Today I am going to show you how to crush your financial goals using a step-by-step guide to saving your first $10,000!
So you want to save $10,000? I want you to! But in order for you to get to this savings goal, you need to be prepared to sacrifice some things in your life. This means no more takeout food, no more unnecessary spending, no more messing around.
Our economy is the worst it’s been in years, this is why it’s so important to start your emergency savings of 3-6 months. $10,000 is a great amount of savings to have if you are just starting out. This would be around 4 months for my husband and I.
Here are the best 9 ways that will help you save your first $10,000!
Make Sure You’re Debt Free
I can’t stress this one enough, being debt-free is the only way you’re going to become successful in your financial life. People will tell you otherwise, but if you’re borrowing from a lender, you couldn’t afford to buy it to begin with. You can tell yourself this all you want, but the truth is if you don’t have the money in your account for that particular item you want, you can’t afford it. Once you get this idea in your head, you’ll start making better choices on your daily spending habits.
Work every day on paying off debt. It will change your life when you wake up and don’t owe the bank or a lender money!
Create A Budget
This is the most crucial step to becoming financially independent. Creating a budget means you know where every dollar is going and that’s incredibly important. When we first started to save for our Emergency Fund, we started a budget and found so many areas where our money was disappearing. We were able to save thousands a year by finding those flaws in our finances and fixing them.
In order to make this process go faster and easier, you need a budget. Start it today!
Cut Unnecessary Expenses
Going out for dinner every other night? Making unnecessary Target runs for things you don’t need? This is part of the problem. Once you do your budget, you’ll soon realize how much money you could be spending on unnecessary things. This was one of the biggest things that helped up become debt-free was discovering all the ways our money was disappearing from our bank account. The random trips to Target and all the brewery trips we took. We did not realize how much we were spending on things that didn’t really matter to us.
After your budget, work on building discipline when it comes to random spending.
Keep The End In Mind
The end goal acts as a focal point, helping you prioritize tasks and your activities. It allows you to filter out distractions and concentrate your energy on what truly matters, avoiding the trap of getting sidetracked by less important pursuits.
I always remind myself daily of the end result when I am trying to achieve a new goal in my life. This will help you to stay motivated on your journey of building wealth!
Automatic Transfer To Savings
Set a an automatic transfer to your savings every time you get paid. This will help because you won’t see the money in your accoutn and won’t be tempted to spend it on unnecessary things as I mentioned above.
A good rule of thumb is to transfer our at least 10% of your paycheck into a high yield savings account.
Find Extra Income
There are so many opportunities out there for finding ways to make extra income. When I worked at my office job, I did Instacart for months to help me build my savings. When my husband and I got married, he worked part-time at a brewery while he went to school. This brewery was one of the busiest in the areas and he averaged around $3,000-$4,000 a month when he worked around 25/30 hours a week. There ARE businesses out there in the hospitality industry that can pay very well with tips and help you make a few extra thousand dollars a month.
Do some research and find busy, established businesses near you and start applying for some part time work. A few extra hours a week will help tremendously with building your savings up to $10,000!
There are also several other ways to make extra income. You could clean a family members house or maybe even your friends house, wash cars, tutor on a subject you’re good at, pick up on your photography skills and put out some discounted family sessions… the ideas are endless. Find a skill that you’re good at and find a way to make it a part-time job. You never know, sometimes this can turn into your full-time job!
Negotiate Bills
This one is a lot easier than you think. How many times were you afraid to call and ask for a lower price or discount on a bill? I can only imagine you’ve had the thought a lot. Well not anymore.
After you create your budget, go through your categories and figure out what areas you may be spending too much money in. Then go ahead and call those businesses whether it’s your phone company, insurance or internet and ask them how you can lower your bill. Sometimes phone companies will have WIFI bundles that you can add in with your phone lines and it could save you some money too.
All it takes it one simple call and a question to try and save some money. Trust me, these companies will have ways to help you, you just have to ask.
Learn To Be Content
A big part of saving money is, well you guessed it, not spending it. Oof. This one can be hard, but is one of the major ways you are going to save a lot of money. You’re going to have to get into the mindset of not caring about having nice things and having what everyone else has. This is crucial when it comes to saving money.
You HAVE to learn to be content with what you have. It’s okay that you don’t have all the nicest clothing or tech gadgets, it’s also okay that you don’t drive a car that costs $50,000 when you can’t even afford it. Most people can’t, that’s why they get loans to buy these things. Most people are in so much debt, but on the outside it looks like they’re doing well. They are not. They are struggling to find ways to make all of these insane payments. Don’t be like everyone else. Learn to be okay with what you have and be grateful for what you have!
Sell Unwanted Items
This is a super easy way to throw some extra cash into your savings! Go throughout your home and find all the items you purchased that have been sitting on shelf getting dusty. I bet you will find more items than you thought you would. You can make a lot of money from selling unused items.
When we moved recently, we had sooo many items that we purchased that we never actually used. Amazon is a huge one for me, I used to go on and buy so many things that I ended up not using ATALL. What a waste a money.
Anyway, go throughout your house and start getting rid of all the crap you purchased and try to make a good income from it and throw all of it into your savings!
I hope these this post has helped you to have a better game plan when it comes to saving $10,000! This will be a hard journey, but I promise, it’s absolutely worth it!
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