The Christmas season is almost here and a lot of us are already planning to make the most of the season.
I grew up in a home where, on Christmas holiday we wake up a early as 5 am to start cooking.
By 7 am, our food is ready mostly Fried rice, Jollof rice and some chin chin and Zobo drrink.
Between 7:30- 8 am we would already be on our way to deliver food packs to our friends and families.
After which we return home to enjoy our meal, see a home video and then sleep.
By afternoon or evening, we could decide to take a walk to a family friend's house to visit them or even receive visitors at our home.
This was the tradition.
When I moved to school, I didn't have the luxury of time to be going home for holidays after my first year.
We were always either preparing for one exam or writing one test during the holiday period.
So I spent most of my Christmas at school.
I had already started fending for myself since 2018 with the little money I made from my business.
Though I still had some support from home at intervals. But by 2021 I was in charge of my finances and my expenses.
I have always heard how they say January is the longest month in the year but I hadn't experienced it until this particular year, 2020.
To be honest, I don't count myself as a wasteful spender but by the time January 2021 came I knew I messed up big time in December.
And this made me make resolutions to never allow a repeat of the same thing again.
Here are a few resolutions I made:
1. To be intentional about making sales in December as a business person.
I wasn't intentional about making sales during the festive period and this made me leave a lot of money that I could have made on the table.
Rather than come up with creative ideas to promote my business, I "closed for the year" way before Christmas 😂
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I honestly think that any business owner must put structures in place to make sales even in the festive period if possible.
The Banks do the same at least they open half day on those days.
Don't get me wrong, I'm big on resting and retreating but closing for the year a week to Christmas was one of the biggest mistake I ever made especially for a food vendor.
In case you're wondering what my line of business is, i sell Fruit Parfait, Fruit Juices, Yoghurts, Healthy boxes e.t.c
I learnt my lesson and by the December that year, I participated in my first Trade fair sale and I made a lot of money.
Closing earlier the previous year made me broke as there was nothing coming in during the festive period. Rather, I was the one spending.
This leads me to the second point.
2. You don't Need everything that is on Sale
Smart business owners know that the December period is a time where a lot of people will want to spend and be spent😂
So, they put almost everything they are selling on Sale.
My dear brother and Sister, don't fall for it!😂
Not everything on sale is for you.
As a business owner, putting things on sale is mostly a strategy to make more sales.
So be wise to buy only things that you have budgeted for.
You'll find people that sell Fabrics come to you, they will want to cajole you to buy "ankara or lace" to give people as December gifts.
Dear friend, if it is not in your budget, don't fall for it.
The 3rd Advice I will give is this.
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It's not compulsory to Travel for Christmas.
Being from the Igbo tribe, I know how rampant it is for parents to always want to carry their entire family to the village every Christmas and New year.
Hmm. While this is a very good thing, I believe we should cut our clothe according to our size.
There's no point borrowing money to travel just to prove a point that you and your family are doing well in Lagos.
By the time January comes knocking, it will be unnecessary stress on you. So don't do it if you can't afford it.
The 4th advice is like it but this affects the children more.
While growing up, my parents didn't afford to take us for Christmas parties except that of our primary school.
But we had children whose parents were always taking them from one Christmas party to another.
Mind you, in these parties, they will pay a gate fee, pay for transportation to go there e.t.c.
While this is great, I believe the whole essence of Christmas is to foster togetherness, gratitude and love in the family.
If you know there's no money to go out on Christmas day for party, why not stay back at home and enjoy time with family and friends.
Coincidentally I stumbled upon a parenting coach on YouTube, Coach Wendy Ologe and she was talking about tips to make Christmas fun.
https://www.youtube.com/live/g3WfbtGAxCo?si=0wdPRK9EZUYQ6Lfu
I decided to share the link to her video here as I believe it will help one or two parents in planning a memorable Christmas for their family.
To bring this to a conclusion.
In the words of Coach Wendy, Christmas is not a time for competition.
If you cannot afford Chicken, pls buy Fish or meat, If you cannot afford bone straight hair, pls make a cheaper hair style.
If you cannot afford to buy new shoes or clothes pls wait till a later time.*
Most vendors increase their prices in festive season so if you don't buy your things early, you may be spending more when buying them during Christmas.
I hope with these few points of mine 😂, I've been able to convince you that Christmas is meant to be enjoyed, but not at the detriment of your Financial health.
This is so that we don't move from Detty December to Jerky January with many financial bumps.
I'm so excited, Christmas is here again💃💃💃
I will definitely be putting everything I listed here to use.
Thank you for reading to till this point.
This is my entry for the week 75 hive Naija prompt.
"All images not labelled with "source" were taken by me"