How hard is it to save $10,000 in a year?

For some with good paying jobs this should not be too hard, for those of us who are not so fortunate, well. It would take a lot of structure and self discipline to do this, figure out a budget, stick to it, and hope for the best. There are many variables in people's lives-kids, cars, mortgage or rent, food, incidentals, repairs....then figure out where this saved money is going to be coming from and where are you going to put it. It is going to be taxed in some form unless you have a safe means of storage.

I know of people who have done this, but they are the ones who sell something big- house, vehicle, or something like that. You could also save money that you get/earn outside of your 'regular' income- tax return, child support, etc. Or of course, get a second job while not increasing your expenditures.

I save all money (in a separate account) that is not my work income- tax returns, current tax credits, bonus at work, any unplanned income.  Out of sight, out of mind works well for me.

Yes, I agree @redcatcec. This is something I'm only aspiring to do, as I know I won't be there by the end of 2022. I have a mortgage and childcare to account for alongside everyday expenses.

@KellyFromKeene I'm definitely looking into setting up a new savings account that automatically takes a small portion of funds from each paycheck. It won't be anywhere near $192 a week to hit $10k in a year, but it'll be a start!

It was easier for me because I started during the heart of the pandemic, last year April 30,2020, because I was bored. Started with the Stash app, putting  $10 in 5 companies automatically every week, gradually adding more companies. Since I was working from home and was not shopping as much as before the pandemic, it was easy to stick with it, So, I got used to having the extra money after paying all my bills, I now put in $100 in 10 companies and $5 here and there in other companies, totaling to about $500 a month. A year and 7 months later, I have now invested $12, 218.31. I am now used to saving that amount and don't miss it at at all.

As mentioned in another comment earlier, this might be easier if someone had a much higher income.

For example, if you made $200k/yr, saving $10k/yr is trivial because that won't require too much effort. Conversely, if you made $50k/yr and had to save $10k/yr + you had childcare expenses....that'd a bit tougher, if not outright impossible.

At some point, it may be easier to just make $10k more per year than to save another $10k/yr. For example, saving $192/week might be near impossible if all fixed expenses put you into saving only $10/week. In those cases, you can't really squeeze any more blood from a stone and it's easier to either 1) work a 2nd job / hustle, or 2) get a raise to make an *additional* 10k/yr. If you can only save $10/week but made another $10k/yr, you don't have to sacrifice your quality of life at all and you'd still save an extra $10k/yr.

Certainly, making an extra $10k/yr isn't easy, but it's easier than doing the impossible which is to save an extra $10k/yr when there isn't any more room in the expenses to do so.

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https://goodmoneygoodlife.com

I am going to start this. I think it will be January 1st goal for 2022. I am currently on a no-spend challenge for November which means no Amazon shopping. I need to replace my emergency fund & pay off my credit card balance. I am so mad at myself for getting in this position over things that I don't really even need. I've found a bunch of good brands, dress clothes that are 2 sizes too big in my closet which I never open. So am looking for a good resale place online and looking for suggestions.

I don't know how feasible this is anymore but before the pandemic I used to go to the bank and every time I would get some of my money back in Nickels.

The idea behind it was that I wouldn't want to go spend a bunch of nickels to buy anything, and it also allowed me to search through them for silver.

At the end of the year I had saved up several hundred dollars of nickels.

Not a ton of money compared to 10,000 but still something.