50 Ways to Make or Save $1000
50 Ways to Make or Save $1000
Change days (Wedding Tip)
“If a venue costs $7,000 on a Saturday, you can most likely negotiate [to lower] that price on a Friday, a Sunday, or a Thursday,” says Norfolk wedding planner Crystal Salazar. For instance, the Kimpton Hotel Eventi in New York City offers promotional packages discounted for weddings on Fridays and Sundays by $36 to $66 per person—meaning for weddings of 100 guests, this could save you $3,600 or more.
Cut back on flowers (Wedding Tip #2)
Flowers can cost upward of $5,000, according to TheKnot.com. Lower your bill by hanging colored linens on the walls and tables, then combining the flowers you do buy with eclectic vases or a centerpiece, says San Diego wedding planner Nahid Farhoud. Doing so can save about $2,000 for weddings of 100 to 200 guests.
Serve wine and beer (Wedding Tip #3)
Mixed drinks typically cost $10 to $12 at the bar, while beer costs $6 and wine around $8, according to Farhoud. That means for a wedding with 150 guests, skipping hard liquor can easily save you about $1,000, assuming three drinks per guest. Another tip: Serve tap water instead of bottled—which can run up to $6 a pop at high-end venues.
Switch credit cards
The average household with credit card debt pays $1,292 in interest a year, according to NerdWallet. A balance transfer can give you a year of 0% APR to help you catch up.
Switch your cell phone plan
The average family of four’s cell phone bill adds up to about $2,880 a year. But Sprint’s prepaid Family Plan—the cheapest plan we found—is only $1,260.
Skip the gym
The average membership costs $50 a month—and much more for boutique classes like SoulCycle. Try a free fitness group like the November Project, which is active in over 40 cities, or an intramural team through work. If all else fails, Janis Isaman, a nutrition coach and Pilates instructor based in Calgary, Alberta, recommends looking on Facebook and Craigslist to find people nearby who also want to form an ad hoc fitness club.
Get a roommate
As many as 14.9 million Americans live with a roommate, according to the U.S. Census. It’s easy to see why: In cities like San Francisco, a roommate can save you more than $1,000 a month, per a 2017 report from SmartAsset, a real estate website. In less expensive markets like Detroit, you’ll save over $300 a month with a roommate, totaling almost $4,000 each year.
Get a gig with Postmates
Delivery men and women have lots of freedom with Postmates, which allows workers to walk, bike, or drive to deliver goods and food in major cities across the U.S. Log on whenever you want. The company says that you can earn as much as $25 an hour, plus tips.
Get a gig with Uber
Uber drivers make an average of $15.68 an hour, according to the popular RideShareGuy blog, though that varies by city and doesn’t include the cost of maintenance or gas (Lyft drivers make even more, $17.50). Still, a few hours each week will easily net you $1,000 by year-end.
Get a gig with TaskRabbit
If you really enjoy building Ikea furniture or don’t mind carrying a couch up three flights of stairs, you can make some serious money on TaskRabbit—about $35 an hour, on average, the company says. Many of the in-demand tasks, like installing shelves or moving furniture, require a skilled hand (or a truck), but if you have the know how you can bank a lot of extra money in your off time.
Take surveys
Blogger Jason Wuerch says he’s earned $10 to $15 an hour filling out online surveys. While Survey Junkie and SwagBucks are the best known, you can maximize your haul by signing up for 10 to 15 and rotating among them, focusing on each site’s most lucrative offers. (Find a list on Wuerch’s site, FrugalForLess.com.) Spend an hour or two a few mornings each week—or work on them during your commute—and you’ll reach $1,000 by year-end.
Test websites
Make money from home by providing feedback on new websites at sites like UserTesting.com, TryMyUI.com, and Userlytics.com, through which you can earn $10 per testing session. SideIncomeJobs.com is another option that has a user fee but guarantees you’ll make $100 in your first 30 days. You won’t be eligible for every testing session, so this is a less steady stream of income than surveys, according to blogger Scott Alan Turner, but it could add up to hundreds of dollars a month.
