How to Save $10,000 in a Year in 2023 on Any Income

How to start

This is my plan, no matter what your income is, to see how we can save £10,000 (or $10,000 US). My income is about £1,800 a month ($2,163 US), and that's before all my bills come out. So when you think of it that way, it's not much money.

I'm going to share with you my process, my thoughts, my ideas, and how I'm going to do that going forward.

Of course, it isn't just the £1,800 I've got coming in that I will use. I will have to look at creative and ingenious ways to ensure that I have enough money to accomplish my goal.

You may be thinking this sounds great, and you'd love to be able to do this, but £10,000 or $10,000 might be just too much. If so, why not go for £5,000 (or $5,000) or even £2,500 ($3,000)? The process, thoughts, and ideas are essentially the same; you're just doing smaller amounts.

Creating a plan

Let's get started and see how we will save 10,000 in a year. £10,000 is my goal (or $10,000 for those in the US to keep the numbers round) to save this year. I have not got a massive income; I've got a really, really small income.

However, if you plan correctly and have a goal, a why, and a focus, it's possible to do. I will also do this alongside a no-spend, or a minimum spend, sort of year.

Doing the math

So when we look at this as a number, 10,000 sounds daunting. To make it manageable, I'll start by taking the £10,000, and I'm going to divide it by twelve. You can do the same to save $10,000 in a year.

10,000 divided by twelve now becomes 833 per month. Again, that sounds like a lot of money to save. My typical bring-home money is about £1,800 from my business. Then I've got £145 for child benefit, which I get from the government in the UK.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to split this again and partition it, if you like, into two separate areas. So if we do 833 divided by two, which is 416.50, we'll call it 417.

I think I should be able to get this number from my wages. I think it's going to be difficult, it's going to be tight, but if I do it alongside a no-spend year, it's doable or at least £400 because typically, once I've done all my calculations, I've got myself around about £100 a week to cash stuff.

So if I did that per week, it would leave me about £90 a week to cash up.

I'll take 417 and divide it by four because that's how I cash stuff. I like to do it every week because my life can be quite fraught sometimes, and things change all the time, especially when you've got children. It's quite helpful for me to do it by week, and it keeps me accountable.

So if I do that, it's 104.25 a week, and I can either choose to cash stuff this money separately each week, or I could take this out of my bank at the start of every month when I get paid.

If you're doing this or doing something similar, you might find it easier to set it up as a direct debit, so it just comes out and goes into a separate account, and it's not touched.

How to get funds

I've got different places where I can get this money from. Currently, I'm averaging between £100 and £200 a month for YouTube. I've decided that money will go straight into the 10,000 savings fund.

I've got to keep some to one side for tax, so I'd like to say an average of 100 after tax from YouTube.

I also get various amounts from Etsy, but I can probably put 100 away each month from that income source. I'm also a part-time tutor, and the extra money I would need would be the equivalent of taking on one new student who came every week.

With YouTube, Etsy, and tutoring, that gives me 300, so I need to consider where I can get extra money. I'm going to look at decluttering this year. I've got so much stuff in this house from when I worked at schools or had little businesses, and it needs decluttering.

So I'm going to have a big declutter and a resale. That will bring in extra cash to put toward my goal.

An additional way to earn more money is my other hustles. I'm going to be doing a lot more affiliate marketing. I've got a couple of interviews from newspapers and magazines and have been asked to write columns and things. I've got books that make me a little bit of money every month.

So that is really where this money is effectively going to be coming from. It's going to be strict, and it's going to be restrictive, but once it's done, you'll have that pocket of cash for whatever you need. When you break it down, it becomes much more manageable.

If it's too much for you, half it or aim for £2500, or whatever you think you can do. Even if you don't hit that goal, you'll have made an excellent start and got that ball rolling.

How to save $10,000 in a year

Saving $10,000 or £10,000 is doable with the right mindset and determination. Look at your finances and see what you can do. What are you planning to do to achieve your goal? Comment below to share your plans and ideas.