It can be hard to reel in your constant spending, especially if you enjoy going out on the weekends or constantly buying books for your collection. If you still want to spend a lot of your income every month, just set your goal at saving a specific percentage of your income. Ten percent is the recommended amount, but this can be as small or as big as you want. Once you've sent your monthly percentage to savings, you can spend the rest of your money guilt free on whatever you like.

If you would like to save a little more, then maybe setting a small goal for your money is a good idea. For example, your goal could be that once you've saved $600, you can spend $100 of that as a treat to yourself. This could be on new clothes, a concert, a new e-reader, or a special night out with your friends. It doesn't matter what it is. Just make sure it's a small reward for your disciplined saving. This way, you'll be pleased with yourself for putting more money in your savings. It means you'll have more to treat yourself with very soon.

Now, let's say you want to save up for something big like an international vacation or a brand new laptop. For these kinds of goals, the time needed to save enough will drastically increase from the small goals. However, if you're patient, these can have big pay offs. Depending on your financial situation, it might make sense to set a slightly larger percentage of your income to save. Saving 15 or 20 percent of your income should still leave you enough money for bills and fun on a regular basis. No need to cancel all of your social appointments because you're saving up for a trip in the future. Now, you'll be completely happy to send your money to your savings account knowing that your big pay off will be just a little sooner.

If you'd rather see your dividends even further in the future, you could save up money for investments. Instead of going on a big trip, you could save enough to buy a decent amount of stock in a successful company. Or you could put this money toward a retirement savings account. Or maybe you're saving money for your future home. Whatever your goal, just know that this will take much longer to pay off. If you care more about assets than a weekend out or a nice vacation, this plan might be the best for you. While you might be suffering a little now, your future self will probably thank you.