Remember when the money you spent on filling your gas tank would pay for a pretty nice evening out? That reality whipped us all into shape when it came to how and when we used our cars. Fuel prices dropped. You slipped back into old spending habits. Now that prices are on the rise again, you need to own your car-related expenses.

You reach the end of the month and once again your good intentions to save have been thwarted by unexpected expenses or—let’s be honest!—temptation.

Guess what? You’re not alone. We’re guessing the no-savings club is one you’d rather not be a member of and we have five suggestions to put you on the right track to better savings.

Use our three-step budget hack to clean up your house and yard without cleaning out your accounts.

If your to-do list is growing at the same rate your holiday budget is shrinking, your kids have a bad case of the “gimmes” and you’re wishing you could be just sick enough to stay in bed endlessly re-watching A Christmas Prince, there’s still time to slow this holiday madness down.

The holidays can be such a magical season! Time with family and friends. Celebrating old traditions and making new memories. Taste testing each and every one of the options at your friend’s cookie exchange (ok, maybe that’s just us!).

Money worries keeping you up at night? Here’s something that could get you on the path to sweeter dreams. And it’s a goal that could actually make a difference. Having $1,000 set aside could go a long way toward covering an unexpected expense and keep you from running up an expensive credit card bill (or, gulp, using a payday lender), having to borrow from family or friends or selling something to get out from under.