How To Save Enough Money To Take Your Side Hustle Full-Time
A few months ago I shared how I prepared to quit my full-time job and make my side hustle my main gig. Since sharing that post I’ve gotten lots of questions about how to save that amount of money. Saving can be hard. It can be especially hard if you’re on your own with no other support to fall back on. That’s where I was when I made the decision to start saving to go full-time. These are a few of the ways that I set aside extra money to reach my goal of having three months of living expenses set aside! You can read more about why I saved that amount and other ways you can prepare to quit your job here.
Automatic withdraws. If you’re not a good saver, then there’s a chance that you’re not paying attention to your weekly Starbucks order or how much you paid for shipping on that last online order. That means there’s also a good chance you won’t notice an extra $10 leaving your account each week either. Open a savings account and ask your bank about how to set up an automatic withdraw from your checking account each week. A lot of employers will let you split your paycheck between a couple of accounts as well, which means you could never even see these dollars leaving your checking account. You’ll be surprised at how fast it grows! If you don’t notice the $10 per week, up it to $20. Don’t notice that? Up it to $30 per week. The more you can put aside each week the faster you’ll be ready to pursue your passions without the stress of not paying the bills!
The $5 bill trick. For this to work you have to be using cash but this has been the most beneficial trick I’ve ever learned when trying to save a little extra money. I get my spending money in cash each week and have committed to never spending a $5 bill. If I spend a $20 and get a $5 bill as part of my change, I’ll put it in my piggy bank as soon as I get home. Some people do this with $1 bills but I found that I receive $1 bills ALL THE TIME and ended up putting away more spending money than I could afford. The $5 bill was the perfect balance and saved me an extra $800 last year. Crazy, right?
Saving your raise. You got a raise! Yay! Now, instead of spending more, start banking those extra dollars. You’ve already learned to live without those extra dollars so why not continue how you’re currently living and get ahead!
Pay it forward. Making some extra money off of your side gig? Don’t spend it. Keep that money in the bank and you can quickly have the extra dollars to quit your job and go full-time with your dreams. This is also a great time to open a separate account for your business! If it’s not going straight into your personal account you’ll find your tax prep is easier and you’re less likely to spend it!
Acorns. One of my favorite downloads of 2018 is Acorns, which allows you to save your change. Simply connect your cards, and all connected purchases will automatically be rounded up and invested! So far I’ve saved an extra $250 this year and haven’t even noticed. I love any saving method that has no effect on your current lifestyle and this is definitely one of those methods! If you click here and sign up for Acorns you will receive an extra $5 when you invest $5, so get started!!
These are the tips and tricks I used to save enough money to quit my job. It took a little bit of patience and a whole lot of self control but now that I’m working for myself full-time I can happily say it was well worth it.
xoxo,
Jo
Hi! I’m Jo.
I want to live in a world where anyone, anywhere can pursue their passions and do what they love. My contribution to this dream? This little place on the internet.