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What exactly needs to be accomplished?
Who else will be involved?
Where will this take place?
Why do you want to accomplish the goal?

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How will I know I've succeeded?
How much change needs to occur?
How many accomplishments or actions will it take?

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Do I have, or can I get, the resources needed to achieve the goal?
Is it a reasonable stretch for me?
Are the actions I take likely to bring success?

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Is it a worthwhile goal for me right now?
Is it meaningful to me?
Would it delay or prevent me from achieving a more important goal?
Am I willing to commit to achieving this goal?

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What is the deadline for reaching the goal?
When do I need to take action?
What can I do today?

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Think about your money habits and whether they are sensible or not. Are they helping you save money or spending it?

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Needs are things that are essential for your health and security. Wants are things that make life more interesting but you can get by without them. When deciding to buy something, you must think about whether it is a need or a want. This will help you to save your money. Instead of spending it on wants, you might decide it's better to save it for needs.

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Values are the ideas and beliefs that are most important or most meaningful to you. When deciding on whether something is a need or a want depends on your values.

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By using SMART goals you will have a better and more reasonable plan to save your money for things you wish to accomplish in the future.

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Waiting until you know you can afford something. This is important when something is a want instead of a need.

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Deciding that you want something and buying it right away. This might not always be the best option because you might realize later on that you could've spent your money on something else more important.

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Up to three months.

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Three months to a year

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More than a year.
The further away your goal is, the more commitment and patience it will take to reach it. Breaking up longer-term goals into shorter ones can help keep you on track and motivated along the way.

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If you don't care about a goal, you'll either ignore it or find yourself struggling to achieve it.
Starting a statement with "I should. . ." is a major warning sign that it may not be meaningful to you. "Should" goals often reflect other people's values instead of your own.
If you can't rate a goal with at least a 3, think about whether that's really a goal you need to set yourself.

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Honestly, I don't think I'll ever go back now that I've figured this out. Summer vacation in Scotland was so much better than Chinese takeout ever could be.
Ella Saitta:
I use a method that is cobbled together from T. Harv Eker's method, and " The Richest Man in Babylon." May sound a bit floaty, but it has helped my husband and I go from €0 to €10,000 in savings in one year time, without having to forgo any pleasures.

You divide all your income into 6 categories:

* 50% goes to necessities (bills, rent/mortgage, groceries)

* 10% goes to future financial freedom (investments, etc.)

* 10% goes to saving for spending (new washing machine, holiday, etc.)

* 10% goes to education (we use it for university tuition, books, movies, museum visits and gym membership; anything that counts as personal development)

* 10% goes to giving (we had to get used to this one, we use it for charities and for gifts to friends and family)

* 10% goes to play (we use it for eating at restaurants, video games, you name it)
Michael McShane
YNAB = You Need A Budget

This software makes it possible to answer intelligently the question, "Can I afford this?" It's a pain to get it up and running, and it requires frequent maintenance, in the sense of entering data and setting priorities, but it is SO worth the trouble.

Very quickly saves its own cost, and replaces anxiety about finances with actual knowledge about one's precise financial situation.

Katie Coyle, with advice for couples:

Monthly recap with my partner to review our month-over-month spending and talk about where we overspent. We also mark the calendar on nights we go out to eat as a visual reminder, and commit to eating homemade lunch rather than going out.
Margaret Ryan
I save $5 bills. Never spend them. Just put them away in my drawer. When I have 20, I take them to the bank and exchange them for a $100 bill. By years' end I usually have about a grand, which I use for Christmas tips and gifts - and not running up my credit cards.
Anonymous
I ran a forensic assessment to find small recurring expenses I call "ghost expenses." I saved $125/month in unknown expenses: bank account maintenance fees $18/month, an unused Audible account for $9/month, Unused Premium subscription to a Cloud storage app ($9/month), Unused "upgrades" in my Carrier and Cable/Internet subscriptions ($40/month), etc. As you suggested in your article, I immediately began an auto-transfer of $100/month to my investment account once I found those.
Finally, Smarter Living contributor and author of the forthcoming personal finance book "Get Money" (March 2018) Kristin Wong:
I love using apps to help save money. There are plenty to choose from, but Tip Yourself and Qapital are two of my favorites. You save a few bucks whenever you complete a goal or a task (or just whenever you feel like it). Some people use Tip Yourself to save money after a workout, for example. And Qapital is great because you can create rules for saving and the app will save for you automatically. Instead of feeling like a chore, saving is kind of fun when you use an app, which makes you a lot more motivated to save.