Try freelancing
Whether you’re a writer, designer, or coder, you can sell your skills in your free time at sites like Upwork and Fiverr. Some of the most popular services on Fiverr’s marketplace are graphic design–oriented like creating logos, as well as copywriting and translation services, says a spokesman. Prices vary per project, from $5 for a simple WordPress bug fix to hundreds or thousands of dollars for something like website design.
Get Rid of Cable
Tens of millions of Americans have dropped cable—and for good reason. The average bill hit $103 a month last year, according to the Leichtman Research Group. But there are countless streaming options. A comprehensive package would include HBO Now, Netflix, Hulu, and CBS All Access, totaling around $37 a month, or $444 a year, for a savings of almost $800. Go with just HBO and Netflix and you’ll save $968.
Take an Extra Shift
For everyone from retail clerks to housekeepers, job website SnagAJob focuses on hourly work. You can search for part-time jobs and specify when you want to work, like nights or weekends.
Sign Up for a Wellness Program
Nearly all large employers offer wellness programs, and about three-quarters of those offer financial incentives to employees to participate. You can earn money for activities like getting your cholesterol checked or signing up for a workplace exercise program. The average employee incentive adds up to $742, according to the National Business Group on Health. Make a healthy salad for dinner instead of getting takeout a couple of times a month, and you’re up to $1,000.
Quit Smoking
“You don’t have to be a heavy smoker to waste big bucks on the habit. In New York, the cigarette minimum is $10.50 a pack (some brands cost $14 or more), which at two packs a week carries an annual cost of $1,000. Last year, I left the smoking section for good and saved more than $900. And not a moment too soon: In 2018, the minimum price for a pack in New York City will jump to $13.” —Kristen Bahler
Use Groupon for wellness visits
You’ve probably already heard about Groupon’s restaurant, fitness, and beauty deals, but did you know you can also use the site for discounted eye, dental, and chiropractic exams? If you visit the chiropractor twice a month, and your insurance doesn’t pay the average $68 fee (as per Chiropractic Economics magazine), you’ll save around $1,000 by using packages advertised on Groupon—which often work out to $25 or less a visit. Just be sure to research each office on Google, Yelp, and social media beforehand. Groupon doesn’t vet its merchants, so if a business doesn’t have a solid Better Business Bureau rating and plenty of good customer reviews, it’s probably worth skipping.
Eat at Home
Want restaurant-quality fare without spending the money for a meal out? Budget meal-kit services, like Dinnerly, can take the hassle out of cooking and save you money if you are willing to skip dining out. A couple spend about $3,000 a year in restaurant and takeout expenses. Dinnerly charges $38.99 for three meals a week—saving almost $1,130 a year.
Buy the Store Brand
The typical family of four with school-age children spends $1,054 a month on food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On average, store brands are 30% to 40% cheaper than famous name ones, says food marketing analyst Phil Lempert. That means, over the course of a year, shaving $1,000 from your grocery bill should be well within reach. One tip: Compare ingredients and nutritional information on the packages. If they are the same, chances are both products are being made by the brand-name company and are basically identical, according to Lempert.
Stop ordering alcohol when you eat out
The average menu price for an imported beer is $5, according to Numbeo. In other words, treating yourself and a date to two drinks with dinner once a week will cost you $1,040 a year. Skipping those drinks won’t just save you money, but also thousands of calories apiece.
Pack your lunch
People who buy lunch every weekday burn through serious cash—about $2,500 a year, if you spend $10 on an average meal. Mona Meighan, author of What Are You Doing for Lunch? estimates that brown bagging can cut your costs by 80%. You don’t even have to go that far. Swap your $10 lunch-out habit for a meal from home that costs $4, Monday through Thursday, and you will save about $1,200.
Use Mint
You can’t save if you don’t know how you’re spending your money. “By seeing how much money is going in vs. going out, you will be able to make better buying decisions to help reach your financial goals,” says Andrea Woroch, a consumer finance expert. Apps like Mint or PocketGuard help because they make it easy to see which needless purchases you can eliminate in the future. Woroch says most of the wiggle room will probably come from clothing, grocery, and entertainment spending.
