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Setting a budget and learning how to save are a couple of the first and most important steps in getting on the path to financial wellness at Ascentra.
It's our job to help you learn and find success in managing your finances.

And while all situations are different, here are four steps for budgeting and saving that can help any member get started.

First, make it visual. 
Listing out your expenses and seeing on paper where your funds are going each month can really put things into perspective and in some cases provide the shock factor you may need to spend less.
Visualizing your spending can help determine where you're spending the most money and where it may be possible to cut back.

Next, make sure you pay yourself and make sure you budget to treat yourself.
Include yourself as a bill or expense and pay yourself too.
Personal savings needs to be a priority when budgeting.
If you aren't saving, it's hard to get ahead and have extra funds available when things do come up.
If you don't budget for fun things you like to spend your money on, you could end up overspending or using loans and credit cards or just unable to purchase the fun things or experiences you want at all.

Lastly, diversify your savings into different accounts.
It's best to have two or more savings accounts that serve different purposes.
You can have special accounts for things like long term or short term savings, vacations, home repairs and more.
Splitting your savings up can make it easier to track progress on the way to each savings goal and allow for flexibility when unplanned emergency expenses come up.
Having dedicated funds can make spending that money less painful, since it's coming from a predetermined place and not your main savings account.

We really hope this gave you a different perspective on what budgeting and saving can really be like.
When you're ready to sit down with the financial coach and get on the path to financial wellness, you can find one close to you at ascentra.org/coach.

No matter who you meet with all of our coaches are certified financial counselors and have gone through the financial counseling certification program and would love to help.
We hope to see you soon.