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Life as a student is not as easy as it seems, we have different kinds of students on campus, the one from the rich homes who receive huge money as monthly allowance and are capable to flex or enjoy life the way they want, we have those on from average family that only receive what can sustain them for the month and we have those who don't receive anything and have to fend for themselves, in my case, I was in the last category, at first I was I was receiving 2 thousand naira as my weekly allowance which wasn't even enough to cover transport fare and as a guy, I was thinking maybe I will survive, if I hustle here and there and I can get 2 square meals per day then it is fine. I stayed with my sister who was in her final year. The moment she graduated, I had to get a side job to survive on and the pay back then wasn't up to 20k monthly and I had to stop my weekly 2k allowance so they can use it for other important stuff.
Surviving on 20k monthly wasn't easy, I had to start budgeting things and prioritise what is important and what isn't, I have few friends and I rarely step out, so that save me a little from those social lifestyle and unwanted spending. Anytime I received my salary, I always focus on stocking the house first, there is this yoruba adage that said
"ti ounje ba ti kuro ninu ise, ise buse." which means if immediately food/feeding is out of what keeps people poor, then poverty is out of the way
Food is important, having varieties of food stock up won't even give you the broke feeling since you can come home to eat anything you like, then I set aside part of the money which I will use as my transport fare for the month. I could remember when I try to task myself so I can start saving some of the money but it is very hard especially when bills will just pop up anytime, I once brought a saving box (kolo) and I was saving little by little, before I knew it, I broke the box when bills came in. I don't eat out just to avoid spending more, any social gathering that will make me spend extra money out of my budget is a no for me. It reached a point that I did weekend visitation roster, I list out my friends, based on the roaster, I knew who I will be visiting that weekends and the main purpose is to eat in their house so I can preserve my foodstuff for that particular weekend which do worked out. With time, when my school stress reduced, I was able to divert my free time into other things which start fetching me money and also allow me to start my saving journey using piggyvest app.