How much do you have in savings? If you fall in line with the average American, then, according to statistics, you’ve probably got about $3,500 saved up for emergencies. While a whopping third of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings account, that’s nowhere near enough to cover the costs of an emergency such as unemployment during the pandemic.
If you’re looking for money-saving tips, we’ve got ‘em! And these money-saving tips are all free, which means that you don’t have to invest to save more (because, during these trying times, who really can afford to do that?). Here are five actionable ways to save over $1,000 in 2021 (even if you hate saving).
Money-Saving Tips for Financial Success in 2021
1. Make Saving a Priority
It’s going to be impossible to save over $1,000 if you don’t first make saving a priority. So, your first money-saving tip for 2021 is to make saving a priority. It’s Dave Ramsey’s “Baby Step No. 1” that he teaches to prepare people to enter the right frame of mind for saving and optimizing their finances.
To make saving a priority, you have to get honest with yourself about your current financial habits. If you tend to charge transactions to your credit card and rack up a lot of debt each month, you’ll need to internalize this first step. It’s immensely harder to save money if you’re always racking up more debt.
2. Deposit Cash Incrementally
One of the easiest ways to save money is to do so periodically over time. When analyzing why people don’t save money, some of the main reasons found were that people feel like they’re too much in debt to save or that they feel overwhelmed by how much they have to save to reach their goals. This is understandable, and if you feel this way, then saving little by little is a great strategy for you.
Start out small with $5 per week for the first month of your savings journey. Then, increase that to $10 per week in your second month. By the end of the year, you’re saving at least $60 per week, and it won’t feel like a “chore.” Of course, you can adjust the increments accordingly to fit your income, but it’s a great way to build up savings stamina and save over $1,000 easily.
3. Save $20.21 Each Week
If you’d rather stick to a strict routine, then just focus on saving $20.21 every week for the entire year of 2021. To make this work, we suggest getting a budgeting app to see where you’re currently overspending. Often, people find that they’re overspending on subscription services such as streaming platforms and cable or internet. Find practical areas like that where you can cut back on your spending and then start looking for small ways to save a total of $20.21 per week. By the end of a full year, you’ll have saved $1,050 without having to make any significant adjustments to your lifestyle.
4. Bring More Money In
This one sounds obvious, but it’s a savings tip that many people don’t seem to consider. If you need to save $1,000, figure out how many weeks you have to meet your goal. If you’d like to have that $1,000 in six months, for example, you only have to save $41.66 each week or roughly $167 per month. Breaking it down like that makes it easier to plan for.
Now, find ways that you can bring more money in. Making an additional $167 a month seems pretty feasible when you learn that certain sellers on marketplaces like Fiverr make over $3,000 per month while working their regular jobs. Other ways to earn freelance or side hustle income include:
- Becoming an Uber driver
- Walking dogs
- Teaching English online
- Taking paid online surveys
- Creating a dropshipping website
- Becoming a food delivery driver
To put the earnings into perspective, online English teachers can earn up to $15 per hour, and ZipRecruiter reports that dog walkers can make up to $500 per week for walking dogs. Not a bad gig!
5. Spend Using Your Cheese Debit Card
Saving while you spend is one of the hardest things to learn. And we’re not talking about using coupons to save while shopping or even deal hunting to find the lowest price of an item. We’re talking about saving by spending with a savings-optimized card that works to earn you money.
Haven’t heard of a card like that before? The Cheese Debit Card does just that. It comes with $0 in fees and a cashback bonus just for swiping it when you make purchases. It’s ideal for those truly interested in saving $1,000 as it earns you a little bit of cash every time you use it.
Interested in getting started? Sign up today to access all of the great financial perks, such as:
❌ No Monthly Fee 🧀️ $5 cash bonus
❌ No ATM Fee 🧀️ Up to 10% cashback with every purchase/transaction
❌ No Overdraft Fee 🧀️ Potential Double Cheese Cashback
❌ No Insufficient Fund Fee 🧀️ Up to 3% Deposit Bonus
❌ No Minimum Balance Requirement 🧀️ Early Paycheck
Check out our other articles for more interesting money-saving tips to help you save $1,000+ in 2021:
10 Fast Ways to Make Money Online in Legit Ways
7 Quick Ways to Make Extra Money
10 Things You Can Sell to Make Extra Money
How to Make Passive Income in 2020?
