories like groceries, entertainment, gifts and personal care. See where your money it going. Then decide how much is actually needed for each area of spending.
• Budget with cash and envelopes.  It’s easy to overspend when you use a card. This technique helps curb overspending. Label several envelopes for a certain area of spending (e.g. food, gas, clothing, home supplies). Once the money in a labeled envelope is gone, don’t allow yourself to spend more in that area. You’ll be able to see where your monthly funds go and be able to adjust accordingly.
• Save money. Not only spend less, but put a designated amount in a savings account to plan for emergencies, planned purchases, vacation, college fund for children, and retirement.
• Save automatically. Setting up an automatic savings is the easiest and most effective way to save.  Each month plan to have your bank or employer take out a designated amount from your paycheck and put it into a savings account.
• Save loose change. It all adds up!  Putting away one dollar each day over a year will get you 73% of the way to a $500 emergency fund.
• Use the 24-hour rule. Do you really need that item? Take 24 hours to consider nonessential purchases. This can help with impulse buying.  So, just sleep on it and see if you really need that item tomorrow.
• Calculate purchases by hours of work instead of cost. Take the cost of the item you’re considering purchasing and divide it by your hourly wage.  Are the hours of work worth the purchase?
• Unsubscribe. Avoid temptation and overspending by unsubscribing from all notifications that want you to spend money. Notifications like marketing emails, text message alerts, etc. just encourage you to spend. Unsubscribing helps remove the temptation.
• Place a savings reminder on your card. Cover your debit and/or credit card with a piece of tape that has “Do I really need this?” written on it.  This makes you more mindful about your spending.
• Save your windfalls and tax refunds.  Every time you receive over-time pay, a bonus, inheritance, contest winnings, don’t spend it, save it.

For more information on personal and family finances from Colorado State University Extension click on https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/family-financial-stability/.

Or visit  the America Saves resource page. America Saves is a campaign coordinated by the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and is dedicated to helping individuals save money, reduce debt, and build wealth.