How To Save 10k In a Year (Step-By-Step-Guide) + Free Printable - Davinas Finance Corner (2024)

Looking for a simple guide on how to save 10k in a year? If we break it down, you need to save $833 a month, $192.31 a week, or $27.40 a day consistently for a year.

It can seem overwhelming at the beginning, but once you find the strategy that works best for you, reaching your goal will become a lot easier.

These are the exact steps I took to save up for a new car and reach many more of my savings goals.

This post is all about how to save 10k in a year.

Steps On How To Save 10k In a Year

Step 1: Get Clarity On Your Reason

When you set a savings goal it is important to be clear on why you want to save this specific amount of money. Your reason doesn’t have to be life-changing, it just needs to be important and have meaning to you.

The reason this is important is when your goal is attached to something meaningful you are more likely to reach it.

For example, do you want to save 10k in a year because it sounds like a good amount of money to save up? You may reach your goal, but you are more likely to give up when it gets challenging as the goal isn’t attached to anything meaningful.

However, if you want to save 10k in a year for a deposit for a property so you can move out and no longer have roommates. You will be more motivated and push through the hard times as your goal is attached to something important to you.

Think about why you want to reach this savings goal and how it will improve your life. You can then write it down and keep it somewhere that you will see it often.

Step 2: Make Your Goal Visual

If you want to save 10k in a year you will need to save $833 a month, $192.31 a week, or $27.40 a day minimum.

Now that you know how much you need to save each month, week, or day, you need to start thinking about a plan that will help you reach your goal.

If you are visual you could make your phone screen saver a picture of the goal you are saving for. This way you will have a visual reminder every day.

Step 3: Review Your Income and Expenses

When you are saving money it is essential to have a good understanding of your finances. You need to know how much money you are making, where your money is going, what your spending habits are, etc.

Your money tells a story and you need to understand the meaning behind the story.

To do this you can log into your bank online and review your bank statements. I recommend reviewing the last 3 – 6 months as this will give you a good overall view of your spending.

The most important thing you need to look at is your outgoings. Pay attention to your frequent purchases and how much you are spending in each area.

Understanding The Details

When you are reviewing your finances you need to really understand your spending habits and what causes them. For example, are you spending a lot of money on ordering takeaways for dinner? If so, you need to understand why this is happening and what you can do to avoid it.

For example, are you ordering takeaways for dinner because you are too tired to cook? If that is the case you need to think of ways to combat this.

You could look online for some quick meal ideas. Then you could go grocery shopping at the beginning of the week to ensure that you have the ingredients you need to make the meals.

Another option is meal prepping for the week, or if you don’t enjoy eating meal prep an alternative is batch cooking.

You can cook a carbohydrate source like rice and some protein options like chicken and salmon and put them together throughout the week. This way you have different options and can mix and match what you fancy eating at the time.

Step 4: Create a Plan

Now that you have reviewed your finances and have a rough idea of your spending, you need to create a plan for how you will save this money.

To do this you need to create a budget, a budget is essentially a plan. You create a plan for how you want to spend your money this way when you get paid you know exactly where your money needs to go.

We established earlier that to reach your goal of saving 10k in a year you need to save $833.33 minimum each month, but how will you do that? What will that actually look like for you?

A simple method to use when budgeting is the zero-based budget. This budget method requires allocating all of your money to your needs, wants, and any goals you have. This way all of your money is accounted for and each month you will start from zero.

How To Create a Budget:

The first step when creating your budget is to allocate money to all of your essential living expenses and needs. Things such as.

• Rent/Mortgage
• Utilities
• Phone Bill
• Internet
• Insurance
• Groceries
• Travel/Petrol

Next, you need to look at debt or outstanding bills you need to pay. Once you have done this you can allocate the rest to your savings goal.

I would recommend using a tool such as an app or a budget template to create your budget. I prefer using a budget tracker as I can categorise my outgoings accurately. Using a tracker also forces you to look at the details instead of relying on an app to do it for you.

Step 5: Find Ways To Cut Back

If you are finding that you don’t have enough money left over after paying for all of your essential expenses you need to find areas in your budget to cut back.

When you are saving money the easiest thing to do is to reduce your outgoings. You have control over your spending for the most part so this is the best place to start.

After reviewing your expenses you will be able to see the areas where you need to cut back. Here are some examples of ways you can cut back on spending.

Cancel Any Subscriptions You Don’t Need:

Do you have a Netflix, Disney, and Amazon Prime subscription? If so you don’t really need all of them lol Think about which ones you use the most and cancel the others. I recommend going through all of your subscriptions and cancelling any that you don’t need.

Reduce Grocery Costs:

Groceries are one of our biggest household expenses. You can reduce the costs by implementing some of the ideas below.

• Shop at cheaper grocery stores, Aldi is a great choice
• Buy the generic store brand on some of your food items
• Buy essential foods in bulk, this will make the cost per unit cheaper than at the grocery store and it will last you longer

I have a post going into more detail about this. You can read it here.

