What is the 50/30/20 rule?

The rule is to split your after-tax income into three categories of spending: 50% on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on savings. 1. This intuitive and straightforward rule can help you draw up a reasonable budget that you can stick to over time in order to meet your financial goals.

What is the 30 day rule?

The premise of the 30-day savings rule is straightforward: When faced with the temptation of an impulse purchase, wait 30 days before committing to the buy. During this time, take the opportunity to evaluate the necessity and impact of the purchase on your overall financial goals.

How much do I need to save a month to get $10,000?

To reach $10,000 in one year, you'll need to save $833.33 each month. To break it down even further, you'll need to save $192.31 each week or $27.40 every day. These smaller chunks are much more realistic and simple to comprehend, making it easier to track your progress.

Is $20,000 enough in savings?

Having $20,000 in a savings account is a good starting point if you want to create a sizable emergency fund. When the occasional rainy day comes along, you'll be financially prepared for it. Of course, $20,000 may only go so far if you find yourself in an extreme situation.

What is your biggest wealth building tool?

“Your most powerful wealth-building tool is your income. And when you spend your whole life sending loan payments to banks and credit card companies, you end up with less money to save and invest for your future.

Why do poor people save money?

Savings and credit make a difference because income is more volatile for those hovering around the poverty line. Low-income families usually work in low-wage and temporary jobs, making them more susceptible to reduced hours and layoffs.

How much should I save per month?

How much should you save each month? For many people, the 50/30/20 rule is a great way to split up monthly income. This budgeting rule states that you should allocate 50 percent of your monthly income for essentials (such as housing, groceries and gas), 30 percent for wants and 20 percent for savings.

Is it possible to save 20k in one year?

Saving $20,000 in one year is a lot. Simply looking at this number can feel overwhelming, so Catie Hogan, head of curriculum and founding financial coach at Parthean recommended breaking it down into more digestible chunks. “Saving $20,000 per year is about $1,667 per month or about $385 per week,” she said.

Is saving 20k a year good?

The recommended amount to save varies from person to person, as everyone's financial situation differs. But for many people, $20,000 is a sizable emergency fund goal that will go far. If you have a large chunk of savings set aside, make sure you keep it in a bank account that earns interest.

Can you survive on $20,000 a year?

Living on less than $20,000 a year is not easy, but it is not incredibly difficult either if you take proactive steps to save. You won't have all the toys and clothes of people in a higher tax bracket, but you can live on an income under $20,000 a year.

How to Save Money When You're Broke - Healthy Wealthy Skinny (2024)

Saving money that you don’t have sounds impossible.

If you are really broke you are focused on basic necessities such as shelter, food, and transportation to your job. After taking care of these items you may feel that there is nothing left to save.

But there are a few ways to start saving money and reverse your financial situation. In this post, I will reveal how to save money when you’re broke.

Note: This page contains affiliate links, which means that if you buy something using one of the links below, I may earn a commission.

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6 Things You Should Be Doing If You’re Broke

There are a number of things you should be doing if you’re broke and saving money is high on the list. Check out the video below for a complete list.

Never Broke Again!

Before we jump into the ways to save money when you are broke, let’s start with some motivation.

If you are broke now you must understand that it is a temporary state that you can change. You must change the way you think before you can change your financial situation.

Grab a tissue and listen to this emotional story from Lisa Nichols. It will change your life.

How to Save Money When You’re Broke

After listening to Lisa’s super motivational story, you should be super inspired and ready to start saving.

Here are a few steps to take to start your savings journey.

Open a Savings Account

The first step to saving money when money is tight is to open a savings account. This allows you to separate your spending money from the money you need to save.

Separating your money gives you a clear visual of your savings. It can also make it more difficult to access your savings in case you are tempted to spend it.

If you do not have access or do not like banks you can choose another method of separating your money. The goal is to keep the money you are saving in a secure place that is totally separate from the money that you use for day to day living.

Create a Budget

The second step to saving money when you are broke is creating a budget.

A budget will give you a clear picture of what your expenses are and how much you will have to save each month.

Creating a budget is an essential step in managing your personal finances. And with the right tools, they can be simple to create and manage.

Download a copy of our free Monthly 50/30/20 Budget Worksheet. It’s a free excel spreadsheet to help you create and maintain your budget.

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Set a Savings Goal

After you have a full understanding of your finances, it is time to set a savings goal.

Determine the exact amount or percentage of your income that you would like to save. This will give you a hard target that you must adhere to.

Use your budget to determine a daily, weekly, or every two weeks savings goal. Most often your saving frequency will line up with your paydays.

This will make it easy for you to set aside your savings immediately when you get paid.

When you initially start learning to save money, the amount you save isn’t important. You need to get yourself into the habit of saving.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of money to save. Saving as little as $5 doesn’t sound like much.

However, it will put you in the mindset of saving and allow you to find it easier to save more money when you have it available.

Related Post: 52 Week Money Challenge – Start a Year of Saving

Limit Spending

A major part of saving money is having money to save.

Your first step in freeing up more money in your budget is to limit your spending. This means spending wisely on the items that you need to live.

Eliminate Extras

Eliminating extras goes hand in hand with limiting spending. Extras would include anything that is not essential to your day to day living.

This includes cable TV, trips to the nail salon, gym memberships, music subscriptions, and eating out just to name a few.

Most of these items are causing you to spend unnecessary money anyway. For example, you can get a great workout at home without any equipment needed.

Take an inventory of the extras that you have in your budget and decide what needs to be cut.

I don’t recommend eliminating all extras as making yourself too uncomfortable will cause you to abandon your savings goals.

For example, you can cut cable TV and keep a subscription to Netflix.

Netflix is an extrahowever if you don’t have any entertainment at home you might be tempted to go out to dinner and the movies causing you to spend more money.

Related Post: 8 Ways to Watch TV without Cable or Satellite

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Get a Side Hustle

Another way to have more money to save is to get a good side hustle.

A side hustle is a way to make money outside of your main job. You can do this by getting a traditional part-timejob or by creating your own side business.

There are multiple ways to make extra money online or by doing needed tasks in your neighborhood.

Side hustles can help you get through times when spending extra money is required like birthdays and holidays. During these times you do not want to stop saving money as scheduled.

You also do not want to tap into your savings to buy gifts. A side hustle is just what you need to make the extra money you need for any holiday or special occasion.

Here are a few ways you can make extra money before Christmas.

The money from your side hustle can be used to increase the amount that you save or to help with unexpected expenses. Don’t make the mistake of spending more because you are bringing in extra cash.

Sell Stuff

Finally, selling unwanted and unused items is a great way to gather up extra money to save.

There are tons of websites and apps available that make selling your stuff easy and most importantly safe. Utilize sites such as the Declutter, the Facebook marketplace, Letgo, Offer Up and eBay.

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Saving is Hard But Doable

Saving when you’re broke is hard but it is definitely doable.

Make up your mind that you are going to start saving, figure out your savings goal, watch your spending, and work on bringing in extra money.

With these steps, you’ll be on your way to filling your savings account and no longer being able to call yourself broke.

Leave a comment and share some of the ways that you save money even when money is tight.

Don’t forget to Like, Share, Tweet, and Pin this post.

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