Got any other budget-saving tips? Let's hear 'em! Email me at tim@nytimes.com and write "Budget" in the subject line, or tweet me @timherrera.

Have a great week!

-Tim

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Your Best Tips for Saving a Few Extra Bucks

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Honestly, I don't think I'll ever go back now that I've figured this out. Summer vacation in Scotland was so much better than Chinese takeout ever could be. Ella Saitta: I use a method that is cobbled together from T. Harv Eker's method, and " The Richest Man in Babylon."

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Some things you need - a roof over your head, electricity in your home, gas in your car to get to work - and some things you just want, like tickets to a show or dinner and a movie. You can fit both into your budget and still set money aside for emergencies if you manage your spending with care.

Keep reading to learn how to balance financial needs and wants.

Financial needs are expenditures that are essential for you to be able to live and work. They're the recurring expenses that are likely to eat up a large chunk of your paycheck - think mortgage payment, rent or car insurance.

Here's a short list of some common expenses that fall under needs:

Wants are expenses that help you live more comfortably. They're the things you buy for fun or leisure. You could live without them, but you enjoy your life more when you have them. For instance, food is a need, but daily lunches out are likely more of a want.

Wants typically include things such as:

Wants and needs won't be the same for everyone. You may need a car to get to and from work each day, for example, but the type of car you need can vary. If your job requires driving around high-powered clients, for example, a luxury car may be a need. If you're simply shuttling yourself to and from the office, it's likely a want and a more affordable car will suffice.

The same is true for smaller-ticket items, like that new coat you're eyeing. Outerwear is definitely essential to protect you from the elements, but if you have three other coats in your closet, that jacket is probably a want.

Budgeting for both needs and wants

So how do you start accounting for wants and needs in your budget? Begin by writing a list of all the things you buy. That means everything from toilet paper to life insurance. Then, group purchases into broad categories like toiletries, cable, phone and insurance.

Divide the categories into two buckets: wants and needs. We would place insurance and a basic phone plan under needs, but a Netflix subscription and deluxe cable package will more than likely fall under wants.

Tally the totals and align your priorities. At NerdWallet, we recommend the 50/30/20 budget. If you distribute your monthly income in this fashion, you would spend 50% on needs, 30% on wants and 20% on savings and paying off debt. Plug your monthly take-home income into this budget calculator to determine how much you have available for each category.

If your current spending is disproportionate based on the list you made, there's good news: You can make adjustments. Here's a simple way to start:

Move things around. Take a close look at your categories. Some of the items you've indicated as needs may actually be wants, or vice versa.

Trim spending on needs. The cost of your necessary spending isn't always fixed. Shop around for a better rate on your phone plan, cable package or even your insurance to save money on your needs. Shopping around for car insurance could save you more than $400 per year, according to a NerdWallet analysis .

Trim spending on wants. Consider downsizing your wants if they're taking over your budget. Limit how many days you dine out, for example, or opt for more affordable lodging the next time you travel.

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Needs vs. Wants: How to Budget for Both - NerdWallet

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Some things you need - a roof over your head, electricity in your home, gas in your car to get to work - and some things you just want, like tickets to a show or dinner and a movie. You can fit both into your budget and still set money aside for emergencies if you manage your spending with care.

