Save $1000 in a Month
Is it possible to save $1000 in a month—without working more hours? Results may vary, but yes it is totally possible to save $1000 in one month.
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Full Disclosure - I am in the fight right alongside you…I still have a mortgage and less retirement savings than I should at my age. I also understand that life is unpredictable and stuff happens. You run over a nail and get a flat tire, you get sick and have unexpected medical costs, every time you step outside your door it seems life costs more.
If you have worked through the first exercise What’s on Your Plate? in the Save Money category of the FAWA site, pull that list out and take a close look. You should have been able to dissect your life into Needs, Wants, and Savings as well as Fixed and Variable expenses. Here is a dose of Gen X honesty, the following money saving hacks only work if your current income covers your needs. If you are already stretched too thin, these tips may help, but they will not be enough to get you on a better path. If this is your situation, find a way to boost your income first.
As you go through the following list remember that this financial reset is about being intentional with your money, cutting out anything that doesn’t improve your life. What will this extra $1000 do for you? You could use it to pay down some debt that is weighing on you. You can start an emergency fund. It will prove to you that you can save money in a difficult economy and will help build motivation for you to keep saving.
Let’s do this.
Ideas to help reduce Fixed expenses were mentioned on the What’s On Your Plate? page. Were you able to lower housing costs, renegotiate or decrease utilities, reduce transportation costs? (An article drilling down on groceries costs is coming up next.) Now let’s look at Variable expenses.
If you want to reset financially and save money, think about reducing your variable spending by 30-50% for a month.
What does this look like?
If you spend $150/month on eating out, slash that down to $75-100/month. If you normally buy your lunch at work, challenge yourself to pack your lunch everyday. You probably have leftovers in the fridge that are an easy grab as you head out the door. Each time you do this, you will save yourself $10. This is an easy way to save $100-200 in one month.
Prep your own coffee and water in thermal cups in the morning and save $6-8 per trip to the coffee shop. Every once in a while as a treat is fine but regular visits are a drain on the wallet.
If you spend $150/month on personal care and clothing, knock that way down to $0 or at most $50 for essentials only for this month.
If you are spending $60/month on subscriptions a entertainment, cut it by half to $30 or pause it for a month and see if you can live without it.
How many times a month is the Amazon delivery driver showing up to your door this month? Consider an online spending freeze for a month. If you go shopping in person, pay in cash. It is more impactful as you see those twenties counted out.
Cancel unused subscriptions. You may have signed up for Netflix or Hulu but find that you rarely watch one or the other. If you cancel, you can save almost $200 a year. Rocket Money has a service that can scan and cancel subscriptions that you either don’t want or may not remember that you have. Experian has the same service. Or you can check your bank balance and see the charges.
Let’s be realistic, how often do you really use your membership at the gym? If you use it, could you work there for a few hours a week as a side hustle and get your membership for free? Can you cancel without penalty and put that $30-70/month into your savings account? You can go for walks each day in your neighborhood and pick up a cheap set of hand weights off of Facebook Marketplace.
Practice the 3-day rule. The next time you see something in a store that catches your eye, don’t purchase it immediately with your credit card. Leave the store and think about it for at least three days. Odds are you won’t even be tempted to purchase and you will be happy to have that money in your savings account. If you do still want it, think about how you can manage it in your budget by cutting back here or side hustling there.
Find free or cheap entertainment. I don’t need to say much on this. Gen X teaches the master class.
You can’t take it with you. Look around your home and think about selling anything you no longer use and is taking up space. Smaller items, retro, and collectibles are great for eBay. Larger or heavy items like furniture, kitchen appliances, tools, toys, sports equipment are better for Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. Do you have name brand clothing, bags or shoes that are collecting dust in your closet? Consider selling them on Poshmark or Vinted.
As you start to get into the swing of things, consider saving money for different purposes - short term goals and long term goals. You will find yourself very motivated to save money if it is for something short term and enjoyable like gifts for Christmas or a spring vacation.
Some rely on a cash system to keep them honest. If you have $1400 allotted in your budget for variable expenses, they get five envelopes and put cash in each envelope for a specific category. Groceries - $800, Fun - $150, Car - $250, Clothing - $50, Miscellaneous - $150. If you run short on cash, you can borrow from another envelope/category but know that money will not be replaced this month. When the envelopes are empty of cash, you stop spending.
If payday is days or a week away and money is short, start a spending freeze. Only food, fixed expense bills, and gas is purchased. If budgets are tight after the holidays for example, a spending freeze can be a good reset, helps you avoid impulse buys and save hundreds of dollars in just a couple of weeks.
Staying healthy and out of the doctor’s office saves you money. Eat well, walk daily, limit the bad habits. Enough said.
Shop around for the best credit card interest rates. Work hard to clear the balance. When you use it, have a clear plan in the back of your mind how and when it will be paid back to a $0 balance. Look into a card that accumulates points or miles for future purchases or travel.
Consider automatic savings deposits from checking to savings. $20/week is over $1000/year.
Join a Buy Nothing group locally on Facebook or through the Buy Nothing app. Members list items that are free. And you can look around and find what you may need - for free. This is great to support local members of your community rather than continually taking the easy route and donating to thrift stores. You can find furniture, clothing, toys, kitchen items, etc.
Cash in your coin jar. Most grocery stores have a coin sorting machine. You will get a receipt that you can use to get a credit against your grocery purchase or you can cash it out at the customer service desk at the store and put it towards your goal of saving $1000.
Did you get an unexpected windfall of cash? A winning lottery ticket, a gift of cash on your birthday, a larger than expected tax return? Consider spending a portion on something you would enjoy and save the rest.
Download the GasBuddy app. This is a great site that helps you find the cheapest gasoline in your surrounding area. Every bit counts to help keep your variable expenses in check.
Easy life, hard choices. Hard life, easy choice.
Easy life, hard choices: It is not fun to have to make these difficult decisions in your 50s/60s, but doing so will make your life easier and more rewarding in the future.
Easy choices, hard life: Choosing to procrastinate or ignore a problem now may keep your mood light today, but your problems could multiply and will not magically disappear. Then you will be stuck in your 60s and 70s with additional stress and regret.
It is often easier and faster to save money by reducing variable expenses as they are discretionary and can be adjusted immediately. Costs like dining out, entertainment, clothing, and travel fluctuate from month to month. You have direct control over them. You get to decide what priority they hold in your monthly budget.
You may be wondering why groceries are in the variable category. Don’t we all require food to survive? Shouldn’t that be a fixed cost? It is a variable cost because the amount you spend varies from month-to-month, season-to-season. Your grocery bills around Thanksgiving will be much higher than other weeks in the year. Some shoppers reach for convenience food or snacks more than others and will have higher grocery totals to show for it. Grocery bills vary from person to person, and family to family.
Every one of us has complained about the high cost of food lately, but there are tricks to saving big money on your grocery bills. Are you ready to save?
