How to Quit Living Paycheck to Paycheck and Quickly Save $1,000

Wouldn’t life be a little easier if you had a $1,000 cushion in your emergency fund?

The paycheck-to-paycheck cycle is an easy one to fall into — and a hard one to break.

But trust us: There are ways out — and we want to help.

One of the best ways to tackle this cycle to the cold, hard ground is to take it step by step. No, you won’t get ahead overnight. This is going to take a little time. But in the end, it’ll be worth it — and it doesn’t have to be hard.

Here are the 9 steps you need to take right now…

1. Add $225 to Your Wallet While Watching Movie Previews

If we told you that you could get paid while watching videos on your computer, you’d probably laugh.

It’s too good to be true, right?

But we’re serious. By signing up for a free account with InboxDollars, you could add up to $225 a month to your pocket. They’ll send you short surveys every day, which you can fill out while you watch someone bake brownies or catch up on the latest Kardashian drama.

No, InboxDollars won’t replace your full-time job, but it’s something easy you can do while you’re already on the couch tonight, wasting time on your phone.

Unlike other sites, InboxDollars pays you in cash — no points or gift cards. It’s already paid its users more than $56 million.

Signing up takes about one minute, and you’ll immediately receive a $5 bonus to get you started.

2. Save $715 on Car Insurance

When was the last time you compared car insurance rates? Chances are you’re seriously overpaying with your current policy.

If it’s been more than six months since your last car insurance quote, you should look again.

And if you look through a digital marketplace called SmartFinancial, you could be getting rates as low as $22 a month — and saving yourself more than $700 a year.

It takes one minute to get quotes from multiple insurers, so you can see all the best rates side-by-side. Yep — in just one minute you could save yourself $715 this year. That’s some major cash back in your pocket.

So if you haven’t checked car insurance rates in a while, see how much you can save with a new policy.

3. Don’t Delete Another Email — They Could Be Worth Money 

It turns out deleting your emails could be costing you money. Intrigued?

One of our secret weapons is called Capital One Shopping Price Protection — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It’s free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.

Plus, if your guaranteed shipment shows up late, Capital One Shopping Price Protection will help you get compensated.

Capital One Shopping Price Protection compensates us when you sign up using the links we provide.

4. Put Those Savings to Work — and Invest in Real Estate

By now you’ve saved your first $500. Want to get into real-estate investing without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars or playing landlord? We found a company that helps you do just that.

Oh, and you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars, either. With a minimum investment of just $500, Fundrise will invest in its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that offer expected returns of 8% to 11% per year.

This isn’t an obscure investment. You can see exactly which properties are included in your portfolio — like a set of townhomes in Snoqualmie, Washington, or an apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Fundrise does the heavy lifting of buying million dollar properties and pays you dividends quarterly plus extra periodic distributions if properties are sold.

You’ll pay a 0.85% annual asset management fee and a 0.15% annual investment advisory fee.

Remember investments come with risk. While Fundrise has paid distributions every quarter since at least Q2 2016, your payment is never guaranteed.

5. Get a Side Job That Pays up to $60/Hour

Can you open an excel spreadsheet? Does earning $60 an hour sound appealing? How about the freedom to work remotely while helping others succeed?

Those are the perks of working as a bookkeeper, says Ben Robinson, a certified public accountant and business owner who teaches others to become virtual bookkeepers.

You don’t have to be an accountant or even really good at math to be successful in this business. In fact, all you need are decent computer skills and a passion for helping business owners tackle real-world problems.

The ability to stay moderately organized is helpful too.

Median pay is around $19 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — and you have no commute. It’s a great opportunity for parents who want a part time job, recent college grads and anyone who wants to bring in real money working from home.

Robinson shares what it takes to be a virtual bookkeeper, plus tips for making this career work for you in his free class at Bookkeeper Business Launch.

6. Get Your Paycheck a Little Early 

Still having a hard time making it to payday? Let Chime give you your check a couple of ays early.

Unlike most financial institutions, this online banking app doesn’t wait until your pay date to give you access to your money. As soon as it receives notification of a direct deposit from your employer, it immediately posts those funds to your account.

That means you’ll get your paycheck early — like Samuel Demeny, who recently switched to Chime. He uses direct deposit. His company technically pays everyone on Fridays, but Chime gets him access to that cash two days earlier than his co-workers.

“The fact that I’m paid on Wednesday versus Friday… helps me budget before the weekend even starts,” Demeny told The Penny Hoarder.

Not everyone is guaranteed the two-day head start Demeny has. That depends on your employer and its financial institution. We talked to another Chime account holder, Lee Best, who gets his paycheck one day ahead of his co-workers — on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

Plus, Chime offers some other unique features other banks haven’t caught on to yet, such as:

• It doesn’t charge overdraft fees, monthly maintenance fees, foreign transaction fees or minimum balance fees.
• You can open an easy-to-access, connected savings account. It allows you to automate your savings with features like the round-up tool, which will round up your transactions to the nearest dollar and dump the change into savings.
• It has a “Pay Friends” feature, so you don’t have to mess with cash, math or other apps to split the bill.
• Chime customers have access to thousands of fee-free MoneyPass ATMs around the country and mobile check deposit.

Who doesn’t want to get paid early?

Opening an account with Chime is free and only takes about five minutes.

7. Top Your Saving Account Off With Another $100 or More

Online surveys aren’t our favorite way to make money, but if you’re just vegging out on the couch — or shielding your eyes while being forced to watch “Final Fantasy 113” — why not click a couple buttons and earn a few bucks?

We’ve tried a lot of the survey sites, but the one we continually recommend is Swagbucks (rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau).

One of our readers, Jessica Maloy, made over $600 over the course of a few months!

8. Take a Picture of Your Receipts

Add this money to your savings account each month and you’ll rack up more than $1,000 in no time!