Over half of Americans (56 percent) have $5,000 or less saved. One-third or so have $1,000 or less in savings. This means many U.S. consumers have more debt than they do in savings — making them vulnerable to the kind of financial emergencies life tends to throw at us when we’re least prepared.

The best time to start saving as much as you can is today. The good news is that relatively small efforts can really add up over time, helping you build your savings without having to sacrifice your entire lifestyle. Here is some advice on how to get started.

Move money to savings before you can touch it

Have you ever been tempted to spend money simply because it’s sitting in your checking account? This is exactly the predicament the “pay yourself first” mentality helps to avoid.

The premise is pretty simple: Set up auto-transfers to route a set percentage of each paycheck directly to savings, before you can even touch it or think of it as fair game for spending. Not only can this tactic help you avoid the temptation of spending, but it can also save you the time and effort of having to remember to execute manual transfers.

Taking advantage of automatic transfers is especially important for building up an emergency fund to cushion yourself against unexpected expenses, like car repairs and medical bills. Right now, fewer than four out of 10 Americans could handle a $1,000 surprise expense without using credit. This underscores the ongoing need for borrowers to prioritize their emergency savings beforehand.

Eradicate debt now to free up money in the future

Not only does debt tend to be stressful, but it’s also expensive — especially credit card debt with those tricky high average interest rates. The more you spend on interest for carrying debt, the less money you’re able to save. So, figuring out how to eradicate your debt can actually help you strengthen your savings strategy.

How you go about addressing your debt depends on how much you have and whether you’re able to pay it off in full. There are do-it-yourself repayment, credit counselling, debt consolidation and debt settlement pros and cons to consider when deciding upon a strategy.

Maximise your savings rewards

If your savings have been sitting in the same account for a while, you may be missing out on possible opportunities to earn rewards just for having those funds.

As The Simple Dollar recommends, opening a new account could earn you a sign-up bonus — in other words, you could get free money just for moving your money. You may also be able to shop around and find a high-yield account that’ll earn you more interest than you’re currently getting. Even the opportunity to earn a few hundred dollars as a bonus for opening a new account or double the amount of interest you’re bringing in can help you grow your savings with minimal effort.

Keep living below your means

Last but not least, keep your lifestyle in check. Even if you can technically afford a purchase, consider whether you’d be cutting into your savings to justify it.

This is particularly relevant anytime you get a raise or bonus at work. Instead of adjusting your lifestyle upward to meet the upper edge of that raise, maintain your current lifestyle and use the extra funds as extra funds for saving — while still treating yourself as a reward for all your hard work, of course.

Saving as much as you can is more a matter of making small, targeted efforts over time than it is a matter of saving a bunch of money all at once. Getting rid of debt, automating savings, keeping your lifestyle in check and looking around for savings rewards will help you grow your savings.

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