How to Save $1,000 in One Month

Saving money is one of the foundation steps for setting yourself up financially. Unfortunately, a recent survey shows that 61% of Americans don’t have enough money saved to cover a $1,000 unexpected expense. Further, about 24% of Americans have no savings at all.

That is CRAZY to me.

Although I recommend prioritizing paying off debt over larger saving and investing goals, I nevertheless believe having a small emergency fund before you start your debt payoff journey is important.

If you are like the majority of Americans, no worries. Below are 8 tips to help you potentially save $1,000 in one month.

1. Pack your lunch

If you’re like most people, you hit up a local restaurant or order out during your lunch break. Try packing your lunch and bringing it with you to work instead. On average there are 23 work days in a month. With this tip, you’ll save $230+ in the next month.

Potential savings: $230
Total savings: $230

2. Make coffee at home

Mr. TMG used to spend $100 a month on coffee at Starbucks. Now, he has a Starbucks Verismo machine and orders coffee pods for it online. The pods cost about $55 for a pack of 72, which works out to about $0.77 per cup of coffee or about $24 a month.

Potential savings: $100-24 = $76
Total savings: $306

3. Get a water bottle

Rather than buying expensive bottled water, refill a reusable water bottle throughout the day. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll say you buy one bottle of water each day at $2 a bottle. With 23 work days in a month, that’s $46 you could save.

Potential savings: $46
Total savings: $352

4. Cut down on eating out

With our increasingly busy schedules, it’s hard to make time to cook dinner at home sometimes. It’s so much more convenient to head out to your favorite restaurant and relax while a delicious meal is prepared for you. I get it.

The thing is, though, eating out is one of the biggest ways we bleed money without realizing it. What seem like small expenses quickly add up.

Let’s say you spend $50 each time your family goes to dinner (this could easily be $100+ depending on the size of your family and how fancy your tastes are :)).

The average family eats out 4 times a week. If you suck it up and cook at home even half the time, you’ll save yourself $100 a week or about $400 a month.

Potential savings: $400
Total savings: $752

5. Save on groceries

Grocery stores tend to offer special discounts if you sign up for their free loyalty card. You can also check for available coupons on items you’re planning to buy.

After we shop, I also use the Ibotta app to save us even more. Ibotta offers rebates on select products (as low as $0.25 to as much as $3) each week.

I select the items that we’ve purchased and upload the receipt to prove we purchased them. The rebates change each week, but I always find at least one we can redeem. The money is usually credited to my account that same day.

You can get $10 free when you redeem your first offer if you sign up through my link using your email address!

With coupons and rebates, we typically save a little under $10 per trip, or about $40 per month.

Potential savings: $40
Total savings: $792

6. Change your cell phone carrier

If you’re with a major carrier, you can probably get a better deal elsewhere.

We use PagePlus, which I believe runs on Verizon’s towers but is a fraction of the price. We buy the 55 plan, which is $50 on autopay (regular price is $55), for unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data (Mr. TMG streams a lot).

They also offer cheaper plans, including a new unlimited plan with up to 5 GB of 4G LTE data and unlimited 2G data after that for $40 regular price or $36 on autopay.

We’ve used PagePlus for 7 years without issue.

Tip: If you switch, I recommend you also get an extra 100 minutes for $10 to cover any interruption in service as the monthly cycle rolls over (learned this tip from experience). The extra minutes last for a year.

I’ve also heard a lot of great things about Republic Wireless, which allows you to customize packages to fit your needs. A family of four could each get unlimited talk and text plus 3 GB of 4G LTE data for $30 per person or $120 per month. Compare this to the $200+ bill from some of the major carriers.

Potential savings: $80
Total savings: $872

7. Cut the cord

How many of the channels that your cable package offers do you actually watch? If you’re like most people, you’re basically paying $200 per month for 3 or 4 channels.

You can watch most of the same shows for a fraction of the cost with Netflix and Hulu. Each of these services cost as little as $8.

YouTube also has lots of great content that you can watch for free. Similarly, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can watch their collection of TV shows and movies at no extra cost.

Potential savings: $200-$16 = $184
Total savings: $1,056

8. Cancel subscriptions you forgot about or don’t use

When’s the last time you went to your gym? Are you getting copies of magazines you no longer read? Do you sign up for free trials but forget to cancel before billing kicks in?

Forgotten subscription services stealthily suck money from our accounts. Check your accounts for charges for subscriptions you forgot about. If you don’t want to do it yourself, apps like Truebill and Trim can scan your accounts and detect the subscriptions for you.

Potential savings: $50+
Total savings: $1,106

There you have it. A solid plan to save over $1,000 in the next month. Let me know if you decide to implement any of these tips. I’d love to hear how it turns out.

What other tips do you have to save money?