An average Salary earner who doesn’t have any side hustle is a rich person at the beginning of each month, but this richness does not last till the month ends. Towards the end of the second week of the new month, one move from eating from big eateries to local buka popularly known as ‘mama put’ and from cruising in cab/uber/Taxify etc to jumping from one bus popularly known as ’danfo’ to another.
https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/australias-biggest-salaries
The flow slowly dies out, then you’re officially broke and you unconsciously start the count-down to the end of the month, with the intention to be more judicious in this coming month.
Interestingly, pay day comes, at first, you try to be careful in your spendings then lo and behold, something from nowhere will pop to your head and say, life is short! I cannot come and go and kill myself!, after all, I’m the one working for the money.
Then before you realize it, the cycle will start repeating itself and this time it might even be worse than previous months if care is not taken.
Well it does not have to be that way all the time, all you have to do is follow these my advices, I tried it times without number and they worked perfectly for me.
https://www.oregon.gov/boli/whd/pages/index.aspx
NOTE:These plans only suit bachelors and spinsters.
- Food 10k-20k: food is the most important thing in human’s life, with food in the system, you’ll be able to go about the days activities smoothly, and most interestingly, food is what carries majority of our money, so how do you go about it? One very way to save money is by cooking your food yourself but some people sees cooking as a big deal, so if you fall in this category, then you should get a place where you can be getting food daily for as low as 500#. Let me share a secret with you with food sellers, if you they see you patronize them daily, they will take you as their customer and thereby selling plenty food for you at a reasonable price. So when next you’re going to buy food, ensure you do something that will make the seller notice you. Some people can finish large quantities of food at a go, so the best way to save in this case is to at all times be cooking at home, if not you’ll end up spending more than you budgeted. If the money budgeted for other stuffs is more, you can easily divert excesses to food. We’re what we eat.
- Transportation 20k-25k: The best way to get cheap and affordable transportation in Lagos for example is to leave home on time. Aside from getting cheat transportation, it also make one get to work or meetings early enough. Leaving home as early as 5:30 am or 6:00 am will make one get bus at a very affordable price rather than leaving home around 7:00 am. This is my little trick of getting cheaper means of getting to work those good old days. The places they charge 100# or 150# will be charged 50# or 100# at the early hours. Aside from BRT busses in Lagos, prices of busses are not fixed, they are determined by the crowd at the bus stop, the more the commuters the more the money (Lagos, what a crazy state). This is somehow tricky, because this solely depends on the distance between your work and your home, but anyone who earns less than a 100k shouldn’t stay very far from his work.
- Airtime/Subscription 5k: These days that virtually everything you need is gotten online, job, food, transportation, information and even the social media, It’s very important you include it in your budget, if not you’ll spend way more than yourself. Here is what I’ll advice people to do, you can buy recharge card of 2,500 and subscribe for 5GB if you use Airtel not only will you get the data, you’ll get up to 10,000 bonuses to call even to other networks uninterrupted. So you’ll get data+calls for 2,500 and if the data finishes within two weeks, you can get another 2,500 card to do the same thing for the remaining two weeks. Isn’t that a wonderful plan?
- Toiletries and Cosmetics 5k: This are your soap, cream, perfume, toothpaste etc. if you are a lady, you’ll need to increase this to like 10k, but for majority of the guys, the 5k might be even much, so I’ll advice you divert the remaining money to food and transportation. For most guys, for example me, I use soap of less than 500 naira monthly, I don’t use body cream, I only use hair cream because of my Afro and the hair cream costs 1,200 which I can use for up to 4 months or thereabout, and I use 1k roll-on for minimum of two months. So the excess money in this group I always divert to feeding and transportation. This can be very tricky for ladies, as they always want to have a change of toiletries and cosmetics every now and then.
- Clothing and accessories 5k: If you’re looking to fill your wardrobe all at once, you might end up not eating or transporting for a whole month, instead, get them bit by bit, for Rome wasn’t built in a day and a drop of water makes a mighty ocean. Just have a plan and be consistent on the plan. Maybe you want to get singlet and boxers this month, then you’ll get at least a shirt and a polo next month. The most important part of this is that you cut your coat according to your size, don’t go about buying the latest designer accessories as they are always very expensive, don’t be surprised if it’s just your boss that can afford it in your office or your coworkers that have other businesses they do aside they do
- Giving and Charity 10k Givers never lack and beggars always beg. It is very good to give, not just to your friends and family but also to outsiders. You never know the lives you’re saving or the joy you’re putting in people’s faces If you give out as low as 5k to charity organizations. It might be low to you but very high to them. I’m as much as it’s very good giving, one must try as much as possible to not give beyond ones budget. So it’s very good for one to include giving and charity in ones budget.
- Hair-do 5k: One doesn’t necessarily need to break the bank to look very good. Yes, millions are used by some people on hair just to look good, just have at the back of your mind that you’re not in that level yet. Be realistic to yourself. Watch out for good hair stylists and are also cheap so they can help you be maintaining your hair. Look for hairs that are durable and cheap. Putting this in your budget goes a long way in checking the amount you spend on hair.
- House-rent 10k: This is not Europe where you’ll be required to pay your rent weekly or monthly, in this part of the world, one is required to pay on yearly basis. For a good enough and comfortable apartment, at least a room self contained is good for a bachelor or spinster and it’s best saving up monthly for the rent, if not you’ll be left looking for money where you’ve not kept it. Saving 10k monthly doesn’t only save one from house-rents, it saves one from unnecessary embarrassment of borrowing money here and there to pay up as landlords are not ready to listen to stories whatsoever.
- Miscellaneous 5k: This should cover for unplanned expenses like traveling, medical, drugs, repairs of something damaged in the house etc. for example, if the television got damaged, one will be rest assured that one will be able to get it repaired on time. Another usefulness of this is that one can save in this group to buy something tangible.
- Savings 10k: The last and the most important.
https://www.homesofpanamacity.com/2018/06/21/4-ways-to-save-for-your-first-home/
The most important thing for a wise worker to do is to save. Savings save from from unnecessary pressure of looking for what’s not lost. At least before seeking help from friends and family, the money saved can be used to sort little things in case of emergencies. Why do we work if we don’t have any savings whatsoever?
If this is followed promptly, one is assured of being at ease with oneself, no dependence on anyone anymore, it readies one for challenges, it helps one to be ready for future tasks etc.
It’s very good we help ourselves
No amount is enough if not properly spent.
Thanks and have a wonderful weekend.
