How to grow your emergency savings from zero to $1,000
Bankrate: Only 47 percent of people have enough savings to cover an emergency $1,000 expense
(InvestigateTV) — A lot of us start the year with the goal to save more money, and then life happens.
The water heater or car breaks down. An unexpected medical bill arrives. Kionnie Epps, founder of the YouTube channel The Responsible Homegirl, said a lot of people worry they have too many bills to pay and can’t find that extra cash to set aside.
“I just want to challenge you to change your perspective around saving. We should not put our savings on the back burner. We have to put our savings on the forefront, because when we don’t prioritize our savings, we end up in debt, or we end up calling family and friends borrowing money,” Epps said.
For those with no savings, Epps said start by pulling out bank statements and look at monthly past spending.
Look at the bills that come out and zero in on some of those subscriptions. Prioritize what’s important and find a few places to cut back. Maybe $20 each month going to a streaming service. Stop that stream for six months and instead put that money in savings.
“When we look at what we’ve been prioritizing, we can start seeing the little pockets of money that we are able to save. Many of us want to save the big, grand amounts like $500 a month or $1,000 a month. No, like, let’s start small and actually build that habit first before we increase the number amount,” Epps said.
She said to get in the habit of saving money, make sure to pay yourself first in every paycheck. Even if it’s just $10 or $20 a paycheck, move that money immediately into savings.
She said before long, the savings account will grow from 0 to $1,000.
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