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Image credit: julief514 | Getty Images

The following excerpt is from the Brian Tracy's book Million Dollar Habits. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | IndieBound

Goal orientation is a way of thinking practiced by optimists and all successful people. In future orientation, you first develop a clear, ideal picture of what you want to accomplish sometime in the future. With goal orientation, you crystallize that image into specific, measurable, detailed goals and objectives you'll need to accomplish to achieve that ideal future vision.

Related: Become a Millionaire With These 7 Habits

Successful people develop the habits of personal strategic planning. They sit down and make a list of exactly what they want to accomplish in the short, medium, and long term. They then use a powerful, seven-part goal-setting methodology to create blueprints and plans of action that they follow every day.

Once you develop the habit of setting goals and making plans to accomplish them, it will become as natural for you as breathing. By following a proven goal-setting process, you'll increase the likelihood of achieving your goals by as much as ten times, by 1,000 percent or more. This isn't just a theory; it has been proved and demonstrated repeatedly by almost every person who practices it.

In February 2003, USA Today reported on a study of people who had set New Year's resolutions the year before. They found that only 4 percent of the people who had made New Year's resolutions, but had not put them in writing, had followed through on them. But 46 percent of those people who had written down their New Year's resolutions carried them out. This is a difference in success rates of more than 1,100 percent!

The seven-step formula

Many formulas and recipes exist for goal setting. As a rule, "any plan is better than no plan at all." Here is one of the best and most effective goal-setting plans or formulas you will ever learn.

Step one: Decide exactly what you want in a certain area, and write it down clearly, in detail. Make the goal measurable and specific.

Step two: Set a deadline for achieving the goal. If it's a large goal, break it down into smaller parts and set subdeadlines.

Related: Chart Goals to Create a Road Map to Your Success

Step three: Make a list of everything you'll have to do to achieve this goal. As you think of new items, add them to your list until it's complete.

Step four: Organize your list of action steps into a plan. A plan is a list of activities organized on the basis of two elements, priority and sequence.

In organizing by priorities, you determine the most important things you can possibly do on your list to achieve your goal. The 80/20 rule applies: 20 percent of the things you do will account for 80 percent of your results. If you don't set clear priorities, you'll "major in minors" and spend much of your time on small and irrelevant tasks that don't help you achieve your goal.

In organizing by sequence, you determine what must be done before something else can be done. You create a checklist. There are always activities that are dependent upon other activities being completed in advance. What are they, and what is the logical order or sequence of completion?

Step five: Identify the obstacles or limitations that might hold you back from achieving your goal, both in the situation and within yourself. Ask yourself, "Why have I not achieved this goal already?"

Identify the most important constraint or limitation that's holding you back, and then focus on removing that limiting factor. It could be a certain amount of money or a key resource. It could be an additional skill or habit you need. It could be additional information you require. It could be the help or assistance of one or more people. Whatever it is, identify it clearly and go to work to eliminate it.

Step six: Once you've determined your goal, developed your plan, and identified your major obstacle, immediately take action of some kind toward achieving your goal. Step out in faith. Do the first thing that comes to mind. But do something to start moving toward your most important goal.

Step seven: Do at least one thing every day that moves you toward your most important goal. Make a habit of getting up each morning, planning your day and then doing something, anything, that moves you at least one step closer to what's most important to you.

The habit of doing something every single day that moves you toward an important goal develops within you the power of momentum. Daily action deepens your belief that the goal is achievable and activates the law of attraction. As a result, you begin moving faster and faster toward your goal, and your goal begins moving faster and faster toward you.

Related: 12 Millionaire Habits to Start Making Serious Money Soon and Build Wealth in a Hurry

I've spoken to people all over the world, for many years, who've told me that the habit of acting every day on one or more of their major goals has been life-transforming. They've told me that this single habit has been more responsible for their success than any other idea they ever learned. Try it for yourself and see.

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The following excerpt is from the Brian Tracy's book Million Dollar Habits . Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | IndieBound Goal orientation is a way of thinking practiced by optimists and all successful people. In future orientation, you first develop a clear, ideal picture of what you want to accomplish sometime in the future.