Save $1,000 in a Few Months

1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” There are very obvious spiritual and moral implications to this verse, but I believe  you can directly apply this to your personal finances as well. If you do not provide well for yourself and your family you are not living up the call of God to be responsible and a good steward of what He has blessed you with.

A very  beneficial and needed aspect of your personal finances is an “emergency" fund. Sometime or another an financial emergency is bound to happen in your life, it's up to you whether you are prepared for it or not. Some people allow these financial hardships to shape or detour their foreseeable fiscal future, and others are able to overcome and move past them due to wise planning and solid execution of a simple plan.

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The word “emergency” has different meanings to different people, so the first thing to do would be to diagnose or define what an “emergency” would be for you and your family. For some its a dental bill, travel expenses for family health emergency, air conditioner goes out, deductible to have your roof replaced, transmission goes out in your car, or something else (look back over the past 5-10 years and recall what have been financially devastating situations/emergencies)...

Once your definition for an “emergency” has been determined, it's important to set the proper amount for your emergency fund. I believe that $1,000 is a great goal to start with, for some of you, you may start higher or lower. I feel this is a very attainable and safe number to start with. I challenge you, if you don't have an emergency fund, go to the bank, open a simple savings account, drop $50.00 in there, and designate that as your emergency fund account, do it tomorrow. This account will be used for the previously mentioned EMERGENCIES only, not to buy that beautiful dress for your daughter, not for tickets to the Cardinals game, and not for Black Friday shopping, this fund is to sustain your finances during an emergency. With this money saved back you don't have to miss a mortgage payment or worry about food on the table this week or gas in the tank so you can go to work when life punches you in the gut.

So where do we start to get this money?

1 – Start Cutting - Find something that you are regularly spending money on that you can live without, and cut it out of your budget (better yet, find 2 or 3 somethings). For example, your morning Starbucks run, Netflix, eating out, a soda from the drink machine at work, having your vehicle detailed, cancel your home phone #, cable TV (when your contract is up or sooner if you can swing it), etc. Find the “something(s)” you can cut, and cut them today...or tomorrow...or soon. It's amazing how fast the $$$$ can add up a month when you cut some things out of your regular budget (let me pause there and state the obvious, if you don't have any form of a budget or an understanding of your monthly income/expenses, you should start there, then work on the emergency fund...you need to understand and take responsibility for your personal finances). 

So if you look back at your budget for the month you may see that eating out is costing you $50.00 a month or $250.00 a month...or more, or somewhere in between. Cut it out or cut it down, and add a designated amount to your “emergency” fund monthly (my wife and I cut Cable TV and Home Phone from our budget about 5 years ago, we don't have any credit card debt/payments, we don't frequent coffee shops or soda machines, and I clean our vehicles myself, its not that any of these things are bad, they are just things removed from our budget which allows us to allocate more money to savings).

2 – Add More Income - Find a secondary and/or thirdary (not a real word) form of income such as; automobile detailing, mowing yards, delivering newspapers, YARD SALE, selling things on ebay or Craigslist, a weekend job, washing windows for a local business, check the classifieds/Craigslist for single time gigs (helping someone move, working for a phone bank poll, running an errand, etc.) With this extra income it will become easy to put this CASH into a separate savings account and work towards you goal of $1,000, or whatever number you set for yourself. (All of the things I've listed as forms of extra income I've done myself or someone I'm close to has done, these are doable things to earn extra income. Not all of them are the most gratifying and might even be humbling, but in the end it's worth it!)

3 – Stop Everything Else – If you are saving to buy a boat, or an iPad, or a new cellphone, or a lawn mower, college fund, retirement account, or something else...stop contributing to that (unless its a 401k or IRA with a minimum you must contribute {if so, keep that up, but maybe for a few months drop to the minimum}). Begin using those previously allocated funds as income for your new “emergency” fund!

You may find that the $1,000 number that I mentioned isn't too difficult to reach once you start to do one, or two, or maybe even all three of these tactics.

"So what's next?" you might ask... 

A – Honor God With Your Finances - I'll put the plug in here now, and I probably should have at the start, but I was afraid you may not have stuck with me, if you aren't giving financially to your local church, I encourage you to do so and watch the blessings pour in. Ask God what He would have you to give, and give it cheerfully. “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  - 2 Corinthians 9:7

B – Have Discipline - 
The discipline to not touch your “emergency” fund unless it is for a specified “emergency” only. If you dip into this account every time you have a "want" it will rarely be at your goal amount, and most likely will hover around $0.00 and do very little to help you in the event of a true emergency.

C – Continue to Save - 
Start to save back the amount of money you would need to live on if you had to go 6 months without a pay check. How much is that for you, $10,000 … $15,000 … $20,000 … more? Figure it out and we can talk about it later in another blog. 

D – Then Save Some More - 
Start saving individually for things you want; start a “personal” fund for the new iPad, cell phone, lawn mower, or whatever it might be. Put an envelope in your safe, fireproof box, or a second savings account. Save Save Save instead of debt debt debt.

Hope that you guys have a great rest of your week and that you can learn the joy that comes from saving, being prepared, and honoring God with your finances!

Be Blessed,
Ryan