Here’s Exactly How to Add $1,000 to Your Bank Account in 30 Days

Sometimes life happens and you find yourself scrambling for money.

I’m all about the long game and trying to make money in the future. However, I realize that you might need a quick fix. You might need $1,000. Unexpected expenses pop up. You could need a new set of winter tires or you may have just figured out that you don’t have enough money to pay for your friend’s destination wedding that’s coming up. Whatever the situation may be, I want to help you.

I want to help you add $1,000 to your bank account in the next 30 days…

How sweet would it be to find an extra thousand dollars right about now in your bank account?

The possibilities are endless. You could do any of the following:

• Go on a trip.
• Pay down your credit card balance.
• Cover your rent.
• Deal with an emergency situation.
• Pay your taxes.
• Buy better Christmas gifts this year.

The list could go on for a while.

Long story short: you either desperately need $1,000 right now to deal with something or you could want the extra cash for some fun. I’m going to help you get there. This article is all about the short-term. There’s no fluff about the long-term in here.

How can you put an extra thousand bucks in your bank account within a month?

Optimize your monthly spending and cut something out.

What are your expenses like? Are you paying for monthly subscriptions/expenses that you really don’t need at this stage in your life? Do you really need that Tinder Gold account right now?

As I was typing this out it hit me that I still have a few monthly subscriptions that I don’t even use anymore. Why am I still paying for them? I guess because they’re automated payments and for me to stop them I would have to actually call someone to put an end to it.

I want you to go through your monthly spending to see where you’re blowing too much money.

Here are a few quick options for an easy win with your monthly spending:

• Check your cell phone bill. See if you can cut something out or switch providers (easier than ever).
• Ask for a reduction on something. This could be anything from your insurance to your monthly rent. If you’ve been making your payments on time consistently, it never hurts to ask for a discount. It’s your money. You can’t let your pride get in the way.

You can easily cut out $100 from your spending by going through your fixed expenses and random subscriptions.

Here’s your homework:

1. Cancel one subscription that you no longer need.
2. Ask for a discount on something that you don’t want to cut out.
3. Put the savings aside.

There’s $100. We have $900 left.

Find a way to make at least $500 in your free time.

You have to find a way to make extra money. This is where you forget about complaining and blaming the world for your problems because you’re about to become too busy for that. You don’t have to give up on your social life forever. You’re just going to have a hectic month.

There are a few options here. The first thing I’ll suggest is that you try to pick up extra shifts at work if this is an option. Maybe you can offer to do some over-time or work on the weekends. If this isn’t possible then I want you to think about these two other options.

Here are the two best ways to make extra money:

1. Find a part-time gig.
2. Use the sharing economy to get paid.

Let’s break these two choices down.

Option #1: Look for a part-time job.

Find a part-time gig isn’t the sexiest topic in the world. Most people want to hear about passive income and dream investments. The harsh truth is that sometimes you have to take things back to basics. You need money in the bank to invest into passive income. You can’t make passive income from ZERO DOLLARS.

You can make some extra cash on the weekends. This will also force you to stay in a little instead of spending money.

Option #2: Use the sharing economy for additional income.

You can try to drive with Uber or with Lyft. You can also look to rent your place out on AirBnb.

1. See what it’s like to drive with Uber.
2. See what happened when Tomasz drove with Lyft.
3. Look at how I rented out my condo on AirBnb.

Driving with a rideshare company is the easiest way to make money on the side these days. You can turn the app on whenever you want to start looking for passengers. You can put in some serious hours in the evenings and on weekends to bring in that extra cash.

You can also use Airbnb to rent out a spare bedroom for money. You’re going to have to deal with strangers staying with you, but I have many friends who pay their mortgage with their rental income.

I realize that in the passive income world we’re all looking for a quick fix. You’re not going to find that in the next 30 days. You’re going to save that thousand bucks. You can then repeat this process in the future until you have enough money to start investing.

I want you to aim for at least $500, but the goal will be $600. We’re at $700 now. $300 more to get to $1,000.

Stay in an entire weekend.

Full disclosure: these days I’ve been all about going out. After writing about personal finance for a decade it’s fun to reward yourself with options. This wasn’t always the case for me though. Times used to be tough. In the past, I would stay in for the weekend when I wanted to add some money to my bank account. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to stay in at 20 when all of your friends were out partying. I wanted to join them but I wanted money in the bank more.

You can use this weekend to work on the other areas mentioned in this post.

Here’s how I would approach this weekend when I was hungrier a few years back:

• Use the weekend to catch up on sleep.
• Save at least $50 by not going out. Chances are that after you factor in transportation, drinks, dinner, and whatever else popups, you’re looking at spending $200.
• Look for freelance writing gigs. An extra article could bring in at least $75. That’s $75 that I didn’t have. Not life changing money, but it sure beats spending $75.

I know that staying in is lame. You know what’s really lame? Being in the same situation at 29 that you were in at 22.

That’s about $100-200. We’ll go with $200. We’re at $900 and need another $100 to hit $1,000.

Sell something online.

Your home is filled with stuff that you don’t need. I guarantee you that you have at least one item that you can flip for a quick profit.

I’m normally not a fan of flipping stuff, but when you’re desperate you have to get creative.

Here’s what I would sell:

• I have two wrestling chairs. I would collect chairs from wrestling shows because you get to keep the seat when you sit in the front row. I’ve sold chairs in the past. I just got lazy about selling these. If I really wanted to get creative, I could try to get my coach or someone I know from wrestling to sign it to increase the value. This would obviously require me to throw my pride away.
• Hockey trading cards. I have some trading cards that I imagine must be worth something. I used to be a pretty serious collector when I was younger and actually cared about sports.

Here’s what I have sold in the past:

• Tickets. If you have some free time, you can try to buy tickets to concerts or events and then try to flip them. I eventually got fed up with trying to buy tickets when they went on sale.
• Old electronics. There’s a market for all kinds of things.

What can you sell for some cash? Go on Kijiji and try to sell that old couch that you have sitting in the garage. This should bring in at least $100.

That’s how you can add $1k to your bank account in the next month.

You can switch the formula around. You can try to bring in $1,000 from just renting out a room or from your part-time gig. The goal is to get an extra thousand bucks in the bank account within a month. Are you ready for the challenge?

It won’t be easy, but you can find a way to add $1k to your bank account. Then you’ll see that it’s possible to grow your net worth when you really want to. The goal is to keep on going until you have six figures in the bank. It all starts with the first $1k.