Do Beauty Treatments At Home:

Having beauty treatments is a luxury we all deserve, but it can be expensive. To save some money you can start doing your beauty treatments at home. There are a lot of good tutorials on YouTube that will teach you how to do your nails and eyebrows at home.

Or at the very least you can reduce the frequency you have these treatments. I used to get my nails done every two weeks, but it was getting a bit too expensive for my liking lol.

Now I get them done once a month and if they need maintenance in between I do it myself. This way I am saving some money, but still having the treatments.

Swap Nights Out For Nights In:

Having nights out for dinner with friends or with your partner is really nice, but it costs money.

A good alternative is to have nights in, you can buy a bottle of wine, cook a nice dinner, and play some games.

I find that nights in are more enjoyable as you don’t need to dress up so you are more comfortable. You can also get creative in the kitchen and it feels more intimate because you are at home.

Step 6: Put Your Savings in a High-Yield Savings Account

When you are saving for extended periods I recommend putting your savings in a high-yield savings account.

When you use this type of savings account you benefit from earning interest on your money while you are saving. This is also additional income so that is a win win lol

The interest rates on savings accounts are quite high at the moment due to inflation so I recommend taking advantage while you can.

You can check with your current bank provider to see if they have any good options, if not use a comparison site to check which accounts have the best interest rates.

I recommend choosing an easy-access account, this way you are not liable for any fees if you need to take your money out before the agreed time.

Ensure you read the terms and conditions before committing.

Step 7: Create a Finance Routine:

Once you have created a plan to reach your savings goal, you need to make time to review your finances and check your progress. To do that I recommend having a finance routine.

What Is a Finance Routine?

A finance routine is where you make time to review your finances. You review your numbers to check how things are progressing, reflect on your activity, and make any adjustments. Having a routine will also keep you accountable.

The key things you need to do as part of your finance routine are as follows.

• Update your actual income and expenses
• Reflect on how your month went
• Think of ways to improve
• Update your budget for the next month

When you are first getting started I recommend having your finance routine weekly, this will help you develop the habit. After a few months you can reduce it to bi-weekly, then once a month.

Step 8: Become Disciplined

Being disciplined is a major key when you are working towards any goal. The choices you make every day need to be aligned with your goals. This can be challenging especially when it comes to saving money as sometimes that does mean making sacrifices.

You may need to cut back on some of the things you enjoy like having Starbucks coffee every morning. Making those choices is hard at the moment, but it does get easier over time and eventually, it will become a habit.

This is also why having clarity on your goal is important as when you are faced with making tough decisions with your money, you need to remember why you are doing this and what you will achieve. This will help to keep you on track.

Tips On How To Save 10k In a Year

Take Part In a Savings Challenge:

Taking part in a savings challenge when you are saving for a goal can be fun, it can also keep you motivated. By default, saving will become a habit as you will be doing it consistently over a long period.

Doing it with friends and family is also a good way to keep you accountable as everyone is on the same journey.

There are plenty of challenges you can take part in, I recommend the 52-week savings challenge as the time frame aligns with your goal. This challenge works by saving the amount of money corresponding to the week of the year, see an example below.

• Week 1 – Save $1
• Week 2 – Save $2
• Week 3 – Save $3
• Week 4 – Save $4

You keep going until week 52 when you will put $52 into savings. If you followed this method at the end of the year you could save $1,378.

But you can tailor it to work for you. For example, we know that to reach your goal you need to save $192.31 each week so you could save this amount instead of the smaller amounts suggested.

Celebrate The Small Wins:

10k is a lot of money and thinking about saving that amount can seem daunting. A way to combat this is breaking the goal down into smaller goals and celebrating when you reach each milestone.

You could break this big goal down into quarterly goals, so each quarter you should have $2,500 saved up. Once you hit this milestone you should celebrate.

I would recommend using a savings tracker while you are saving for this goal. It is another tool to help you track your progress and will keep you accountable.

The journey to reach your goal is where you grow, it is where you find out what you are really made of. Once you reach your goal you will start to have more confidence in your abilities and this will allow you to set even bigger goals and smash them!

Consider Making More Money:

If you have assessed every dollar in your budget and cut back on your spending as much as you can and are still struggling to save for your goal, you may need to consider making more money.

There are a lot of ways you can make some extra money. You could declutter your wardrobe and sell any unwanted clothes that are still in good condition on eBay or Vinted. This is a great option as you are using what you already have. I have a post that walks you through this process. You can read it here.

You could ask for a pay rise at work. If you are not already asking for a pay rise every year this is your sign lol

If that fails you could consider looking for a new job. I know it is easier said than done as you need to update your CV, apply, have an interview, etc. But it is worth it as you will learn new skills, meet new people and most importantly make more money.

Freelancing is another great way to make some extra money using the skills you already have.

Starting a side hustle is another option, you could start a YouTube channel or sell templates on Etsy.

Find Cheaper Ways To Do The Things You Love:

You don’t have to sacrifice everything you love while trying to reach your savings goal. You can get creative and find cheaper ways to do the things you enjoy.

