- Pick a goal -- $3,000 is a nice round figure... it's also the minimum for some futures day trading brokers
- Pick a timeframe -- Say 12 Months
- Calculate required monthly savings rate based on goal and timeframe you're giving yourself -- In this case, $250 per month will get you to your goal
- Look at your monthly spending... eliminate "extra" spending until you get to your monthly savings rate -- Spend $50 drinking every weekend? Take a year off... Have a $5/day Starbucks habit? Learn to approximate at home and save yourself $30-$60 per month... The list of things you can do to reduce your expenses is pretty long... It's really up to you.
- Stick to it -- This is the hard part... but no less necessary
Bigger goals require bigger sacrifices.
No, this won't work for everyone.
Yes, this assumes you have some superfluous (extra) spending.
No, it's not necessarily easy... but then again I never said it would be.
