Often, money seems to fly out of our hands as soon as it arrives. These days, having $1 million to your name is not as impressive as it once used to be, and yet, even managing to put away $1 million in savings is a huge goal that requires a solid plan to achieve.

Putting a fixed amount in the bank every month doesn’t work as well as you’d think it does. With the low-rate financial environment, you can never depend on just that.

Here are ten additional strategies you can use to grow your savings:

Set Goals

Although you don’t necessarily need a goal to save, it’s much more effective to save with a clear objective in mind. What are you saving for? Emergency funds, a house, a car, or college? Having reasonable and realistic goals can encourage you to save more and faster.

Create and Stick to Budgets

Assess your income and expenses, and be realistic about it when you’re planning your budget. If you make weekly or monthly budgets, don’t forget about the larger annual expenses you have to make, such as taxes or insurance. Leave a little bit of room for treats if you can afford it. Saving money is hard work and can get discouraging very fast if you don’t treat yourself once in a while.

Pay Yourself

This means you should make it a priority to save a certain amount every month without fail. Make savings a line item in your budget, with the highest priority – even above paying bills. The only way you can hit your saving goals is if you put your money away before all your payments eat it all up.

You could make a second account for this purpose. Transfer a portion of your paycheck to this account, so that you don’t always have the money at your disposal and can avoid the temptation to overspend. After some time, you may even forget about the money in this account until you have to transfer an amount to it.

Start Early

The sooner you start saving, the easier it is to achieve your savings goals. It’s tempting to put it off and spend now, but don’t depend too much on the future. The future is uncertain, and you may not get that higher salary or win the lottery you felt so great about. Even if you save up for years and contribute the same amount towards your savings goals, you can’t catch up to someone who started earlier.

This is because of compounding. The more money you have over a longer period, the easier it becomes to save more. Starting your savings is the hard part, but once you’re past it, you can ensure your savings successes.

Employer Matches

If you have a retirement savings plan, you can be relieved of some of the heavy lifting and get some free money. Most employers offer to match the amount an employee puts into their retirement savings either equally or as a percentage. Whichever it is, it’s free money, so you shouldn’t pass up on the opportunity.

Save Your Raises

If you’ve been living decently at your current wage level, don’t feel like you’re compelled to increase your spending with your raises. Keep your budget the same and put your raises into increasing your savings. A splurge here and there is okay, but for the most part, you should spend as if you never got a raise at all. It may be tempting, but it will pay off in the long run.

Increase Your Income

Although you can’t control what your employer pays you, you can control how many sources of income you have. With your steady job, you may have one stream of revenue, but you can always look into other additional opportunities. Maybe freelancing over the internet, or perhaps renting out an empty room in your house. The extra income should go into your savings, and shouldn’t mean you increase your savings.

Take Some Risk

The primary goal of savings plans is to get substantial returns on your money – which you can only get if you invest it somewhere. Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are the most common kinds of investment, and by taking on some of the risks that come with them, you could find yourself with exponentially high returns. Again, the sooner you start, the better it will be.

Minimize Withdrawals and Transfers

Although there may be no charges for moving your money around, if you treat it like its accessible always, from everywhere, then you’d be tempted to spend it. Cut down on your ATM visits, and you’ll eventually cut down on your impulse purchases – which, let’s be real, you don’t need as much as you just want – and save more.

Manage Debt

Debt is like a black hole for your money. If you have any debts, or perhaps you use a credit card with high charges, pay them off as soon as possible. As you pay off debts, transfer a portion of the regular payment you used to make to your savings to avoid spending the sudden increase in disposable income.

Try finding a bank that charges you less interest on credit cards, and minimize using them as much as possible. Credit can be essential at times but is also the easiest way to overspending. Try never to charge more to a credit card than what you know you can afford to pay at the end of the month.

Saving is more of a mindset and an attitude than an action. It gets easier to practice if you do it regularly, and see the rewards growing – and if you stick with it, you’ll eventually meet your goal. Although starting your savings is difficult because there are so many things that require money, you need to push through, and you’ll be able to see the results soon.