How Im saving 65% of my income without a six-figure salary

How Im saving 65% of my income without a six-figure salaryHow Im saving 65% of my income without a six-figure salaryIm bedrngnis going to lie to you here, this is basically a humble brag post.Hopefully educational and interesting as well, but lets call this what it is.My goal is bedrngnis to come off smug, conceited, or that Im better than anyone.Im notlage.I make financial mistakes all the time still, even though Ive taught myself so much over the years.Im not going to lie to you here, this is basically a humble brag post.Hopefully educational and interesting as well, but lets call this what it is.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreMy goal is not to come off smug, conceited, or that Im better than anyone.Im not.I make financial mistakes all the time still, even though Ive taught myself so much over the years.Now, lets get into the goods.Below Im sharing what it took to get to save 65% of income, my next steps, and my ultimate savings goal for the near future.You may have read my story about my path to$100k saved and invested, which this post here is essentially a part of that series.There is probably a bit of overlap too, which welches inevitable.No Six-Figure SalaryThe reason I decided to include this in the title is because many of the articles about high saving satzs are people in a six-figure salary rage.There are articles of people that dont make that much too and there are also ones about people who make six-figures and barely save due tolifestyle creep. But the majority I see in major publications have big salaries.And look, making more money and having a higher salary certainly can help you in big ways.More income equals more potential to save.Generating more income helped me as well, which well get into below.But, I wanted to share my salary ranges for when I started my first full-time career of college to present.(Not giving the exact amounts to ke ep some form of privacy.My salary could be on the low end, middle or higher end of these ranges during the timeframes).2010 2014 ($30,000 $36,000 Pre-tax)2014 2017 ($36,000 $46,000 Pre-tax)2017 Present ($46,000 $85,000 Pre-tax)It also wasnt until late Summer and Fall 2014 when I started to take my personal finances seriously and work on build a savings rate andgenerating more income.How Im Saving 65% of My IncomeAchieving a savings rate this high is not something that happens overnight and takes some work to achieve.It took me just about five years to get to this percentage, but the time to get here was well worth it when I see the results.Below is how Ive gotten to 65% savings rate and hopefully these tips can help you increase your own.Again, there areno big secretsHow Im Saving 65% of My IncomeAchieving a savings rate this high is not something that happens overnight and takes some work to achieve.It took me just about five years to get to this percentage, but the time to g et here was well worth it when I see the results.Below is how Ive gotten to 65% savings rate and hopefully these tips can help you increase your own.Again, there areno big secretsMade expense cutbacks (to an extent)Seeing all the numbers, it made me realize where I was either overspending or wasting money on things that really wasnt important to my quality of life.One area I caught, was that I was clearly overspending on food and going out socializing.Nothing wrong with it, but it should be in moderation.I also caught monthly memberships that I wasnt really utilizing much, so I canceled them.Small things like this wont make you rich, but these cutbacks will help you save more.I was happy to have $50-$100 back a month to save instead.Additionally, I made efforts to save on living expenses.Moving out of a one bedroom apartment, to a two bedroom with a friend to split costs for example.Pay off some piece of debtNo doubt, saving money is hard when you also have debt.I had student loan d ebt, a car loan, and a little bit on my credit card.It was a bit foolish for me to get a brand new car in 2011, when my salary was low, had no real savings, and was living on my own, but its what I did.However, the car loan had the highest interest and was over $320 a month.Getting that back to save each month would be a nice percentage increase and adds up quickly.I started putting a bit extra a month first to get this lower and then in early 2017 I paid off the remaining balance in one shot.Took a hit in my savings at first, but quickly recovered with my savings rate and now the extra $300+ I get to keep.Ideally, you dont want to carry debt forever.Many people might have chosen to aggressively pay off their debt over saving, but I did both.Iwrote more about that here.Side hustlesI understand not everyone wants to do side hustles, but I found them to be incredible helpful in my financial journey in a few ways.First, making more money which could go towards either expenses or right to savings.And second, they helped boost my professional knowledge.I learned a lot about marketing and websites by starting blogs, consulting, and freelancing when I could.That in turn, was value I could add to my resume to get higher paying jobs and showcase my worth to companies.If you are looking for some side hustle ideas with serious income potential, check out this list.Increase career worthThere is no question that increasing my salary helped me boost my savings rate.However, making more money is not guarantee youll save well either.You have to have the financial foundation set, as to not fall into the traps of lifestyle creep.During my savings rate strategy, there was a point where I plateaued unless I was making more money.I hit around 40% savings rate, when there was no room left to save (unless magically my student loans went away).While cutting back expenses helped, there is only so much I could save on.But, with making money, there really is no limit.So besides side hus tling, I worked to improve my career in marketing.In 2017, I took a remote position with a higher salary, which gave me an extra 25% boost in my savings rate.Keeping the consumer mentality in-checkOur society has a consumer mentality problem, we get obsessed with stuff.I still like the occasional nice thing and feel its important to treat yourself in some way.But, letting it get out of control hurts your savings rates and puts you in debt.I dont think there are any secrets to managing this other than practicingself-controland keeping your financial goals top of mind.It took a bit to break this habit, but once I did, I never looked backed.Two things that help here, are remove your credit cards from one-click payments on shopping websites and also wait 24-48 hours before making a purchase.By asking myself if its worth it and sleeping on it, 9/10 I realized I didnt need it.Create good financial habits that become the normOnce I got my consumer mentality in-check I continued with good f inancial habits.Meaning, earning more, spending less, paying myself first, some budgeting, etc.Your old financial habits that are hurting you are not easy to break.But as you start and keep your goals in mind, youll find good habits easier to do.It will get to the point where you dont even think about it anymore, you just naturally do it.I also quickly became addicted to the progress I was making with my savings rate.This made me want to keep going with what I was doing.At some point, this all became the norm and a daily part of my life.The Path to 100% Savings RateMy next goal is to get in the 70-75% range and then ultimately, be at 100% savings rate from my salary job.Because I love food and traveling, getting to my next level of 70-75% is quite challenging.But paying off my remaining student debt will free up more capital to save, increasing my job salary again, and making money off Invested Wallet will help get me there.Im not extremely frugal, probably never will be.Im sure if I got more into that, I could easily get the percentage higher.But the effect on quality of life isnt worth it to me.Yes, its okay to enjoy and spend money on yourselfBut I have my daily money habits in check and I really shed the consumer mentality, which keeps saving money easier.I think 70% will be the max I can achieve at my current love of income.My goal in the next few yearsBuilding my side hustles and investments up to cover 100% of my monthly expenses, to then be able to save and invest 100% of my income.It wont be easy, but I have no doubt I can do it.This article first appeared on Invested Wallet.