Cliches become cliches for a reason

It seems Moneyrelations tagged me, a while back, in Moolanomy's My One Money Advice (MOMA) Meme challenge (although really, for simplicity's sale, you may as well call it the "what's your favourite financial cliche?)

Since I'm uninspired to write about anything else today, let's give'r a go.

Of all the platitudes that get tossed around ("buy low, sell high" ; "penny-wise, pound foolish" and the like) I'd have to say the one that I really keep close to my heart is "pay yourself first."

People who wait until the end of the month, until every other demand has been paid first before slipping the remainder into the piggy bank are, in my experience, likely to save far less money than people that reverse the order.

My automatic savings program grabs 25% of my paycheque every week about 2 hours after it comes into my chequing account. So right away, when I'm budgeting how I'm going to pay for everything else this month, that money doesn't enter into it. If belts need to be tightened and something needs to be temporarily suspended, money I tuck away for my future isn't the first thing to get the axe. Maybe there'll be one less beer after the game that week, but that sum I ferret away is sacrosanct.

What can I say, the system works for me. Try it for yourself.