1. Reduce your expenses

This is the single most important tip in paying yourself first. You have to cut your expenses to make sure that they do not eat into your savings.

If you try to save without cutting your expenses, you will always take from your savings to finance your high spending. Cutting your expenses means that you have more money to save and invest.

To reduce your expenses, you have to first identify where your money is going. This will unearth what consumes a big part of your income.

You can then cut these expenditures by a certain percentage. You can move to a cheaper house, sell your car and buy a smaller one, take your kids to a less expensive school, reduce your entertainment budget and so on.

2. Open a savings account

You need to have an account where you will be depositing your savings. The account has to be offering an above-average interest rate. This will make sure that your savings are not eroded by inflation.

This account should probably be a fixed account to avoid withdrawing money for expenses during hard times.

3. Automate your savings

You need to make sure that you remit the savings to your account by automating them.

You can give an order to your bank to deduct the specified amount of money from your income and deposit it in your savings account.

This will relieve the hassle of having to bank every month. It will also enforce your discipline of saving.

4. Send certain incomes directly to your savings account

You should have multiple sources of income (MSIs). You can then decide to send income from several of them directly to your savings account. That is income that you set aside to invest.

5. Grow gradually

You ought to start small and grow gradually. You can begin by putting away just 10% of your income to the account. As you develop more financial discipline, reduce your expenses, and grow your income, you can increase this amount.

You can even save 80% of your income over time. It is very possible.

Conclusion

Paying yourself first is a strategy that you ought to adopt. It is a sign of self-love and a commitment to your financial growth.

Do not pay everyone else and forget to pay yourself. Pay yourself first and everyone else from what is left. This will give you the motivation to work harder to service your bills.