It rained two days ago and believe me that was an odd one because the bank of rain supposed to have been exhausted since early October. Just yesterday I wake up shivering and as i opened the curtains in my room i was given a goodmorning smile by the harmatten that filled the sky
The harmatten is finally here!
This reminded me yet again that we are in the best season of the year that comes with spending a lot of money. If you do not have money during this season then you will actually miss out in the fun and exciting part of Christmas. This season almost every businesses are doing mind blowing Christmas promos and black fridays. It's an opportunity to get things that you really need at an affordable price too. If care is not taken you might end up buying more than you budgeted just because you saw them cheaper.
Yesterday, my customer who owns a boutique started her xmas sales. I went there to take a look at what she brought out for sales. I saw this sandals that I really like to buy for my girls. She bought them last year November and it was fifteen thousand naira then, but this year she put the ones remaining on sales for just eight thousand naira. I jumped at it and bought two for my girls. I saw other fine clothes there that will fit my girls but I didn't plan on getting the clothes. My plan when I left my house to her boutique was the sandals only. So the first way to avoid over spending in this period is to ** BE DISCIPLINED**.
In this season business owners are prepared for us all and they have already packaged new trending offers in vague which ofcourse you won't want to miss out on too. To go to any major market in this period will be very stressful because you will find it very hard to navigate through because of the many crowd in the market that came shopping. This high demand for goods skyrocketed the prices of things in the market.
I went to buy a jumpsuit for myself in the market and oh boy there were many new designs that left me in a big state of dilemma on which one to choose. The prices were on a high side too and way above my budget. The seller asked me to increase my budget a little so that it can get me the jumpsuits that I really like. I told her no that I have no intention of increasing my budget. She finally brought out the jumpsuits that fall into my budget and i was able to see few that I really love. If something i want to buy is higher than my budget instead of increasing my budget I will rather seek for an alternative. So the second way is to STICT TO MY BUDGET.
I have an uncle then that I despised for his stinginess while growing up. He lives in one of the Northern states with his family. I despised him because he was too stingy when it comes to giving money to people. One thing about the Christmas season in my tribe is that it's a period to give out monetary gifts too. My other uncles will give us 500 naira each and some will even give us one thousand naira each whenever they come to our house to greet grandma but this particular uncle of mine will give us just a hundred naira each. Sometimes he will reduce it to fifty naira. Then oneday as I was going to the backyard to fetch water from the tank I overheard him discussing with his wife.
Remember when they ask you for money, give them twenty naira or fifty naira or in worse case tell them that you are coming and run away.
This made me to hate that uncle more as I realised that they were doing it intentionally and not just because it happened to be the only money in their pocket at that particular time. But now that I am also an aunt, i have realised that they were just trying not to overspend all in the name of Christmas season. This uncle brings a lot of yams, bag of rice , groundnut, kuli kuli and other foods that are very popular in the North for us during the Christmas. He must have spent a lot as while and there is nothing wrong with him protecting his pocket from running completely dry. So the third way I will avoid over spending is to AVOID
PLEASING EVERYBODY.
