6 Tips for Saving Your First $1000

Here are 6 tips for Saving Your First $1000 towards your Emergency Fund.

Building wealth begins with your having some kind of savings, so this post will give you some tips on saving your first $1,000.

Many wealth experts recommend building an emergency fund as one of your first saving strategies.

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no additional cost to you.

Having an emergency fund gives you a financial cushion when the inevitable happens: a flat tire, a water heater dies, a plumbing leak, or one of a thousand other things that might go wrong.

Having an emergency fund is just as crucial if you lose a job or have a serious illness.

There was a time in my life when I lived paycheck to paycheck.

I can tell you now that if I had an emergency fund back then, it would have made a world of difference in my financial bearings.

1.     Know where you’re starting by making a budget

A budget opens your eyes to where your money is going and where you may be overspending.

Creating a budget will entail listing your total income, determining your expenses (rent/mortgage, cell phone bill, food, utilities, etc.).

Don’t forget to list items that may occur annually, or semi-annually, such as car insurance premiums.

2.     Cut all expenses that you can

Look for the small things that can really add up. Can you cut your cable or at least downgrade some of the features?

A friend of mine told me her deluxe cable subscription package, which includes wifi, is over $320 a month.

Honestly, my mind can’t even comprehend such numbers for a cable bill – even including wifi.

That means that over a year, her cable bill is at least $3,840. The numbers are even more staggering when you look at the total over 2 years ($7,680).

At that rate, 5 years of cable means she’s paid $19,200 out of picket. Wow!!!

Think of any other subscriptions you have but don’t use enough to justify the monthly or yearly cost: Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Dropbox, and even magazine subscriptions.

I am a magazine aficionado and love nothing more than looking through home décor and finance magazines.

I ended up with stacks of magazines around my house.

I finally got it under control by not subscribing to expired subscriptions and making an occasional visit to my local library to catch up on reading some of my favorite magazines.

I even found out that I can check out magazines at my local library.

3.     Bring in more income

I am a big advocate of renting out a spare room to bring in some additional monies.

Airbnb is one of my favorite side hustles for doing that and can be a quick way to raise $1,000 or more towards your goal.

Check out my post here where I talk about how you can live practically rent-free by house hacking.

Click here to read how my Airbnb business contributed to my saving over $30,000 in 6 months.

I’ve held yard sales in the past to unload accumulated items, but to also bring in some money.

A yard sale can be time-intensive, so if you don’t have the time, energy, or inclination to throw a yard sale, consider selling some items on eBay.

Recently, I listed a few items on eBay that easily netted over $300.

4.    Shop around for new home and auto insurance rates.

When did you last compare home and auto rates? I realized it had been years since I had compared rates.

Instead of phoning or going to individual insurance companies sites, I opted to use the insurance service at Gabi.com.

After uploading my home and auto policy, Gabi compared quotes from other companies.

Gabi found an insurance policy comparable to my existing policy that saved me over 21% in savings.

5.     Automate your savings

A good way to ‘trick’ yourself into saving money is to automate your savings.

For instance, if your paycheck is direct deposited into your checking account, have a certain amount of money diverted to a separate account.

Perhaps to another account, such as an online account that you don’t have easy access to.

Depending on the amount of money you send to this ‘automatic’ account, the accumulation of money can add up pretty fast.

You will be at your $1,000 savings goal before you know it.

6.     Don’t grocery shop without a list.

I know you’ve probably heard “Don’t shop without a grocery list” a thousand times.

How about “Don’t grocery shop when you’re hungry because you’ll end up buying more as everything looks good on an empty stomach.”

I still find both sayings to be true.

When I shop without a list, I find there are so many extra items in my cart by the time I get to the checkout register.

Shopping with a list keeps me focused on getting in and getting out of the grocery store without all of those extras.

I’ve targeted the grocery store as one of the places that I spend too much money.

Now I really try to stick to my budgeted grocery monies for the month.

Costco delivers in my area and I gave it a try last month when I was busy working on a project and didn’t want to step away from my computer, but also knew I needed to make a run to the store.

I went online and ordered some basic grocery items and it was delivered in an hour (they guarantee to deliver in 2 hours).

There’s a minimum order of $35 and the price includes service and delivery.

I was very pleased with the service and will be using it again.

It proved to be a time and cost savings.

Check to see if Costco or a similar service delivers in your area.

The delivery services are very popular now.

You can even take your shopping savings a step further by using your grocery store loyalty card.

Using your grocery store loyalty card allows you savings on some items you already purchase.

At the bottom of your grocery receipt, it will show you how much you saved by using your card. Save all of your receipts and total up your ‘You’ve Saved’ amounts from each one and transfer that total amount to your $1,000 savings goal.

This is a prime time to also review your receipts again to determine your spending patterns.

These are just some of the ways you can use to build up your first $1,000 savings account.

Once you accomplish saving your initial $1,000, continue on until you have from one to three months of earnings saved for your emergency fund.

When an emergency occurs and you have a fully-funded emergency account, you’ll be in a much better situation to handle whatever comes up.

What other suggestions have worked for you?

Let us hear from you in the comment section below.

Related Posts:

How I Saved $30,000 in 6 Months

How to earn FREE Amazon Gift Cards

How to Raise Your Credit Score