Put savings on autopilot
“With Digit, you select a goal and a time frame in which to accomplish it (mine is to save $2,000 in the next year for a vacation), and the app saves small amounts of money for you. Digit has a monthly fee of $2.99 after a 100-day free trial, which is something to be aware of, but so far I’ve saved over $400 in just a few months, which I just wouldn’t have done on my own. Plus, I get daily text messages with my bank balances and how far I’m progressing toward my goal.” —Alicia Adamczyk
The Money Challenge
The 52 Week Money Challenge is simple: Save an extra dollar every week of the year—$1 the first week, $2 the second week, and so on, until you reach $52 saved in the last week of the year, for a total savings of $1,378. “So many of us don’t deal with money, because we have negative associations with it,” says Kristin Wong, author of the forthcoming book Get Money, who led a similar challenge for Lifehacker.com. “If you can make it fun and empowering to save money, you’re going to actually want to deal with it.”
No-Spend
Try a “no spend” month, or a day each week, by picking a time in which you pay bills but buy nothing except the necessities (groceries, gas, etc.). It may seem difficult, but there are plenty of forums on the web for support—try Reddit’s 12-million-subscriber-strong Personal Finance subreddit, or NPR’s Your Money and Your Life Facebook group, where commenters update their “no spend” challenges daily. “Small challenges lead to small wins, and it’s super empowering to see that you’ve actually saved some cash,” says Wong.
Book holiday flights in advance
For a family of four, booking flights before Halloween saves about $1,200 on average if you are planning to travel for both Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah, based on price estimates from Hopper.
Shop around for lodging
For your next trip, check out a vacation rental through sites like Airbnb, VRBO, or HomeAway. A recent study found that in 16 of the top 22 cities for travelers, Airbnb stays were cheaper than hotels by an average of $56 a night. That may net only the heaviest travelers $1,000 a year. But in some cities, like London and Paris, the savings were much greater—eclipsing $100 a night. In other locations, including Toronto, Vienna, and Madrid, you could save $90 to $100 on average by renting a room in an apartment where guests share the kitchen and bathroom.
Stay as a family
For a weeklong vacation with kids, consider skipping a conventional hotel where you’ll have to book two rooms and instead take advantage of an extended stay hotel like TownePlace Suites or Candlewood Suites. On average, you’ll save $157 a night at this type of lodging—which usually includes a kitchenette and a sofa bed for the kids.
Play the rewards game
For frequent travelers, it can pay to rack up points on a rewards card. Put all of your purchases, especially on dining and travel, on a card like Chase Sapphire Preferred or American Express Platinum, and your miles should save you $1,000 or more a year on flights.
Stop playing the lottery
Americans spend more than $70 billion a year on lottery tickets, well over $1,000 per household in some states like Massachusetts ($1,976) and Georgia ($1,211), according to data site Metrocosm. Your chances of winning Powerball: about 1 in 292 million.
Skip gadgets
The new iPhone X is priced at $999 and up. Don’t buy it.
Pen greeting cards
Publishers pay anywhere from $50 to several hundred dollars for a “complete concept”—the text and the idea for an illustration, says Ron Kanfi, president of gag card company NobleWorks. Carefully research the publisher ahead of time, so that you can write in the house style, then send six to 10 of your best ideas, he recommends.
Sell your crafts on Ebay or Etsy
Whether you cross stitch or handcraft jewelry, the trick to selling your stuff online is promoting it with frequent social media posts and beautiful photos, says Debby McClain, who operates two Etsy shops. “In a huge sea of sellers, you have to make sure you are seen,” adds McClain, who has sold crafts online for 19 years.
Get some carpool buddies
At $3.08 a gallon—the five-year national average for gas—a 25-mile commute costs about $2,000 annually in gas alone. And while gas prices have been low recently, gas price researcher GasBuddy predicts they will go up in 2018. By alternating the days you drive to work, you stand to save roughly $1,000—and that’s before you factor in tolls, depreciation, and any parking costs. Bring in a third buddy, and the savings climb to $1,300.
Wait a year
These days the average car is on the road for more than 11 years, up from nine in 2000, according to the Transportation Department. Resisting the urge to trade in for a newer model will easily save $1,000 in payments.
Improve your mileage
Keeping your tires inflated could save you $112 a year in gas money, according to one survey by Edmunds—or as much as $800 if they’re severely deflated. Additionally, aggressive driving can lower your gas mileage by anywhere from 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic, according to SAE International, an auto industry trade association. With the average American estimated to spend more than $1,500 on gas this year, that’s another $156 to $624 in your pocket.
