How I Saved $10,000 In Six Months

I’m beyond excited for a recent spike in traffic. Well, really, I love when I know anybody is reading the blog, so it doesn’t seem like I’m standing in the middle of a large, empty room – talking to….nobody. My most popular posts have been on side hustles and maintaining that budget. Apparently folks want to know what I think about those two topics, which is cool. I have had a bit of success in that area this year. For starters, I have about $10,000 in savings. How did I manage to save so much while paying for every day expenses and taking care of 1.5 kids? Read on to find out…

The truth is, saving money isn’t hard. Saving a lot of money is. I think anyone can manage to put $15 a week in a savings account and not touch it. It’s a hell of a lot harder to put away $800 a month like I’ve been doing and tell yourself it doesn’t exist. It would have been an even grand each month, but I’m still paying my credit card bill. Boo to that.

Even still, my stimulus check and refund check came in handy. I had to resist the urge to buy new clothes, or a new computer, or heck, anything fun. I’m trying to simultaneously build up my emergency fund and save for a down payment on a house. It’s not easy. Here’s the three things I would advise you to do:

1. Know why you’re saving the money and keep that at the forefront of your mind. It’s rather pointless to save without a goal. My goal is to get my kids out of this apartment and into a home where they can run around the yard. I watch HGTV all day long, browse around furniture stores, and daydream about the decorating I’m going to do in my house one day. It keeps me focused on my goal: home ownership.
2. Save more than you think you can. Figure out your expenses and your income and then find an amount you are comfortable saving. It doesn’t matter if it’s $200 or $50 a month. Whatever your number is, can you increase it? Go beyond what you’re comfortable with and you’ll reach your goal that much faster.
3. Earn some interest! This is probably the biggest thing. Put your money someplace safe where it can earn some interest. Make your money work for you, rather than the other way around. Too many accounts offer decent interest rates these days for you to pass it up.