Travel:

When it comes to travelling there are ways to do it on a budget, you can travel outside of school holidays as the prices are cheaper. Travelling to your chosen destination off-peak will save you some money, when there are fewer tourists you tend to get cheaper deals for trips.

Consider travelling to cheaper destinations, for example, if you are from the UK you could fly within Europe for less than £100.

Another option is to stay just outside of the most popular area, this will make your accommodation cheaper. Also consider travelling in a group so you could split most of the big costs like accommodation, tours, etc.

Shopping:

We all love to shop, but while we are trying to hit our savings goal we need to become smart and savvy shoppers lol

If you do need to shop for clothes you can do it during the sales. There are a few sales throughout the year that we can take advantage of. We have Christmas sales, New Year sales, end of summer sales, and end of season sales, etc.

You could put some money aside and wait until one of these sales is on and shop guilt-free. I would recommend setting a spending limit and using a separate card to exercise some control lol

Take Part In a No Spend Challenge:

Taking part in a no-spend challenge when trying to reach your savings goal can be a great way to save more money.

No spend challenges are where you go for periods without spending money on non-essential items.

This can be a great way to control your spending if you are an impulse shopper. It can also help you to realise that you don’t need to spend money on the things you thought you did.

I would recommend trying this for a week to start and see how you get on. Once you have completed a week you can go for longer if you think you can.

The best time to start a no-spend challenge is after you have been paid and taken care of all of your essential living expenses and paid your bill. This way all of your needs are taken care of.

Consider Extending Your Goal:

Saving 10k in a year is a great goal to have, but if you are really struggling to save money and have exhausted all of your options, it might be a good idea to extend your deadline.

I know it can be disheartening to extend your deadline if you want to reach your goal in a specific amount of time. But as long as you eventually reach the goal that is what matters most.

You could extend the deadline to 18 months, this will mean you need to save $555.56 each month.

If saving this amount of money is more realistic for you I would recommend extending your deadline.

It may sound better to say that you saved 10k in a year, but what is more important? Telling people you saved 10k in a year? Or saving 10k within 18 months and feeling proud of yourself for working hard and reaching your goal regardless of how long it took?

Change Your Mindset:

This may sound dramatic, but when you decide to save a big sum of money you will embark on a journey. To be successful on this journey you need to change your mindset.

Your mindset is very important as your mind is where everything begins. You need to believe that you can and will reach your goal. It sounds cliché, but if you believe it you can achieve it.

You need to ensure that the people you are around are supportive of this journey. If they are, they will understand why you want to opt for cooking dinner at home instead of going eating out. They will also celebrate with you when you reach those smaller goals along the way.

When you are faced with temptation you need to ask yourself what is more important. Asking yourself questions like what are my priorities? Buying this nice dress or putting that money towards my savings goal? If you keep doing this over time it will become second nature.

Educate Yourself/Consume Relevant Information

I would recommend making it a priority to consume information related to this topic while you are on this journey.

Watch YouTube videos from creators who have saved up large sums of money and read books about personal finance. There are also many series on Netflix related to money you could also watch. Taking in this information will help you to get into the right mindset and make smarter choices.

Be Patient:

When you are embarking on a journey to save a big amount of money you need to be patient as the journey may not be smooth and it won’t happen overnight.

Along the journey, you may feel frustrated because you have had to make sacrifices like having a girl’s night out, and the goal still seems far away.

If you have these moments you need to remind yourself of why you are doing this and think about how proud you will be once you reach your milestone.

You also need to remember that although it doesn’t seem like anything is happening, every day that you don’t give up you are getting closer and closer to your goal.

Before you know it you will open your bank account and see that number and have that amazing feeling of satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is It Possible To Save 10k In a Year?

Yes, it is absolutely possible. It may not be easy, but it is definitely possible to save 10k in a year

The most important thing to think about when you are trying to reach this goal is can I afford to save $833 each month? If not, what can you do to increase your savings? Will you cut back your expenses, or will you try to increase your income?

Once you have figured out the answers to these questions, you can follow the steps I have listed above. If you follow these steps consistently you will reach your goal.

How Much Can I Realistically Save In a Year?

To figure out how much money you can save you need to analyse your income and expenses. Once you have a good understanding of this and your spending habits you will be able to determine how much money you can afford to save.

I recommend reviewing 3 – 6 months of your bank statements, you need to go through the numbers with a fine tooth comb.

Once you have done this you can think about any expenses you have that you cut out. For example, subscriptions you no longer need and eating takeaways.

The final step is to review your income and deduct all of your bills and essential living expenses. I would recommend using a budget spreadsheet to help you do this accurately.

The amount you are left with after this is what you can afford to save. If that amount is $250 and you save the money consistently each month, you will save $3,600 in a year.

Final Thoughts:

Saving 10k in a year is no easy feat, it requires discipline and consistency, and it may require you to make some sacrifices.

If you have the right mindset, a solid plan, and the right tools to help you, you will be able to reach your goal a lot easier.

I hope you have found these steps helpful. Are you on a journey to reach a savings goal? If yes, how is it going?

This post is all about how to save 10k in a year.