Forming a consistent routine is key for successful saving. Once this becomes effortless, saving money should be second nature! No matter where you are in your savings journey, here are 4 money habits to consider.

1. Budget and Track Expenses

Before you start your savings journey, it's important to understand your spending habits and where your money is going. Create a detailed list of all your expenses for an average month. Record everything - big or small such as automatic payments, cash or check expenses (restaurant tips, monetary gifts, etc.), subscriptions, food.

After creating a list of expenses, review how much you spend on essentials such as groceries, rent and gas. Compare this to how much you spend on non-essentials like restaurants, concert tickets and clothes/shoes. By understanding where your money goes, it'll make it easier to find ways to cut, reduce and reallocate your spending.

Get started with our monthly budget worksheetundefined.

2. Setting Goals

It is important to set realistic goals so you can save money for your short and long-term plans. A good short-term goal is saving for an emergency fund. A solid standard is saving up to 3 to 9 months of living expenses in case of an emergency. Long-term saving goals vary from saving for a new car to starting a college fund for your children. Write down your goals and estimate how much money you will need and the time it will take to save it.

3. Pay Yourself

Pay yourself first by setting up your direct deposit to put some money into your savings account with each paycheck. You can also set up an automatic transfer from your checking to savings to coincide with when your paychecks deposit.

Consider if you only put $50. If you’re paid every 2 weeks, that’s a savings of $1,300 a year!

4. Cash-Back

Sign up for a virtual piggy bank with our *ChangeSaver™ program. ChangeSaver rounds up every purchase you make with your Bell Bank debit card and automatically deposits the difference into your savings account.

You can choose to round up in the following ways:

• If you round up your purchases by $2, and you make 50 purchases a month, that adds up to savings deposits of $100 per month! Plus, Bell matches 5% of your ChangeSaver roundups, up to $250 per year.
  With your round-up savings and Bell’s match, that’s another $1,260 in savings! When you add both savings plans together, you could save $2,560 for the year. Just 4 years of this would give you a savings account of $10,240!

To sign up for ChangeSaver – or set up automatic deposits into your savings account – call 701-298-1550 or stop by a bank location to talk to a personal banker or customer service expert.

_{*The annual match limit is $250. You need to be enrolled in ChangeSaver and have your checking and savings account open on the last day of the year to receive your 5% match for the year. If you close either account before the end of the year, matching funds are forfeited. You may receive Form 1099-MISC for income you receive from us.}