Saving enough to be able to one day buy a house can often sound like a distant fantasy for many. And it can seem even more difficult for young people who are still putting themselves through higher education. But the truth is that buying a home isn’t just an achievable goal but it is also something you can start working towards before you even graduate.

If you want to start taking steps to help you buy a home today, here are some of the ideas you can try.

1 – Increase your income

There are plenty of good reasons to try making some extra money during your college years. One of them is that the more income you’re able to earn, the more resources you’ll be able to direct toward your long-term financial goals.

Of course, your education is in itself an investment in your future earning potential, so it’s important to make it a priority. But if you find yourself with time to spare during your college career, looking into a part-time job or finding freelance work you can do remotely is a good way to make some cash. And it will look good on your resume to boot.

2 – Track your expenses

Another way to bolster your finances is to keep close track of your expenses. Knowing where your money is going and why is crucial if you want to make sure you’re not wasting any. This can help you save more during your college years, and it’s a good way to build healthy financial habits that will make it easier to save enough to buy a house.

3 – Learn to invest

Parking money in a savings account is not always the best way to build your wealth. You can start making investments through various methods with as little as $100, and even low-risk investments will typically yield more returns than a savings account.

Learning to invest is also a good way to expand your understanding of finances in general. And it can help you pin down how much you should spend on a house. A house is in itself an investment, after all. It is a valuable asset that has a fairly high degree of liquidity, thanks to the existence of professional house buyers.

4 – Minimize student debt

If you’ve taken on a significant amount of debt to go to college, you can save money in the long run by finding ways to minimize that debt as much as possible.

That could mean trying to renegotiate the terms of your student loans, seeing if you can get better terms by paying some of the loans back before graduating, or checking if your university has any programs in place to make dealing with your loan easier.

Keep in mind that on top of minimizing your future expenses, paying your loans early or on time can also help boost your credit score.

5 – Create a savings plan

There are times when the simplest solutions work best, and this is one of them. If you haven’t already, figure out how much money you can save a month or week and create a recurring payment in that amount to your savings account. Automatic savings don’t need to involve large amounts — even modest sums can add up to a lot of saved money over a 5-year period.