How To Save $10,000 In A Year (2024)

Saving money can be challenging, especially in this economy. In 2023, the average American reported only having around $65,100 in personal savings—that is, nonretirement savings. While saving more money might be one of your financial goals, it can be hard to get started.

Setting a goal to save $10,000 in a year is an ambitious way to boost your savings. With the right plan, you can turn saving money into a natural habit. These are the steps you can take to save $10,000 in a year—or even sooner.

7 Ways To Save $10,000 in a Year

Once you set a goal to save $10,000 in a year, you’ll need a plan to make it happen. These are a few steps you can follow to do so.

Break Your Goal Down Into Smaller Milestones

On its face, $10,000 might seem like a daunting savings goal. It definitely can be if your income is on par with the national average of around $50,000 of per capita disposable income per year.

To avoid paralysis by analysis, break your goal down into smaller milestones. This can help make it more achievable in the short term.

The easiest way to do this is by setting monthly savings goals. To save $10,000 in a year, you’ll need to save about $833 each month, or around $192 per week. You can look through your budget for ways to reallocate more of your money toward savings.

Analyze Your Budget

After breaking down your goal, take time to analyze your budget. Look at how much money is coming in each month compared to how much is going out. Can you cut back on certain spending categories? Can you increase your income in any way? Answers to these questions will help you build a plan you can put into action to begin saving more money

Cut Unnecessary Expenses

After reviewing your budget, you’ll probably find areas where you can spend less money—freeing up more of it for savings. These are some ways you can reduce unnecessary expenses::

• Prepare meals at home instead of dining out or ordering delivery
• Cancel subscriptions or memberships you don’t use often enough to justify the cost
• Negotiate your car insurance bill, or shop around for a more affordable option
• Bike or take public transit instead of using rideshare services
• Avoid discretionary spending by sticking to a budget

Just like your overall savings goal, cut unnecessary expenses by starting small. Don’t deprive yourself of things you need—or even all of the things you enjoy buying. But be realistic about what you can spend less on. That’s a key to being able to allocate more of your budget toward savings.

Boost Your Income

At the end of the day, there is only so much you can cut from your budget. If you’ve reduced what you can and still fall short of your monthly savings goal, look for ways to boost your income.

You can do this by working overtime, picking up a part-time job, freelancing or doing gig work. You can also start a side hustle in your free time. This can include things like dog walking, tutoring or becoming a virtual assistant.

Choose Where to Put Your Savings

When you’re ready to start diverting more money to savings, you’ll want to send it to an account that helps your money grow. As of October 2023, the average annual percentage yield (APY) on a savings account is just 0.46%. Fortunately, a number of high-yield savings accounts offer far higher APYs, which can give your savings a boost.

To get an even higher rate, you can save your money in a certificate of deposit (CD). CDs are a way to save money by locking it up for a period of time. CDs are available with terms ranging from one week to 10 years. With some CDs offering interest rates 10 times higher than the national average, this can be a great place to park your savings so you aren’t tempted to spend it.

Automate Your Savings

Once you’ve selected an account to keep your savings in, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible to deposit money into the account. The best way to do this is by automating your savings.

If you receive income via direct deposit into your checking account, you can set up a transfer every time you get paid. Alternatively, you can talk to your payroll manager to ensure a portion of every paycheck gets sent straight to savings.

By automating the process, you’ll avoid spending money you’ve designated for savings. This can make it easier to stay within your budget too. If the money is diverted from your paycheck, you’re less likely to think of it as part of your take-home pay. It’s like the adage: “Out of sight, out of mind.” In the case of your savings, if you don’t handle the money, you’re less likely to miss it. Automatically rerouting money into savings accomplishes that.

Celebrate Your Progress

Saving money is hard work. Every time you cross a savings milestone, celebrate your progress. This will keep you motivated as you work toward your larger goal of saving $10,000 in a year.

How To Save $10,000 in Six Months

Saving $10,000 in a year is a good challenge. But what if you want to save that much in six months instead? To reach this goal, you’ll need to save around $1,667 per month, or $56 per day.

While that might seem like a lot, with the right mindset, it’s possible. Follow these steps to jump-start your savings.

Use Visuals to Motivate You

One of the biggest challenges to saving a large amount of money is believing you are capable of doing it. Aside from taking steps to cut spending and increase your income, you’ll also want to create an environment where saving large amounts of money becomes an easy habit.

Create a vision board for your savings goal, or keep a sticky note referencing it on your desk. Use visuals to keep you motivated and serve as a reminder that saving a large amount of money in a short period of time is possible.

Even If You Have to Start Small, Just Start

The hardest part of working toward a difficult goal is getting started. Even if you only have $10 to start with, start there. That’s what will turn your vision into reality. The more you save, the more momentum you’ll generate to keep going.

Try A No-Spend Challenge

Once you get going, you might decide to challenge yourself to save even more money. One thing you can do is to try a no-spend challenge. Instead of reducing your spending, you can completely cut out all unnecessary expenses from your budget.

This will not only help you save more money in a short period of time, it can help you recalibrate your mindset about spending altogether. You may discover you can live on a lot less than you previously thought, allowing you to give your budget a complete overhaul when you’re done.

Do An Income Sprint

Similar to a no-spend challenge, you can also work more aggressively to earn more money. Set a daily or weekly income goal. Do something simple like signing up to work on a gig platform or selling unwanted items online. Treat this as a short-term sprint you can do for a couple of hours or a few days a week to add more to your savings.

How Long Does It Take to Save $10,000?

Saving $10,000 will largely depend on how much you earn and spend. The difference will be what you can set aside toward your savings goal. This will be different for everyone depending on your personal situation.

Cutting expenses, boosting your income and choosing the right savings vehicle are things you can do to save $10,000 faster. Strive to make progress every day, and eventually, you’ll reach your goal.