How To Save $1,000 This Month

Unexpected expenses will inevitably pop up sometime in your life. Perhaps you have a medical emergency or home repairs, and you need money to take care of the payment. Getting into these situations can become stressful and challenging at times, but saving enough money before the unpredictable happens can help. Saving any amount of money each month will make a big difference. The amount you plan to save will depend on your income and monthly expenses. If you’re particularly motivated and aiming to save $1,000 a month, these five simple money-saving steps can get you one step closer to hitting your savings goal and provide you the financial freedom you deserve.

Step 1: Plan Your Budget Strategy

To make your goal of saving $1,000 a month seem more attainable, budgeting is necessary. A monthly budget is a financial plan outlining how you will manage your money throughout the month. Creating a budget helps you achieve your financial goals, save money, and avoid overspending. This exercise also helps reveal areas where you can cut costs and exert greater control over your income and expenses. In addition, it lets you know and take control of where your money flows, helping ensure you don’t have to borrow funds or run up your credit.

After creating your monthly budget, you can build a savings plan. Some examples of ways you can start your plan is:

• Examining your monthly income
• Checking your recent bank statements
• Knowing the difference between your needs and wants
• Categorizing your spending
• Having a separate savings account for emergencies only
• Tracking your spending
• Auditing yourself

Step 2: Reduce Your Extra Expenses

It can be tempting to spend a paycheck or bonus on something new, like shoes, clothes, or luxury bags, as quickly as possible. However, realizing that these expenses add up quickly and significantly impact your overall financial health is essential. Work to curb impulse buying items you do not need and cancel subscriptions to streaming services and gym memberships that you don't use. Rocket Money^SM can help you find and cancel these unwanted subscriptions on your behalf. Reducing these extra costs and, instead, putting that money in savings can add to your $1,000 goal.

At first, this can be hard, but some simple ways that you can start reducing your extra expenses are:

• Reducing heating, cooling, gas and energy bills
• Auto saving a portion of each paycheck
• Trying the 50/30/20 budgeting plan
• Carpooling to work and social outings to save money on gas and reduce your carbon footprint
• Lowering cable, banking, or internet costs
• Negotiating better rates on credit cards
• Canceling unwanted and unused subscriptions
• Cutting back on eating out 
• Waiting for expensive items to go on sale
• Making a weekly grocery list
• Tracking your spending
• Keeping credit cards at home
• Avoiding shopping when you’re emotional

Most importantly, don’t put too much pressure on yourself, start with small changes. One of the main things that will help you throughout this process is creating an accountability plan. Discovering how to save money a month is eminently doable when you set measurable goals and hold yourself to them. But you don't have to do this alone. Grab a family member or friend to do this with you; by doing so, you can help keep yourself and someone else accountable and vice versa. A winning support system to keep you on track is a great way to help you become financially free and make a big break in your financial journey.

Step 3: Find Prices That Work For Your Budget

Finding ways to live frugally and save money wherever possible is crucial for necessary expenses, such as paying for car insurance and cell phone bills. Various providers want your business and will give you multiple options of various payment plans. When you look at these providers, compare the best options (like lower monthly plans and current deals for a free phone when you switch cell phone companies), so you won't pay top dollar for every service needed. As you are weighing different offers, consider where you might be able to cut back on usage or switch to an alternative-use package (like a family cell phone plan) too. Another option is to negotiate with your current service providers to see if they can offer you a better deal.

Additionally, you can use apps like the Rocket Money app to help you save money on essential services. The Rocket Money app is specifically designed to help users reduce their bills and cancel their no longer needed subscriptions. With this app, you can easily track all your subscriptions and bills in one place, making it easier to manage your finances and find areas where you can cut costs.

Step 4: Stay On Top Of Your Finances

Staying on top of your finances is a straightforward way to steadfast your efforts to save $1000. Keep a close eye on your financial health, monitoring your bank statements, credit card spending, existing debt, credit card balance, and checking account balances. Sometimes bank statements in the mail are immediately thrown away. However, it’s important to review them to keep track of your expenses and ensure that no unauthorized transactions have been pulled from your account. It’s also important to monitor how many times you swipe your credit card. By monitoring your credit card balance, you can avoid unnecessary extra fees, and see if you’re overspending on items you don't need.

A crucial way to stay on top of your finances is through automation. Automating your payments can be a great way to ensure you’re paying all of your bills on time. Setting up automatic transfers from your checking account on pay day can ensure that you consistently save money without thinking about it or noticing it missing.

Step 5: Get A Side Hustle

One of the easiest ways to save $1,000 per month is finding additional ways to make money. Since COVID-19, many people have found a hidden talent, picked up a hobby, or created a small business to make money. You may be able to do the same. Whether selling custom items, creating art pieces, or doing hair or nail services, there is no limit to what you can do to make extra money. 

From selling homemade arts and crafts on online marketplaces to running weekend garage sales to driving part-time for ride-sharing services, more opportunities to take on a side gig (and set your own prices and hours) are available now more than ever. Simply pick something that you are passionate about and apply yourself to it, and you can see the green coming in.

The Bottom Line: Saving $1,000 A Month Can Be Possible

As you can see, saving $1,000 a month can be done, though it takes discipline. By creating a budgeting strategy and reducing the extra expenses, you can find prices that work for you and your budget to stay on top of your finances. The more you stay focused on managing your money, limiting your spending and finding ways to boost your income, then you may be able to reach your goal of saving $1,000 a month. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. Find a partner so you can hold each other accountable and stick to the game plan. If you’re ready to start your game plan today, download the Rocket Money app to make it easier to manage your finances.