Sign up for pretax transit programs if offered by your employer
Do you spend up to $255 for parking and/or transit a month? For someone making $37,950 to $91,900, that translates into savings of more than $750. If you park and ride, or make more than $91,900, you can easily surpass $1,000.
Get your boss to hire your buddy
“Most companies will give you a referral bonus if you recommend someone for a job and the company does indeed hire her. The most common referral bonus is between $1,000 and $2,500, according to a 2016 report from WorldatWork, a nonprofit human resources association. (Referrals for clerical positions are typically lower, from $500 to $1,000, the report found.) In 2015 an average of 13% of new hires came from referrals. I recommended a friend from my college paper. She got hired just as I was moving apartments, and the bonus paid for the movers and some new furniture.” —Alicia Adamczyk
Get a cost of living increase
In some cases, earning an extra grand could be as simple as doing nothing but continuing at your current job. Salaries are expected to increase 3.2% on average next year, according to the Economic Research Institute, meaning if you make the average U.S. wage of $49,630, you’ll bank almost $1,590.
Rent out your house
Though not everyone has extra space to rent out, those who do can earn a decent amount of money via platforms like Airbnb. “I pulled in over $800 a month—all from renting out a spare room that was getting no use,” says Kevin Han, who writes the Financial Panther blog. Earnest, a lending company, reports that Airbnb hosts make an average of $924 a month, although the median, which may reflect a more typical experience, is $440.
Rent your car
Similar to Airbnb, sites like Getaround and Turo provide marketplaces where individuals can rent out their vehicles. Again, how much you make will depend on your car: A Honda Civic can earn over $367 a month, according to data provided by Turo, while the average monthly earnings for all users is $539, which accounts for insurance costs.
Rent your boat
You don’t have to have a super-yacht. Catamarans, sailboats, motorboats, and even kayaks are in demand. Renting your bowrider in Miami could earn you $39 an hour, while a weeklong rental of a deck boat in Seattle could net you $5,000, according to listings on GetMyBoat.
Rent everything else
There’s no shortage of sites that want to be the Airbnb for your other stuff. On ShareGrid, professional photographers offer gear for as much as $1,000 a month. If you have a parking space or driveway in a city like Chicago or New York, CurbFlip and JustPark help you find renters—about a third of parking space owners earn $1,000 a year or more, according to CurbFlip. Omni is a San Francisco–based company that stores your extra stuff—from bikes to camping gear to Halloween costumes—and rents it out for you if you opt-in.
Ditch the dorm
Room and board now cost more than tuition and fees at public four-year colleges, according to the College Board. Reduce the average $10,800 expense by searching for bargains off campus. Even better? Look for a co-op, where residents do weekly chores in return for lower rent. The North American Students of Cooperation says this option can save 20% to 50% off the cost of private market rent in your college town.
Babysitting Co-op
Set up a local babysitting co-op. Amy Suardi, the mother of five behind the blog Frugal Mama, says aim to enlist about five families, at least at the start. It’s “kind of like a fire,” she says. “You have to fan the flames a lot in the beginning to get it going.”
Say no to attending a wedding
Average cost to attend an out-of-town wedding: $1,184 per couple, says American Express. Take the newlyweds to a Champagne dinner instead, suggests relationship expert April Masini.
Get discounts on kids’ sports
Activities like gymnastics can easily top $1,000 a year. But you don’t always have to pay full freight. “Call and ask,” says Elisabeth Leamy, host of the Easy Money podcast. “It’s not always on the website.” Leagues that don’t offer aid may still know about government grants. Local city councils near Leamy’s home in the D.C. suburbs offer grants for both low-income and military kids, she says.
Mind your neighbor’s kids
Nationally, babysitters earned $13.97 an hour on average last year, according to a Care.com survey. That means by working 6 p.m. to midnight one Friday night a month you can earn $1,006.
Bonus – Save even more!
Stash It…
At the end of every month take what’s left over in your account and put it in savings. If you can’t do the whole thing just save $100. This will give you a definite $1200 at the end of the year.
