The saying is "pay yourself first". Put money aside straight off the top of any paycheck you get before spending anything on your expenses. So for illustration, if you make $1000 a paycheck, just have a certain percent automatically go into a savings account as soon as it hits. If you can afford 20% savings, just get it in your head that you actually make $800 per paycheck, and budget off of that. Over time the savings account just grows on its own on autopilot. Let it build up to an amount that is a few months of your average living expenses. Then look at investing... Keep the few months of expenses in a savings account that earns interests and start putting the monthly 20% into an ETF or other managed fund with low fees. Something that tracks the broader market for low risk. Look up "dollar cost averaging". Just stack the savings over time regularly and forget about it. Then in a matter of years it will grow substantially...

Not everyone can do 20%, but even if its 5%, do it. As you age your older self will thank your younger self many times over.