3 Painless Ways for the Middle Class To Save $5,000 This Year

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Saving $5,000 in a single year is not an easy task for many middle-income earners, which Pew Research Center classifies as the 52% of the U.S. population with incomes between $56,600 and $169,800.

It’s difficult, yes, but not impossible — or even painful if done right. 

The following tips can light a path to saving $5,000 for an emergency, a down payment or any other savings goal just one year from today. 

Make You Your No. 1 Bill — and Dare Yourself To Aim Higher

To save $5,000 this year, you’d have to find around $417 to pay yourself first each month as your most important bill. That’s a little more than $96 per week. 

If that sounds prohibitive on top of your housing costs, car payment, taxes and the rest, consider that $5,000 is only about 9% of $56,600, the lowest qualifying salary on Pew’s middle-income scale. 

That’s less than half of the 20% that the 50/30/20 budget rule suggests. If one dollar in five is too heavy a lift, even the most generous guidelines suggest saving at least 10% to 15% of your income. 

If you’re in the middle class and saving less than 9% of your income, start by adopting a money mindset where you’d be disappointed by banking $5,000 in a year — and start looking for painless solutions close to home. 

Don’t Eat Your Way Out of the Middle Class

You might not have to look far to find $5,000. It could be hiding in your kitchen. 

The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditures Survey found that the average household spends nearly $4,000 annually on dining out, and that’s the September 2024 report, based on 2023 data. The price of food away from home has outpaced inflation since then.

If you can cut that by three-quarters to $1,000, you’d already have three-fifths of your $5,000 goal. According to Harvard, the average family can save the other $2,000 by shopping using meal planning and reducing food waste.

But wouldn’t those cuts be painful? Comparatively, no.

Falling out of the middle class and into poverty because your empty emergency fund forced you into unsustainable debt is painful. Visiting three restaurants a year instead of 12 is not.

Make Your Rarely-Used Car Pay — Because It Can Earn a Lot

The person-to-person car rental marketplace Turo is often analogized as being the Airbnb of vehicles. Middle-class earners with rarely used first cars or those with multiple cars can rent their vehicles directly to borrowers who want to bypass the lines, fees and hassles of the traditional car rental experience — and it can put 5,000 painless dollars well within reach.

The Turo Carculator divides average annual vehicle earnings by average annual loan payments to project how much specific vehicles typically make their owners in specific regions. Even lower-end cars worth between $10,000 and $25,000, like the 2018 to 2024 Ford Focus, Mitsubishi Mirage and Nissan Versa Note, generate a return on investment of between 150% and 195%. 

Vehicles in that class tally annual averages of between $7,000 and nearly $14,000 — and pricier rides can earn even more.

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