Ninety days. One page a week.

Plug the leaks before you pour anything new. First thirty days.

• ✓Write down every dollar that came in last month and every dollar that left.
• ✓Name your three biggest leaks — trucks, tools, toys count double.
• ✓Open a separate savings account the checking card can’t reach.
• ✓Set one automatic transfer on payday, any amount, so it moves before you see it.
• ✓Cancel one subscription or line item you forgot you were paying.

The backup generator: a cushion that holds when the hours get cut.

• ✓Add up one month of essentials — rent, food, utilities, minimums.
• ✓Set your starter target: $1,000, then one full month of essentials.
• ✓Bump the payday transfer up to the 10/20/30 pace you can hold.
• ✓Route every windfall — overtime, tax refund, side cash — straight to the fund.
• ✓Price your next big buy in 30-year dollars before you sign anything.

Start the money working the hours you do. Last thirty days.

• ✓Claim the full employer or union match if one exists — that’s free money.
• ✓Open a retirement account and make the first automatic contribution.
• ✓Pick a boring, broad, low-cost index fund and leave it alone.
• ✓Write your own rule for rigs and tools, in one sentence, and post it.
• ✓Set a calendar reminder to raise your savings rate one point next quarter.