As the school year closes into the final few weeks, seniors have entered the home stretch of their high school lives. With that joy comes a rising anxious energy of having to find somewhere to work, somewhere to live, something to drive, and if you’re planning to pursue a higher education, that’s costing money too!

All around, freshly turned young adults are being pushed to have finances they haven’t necessarily had a chance to build yet! 

To combat that issue, here’s 3 steps towards how to save money.

Firstly, understand your income and your expenses. Your net income is how much money you’re actually left with after taxes, and while you might think you earn a certain amount, looking at your earnings after tax gives you a better idea of what money you actually have to work with. Then, you need to look at all your expenses, which is the money you spend! Big things like housing, food, and transportation go into this, but also the little things like how much you spend picking up coffee, your subscriptions, and insurances. Being mindful of these numbers contributes to smart budgeting!

After you’ve looked through all your expenses, look for places you can shrink. For example, if you spent over six hundred dollars buying Taco Bell, maybe you could buy some ingredients to make tacos at home! Put all those extra savings you can find into a savings account to build interest, and look at you, you financing genius!

Lastly, it’s a good idea to build up an emergency fund. No one is immune to sudden emergencies like randomly getting fired, getting sick, or car trouble. To start your emergency fund, open a high-interest savings account, like a high-yield savings account. If you want to avoid temptation, you can have it at a separate bank from where you keep your checking account! 

And just like that, you’re saving money! Happy financing!