The reason why some adults find it hard to save money is because they never had the chance to develop the skill when they were young. So for the teenagers out there who would like to have an easier time financially when they get older, you’d better start saving now.

Create a workable budget. Find out what your expenses are. Food? Cell phone bill (if your parents do not pay for it)? Video games? Dates? Movies? Books? Clothes? Write all of this down. It would also help if you can put down how much you spend in a month. Keep your receipts for a month and make a record of them. This way you’ll know on which items you are spending way too much.

Prioritize. Which items do you think you can do more without? Perhaps you can eliminate some of the unnecessary expenses. List them according to priority.

Next, consider how much money you are getting a month – this could mean all allowances, and pay if you have a part-time job. Based on this amount, you can now allocate how much would go to where.

Don’t forget to add “savings” in your list. Put away at least 10% of your allowance for savings. You don’t have to “save” for savings sake, but think of something big that you can save on. Maybe you want to buy a better car, or an awesome drum set. You can try saving on that.

Open a bank account. Not only will it protect your savings from snoopy siblings (kidding!), but if you save enough, your money might even earn you interest.