I want to start a Roth IRA target 2045 ish retirement. We have no non-mortgage debt, a small EF (which I am working on) and max out our 401ks

I want to start putting a few hundred bucks monthly into these accounts.. but everywhere I go (i.e. Vanguard) require initial deposits of >1000.

I'm someone who likes to 'test the waters' before I really start pounding away at something and I don't have $1000 to just throw right at this. I think I would be better starting small and building to it.

Any suggestions?

Save up $1000 in ING, or similar, and then transfer across.

Will give you a feel for whether you can save the cash in the first place, and what affect it will have on your day to day living, before being locked into a Roth.

Once you dive in with the $1,000, it's not necessarily locked up forever. You can withdraw your contributions penalty-free at any time - only the gains would be taxed and penalized.