We all desire to save up money, it's one of our goals. We are either saving up for an investment, projects, education, vacation or rainy days. You all can agree with me that sometimes, despite our plans and goals, saving money seems difficult to achieve. The debit alerts continue to increase and it's disturbing.
I was at the saloon this yesterday to get my hair done, and a lady who was also there to do her hair kept complaining and lamenting on how it's becoming more difficult for her and her family to save up some money.
I had to share some points with her that have helped me stay disciplined over the years despite all the happenings in our country lately.
Lack Of Financial Literacy:
You will be surprised at the number of people that know nothing about saving money or money management. You seriously would not blame them, maybe some of us were not schooled properly on money. So we spend whatever comes our way.
I remember while we were growing up, on several fronts, my mum bought a local piggy bank (called Asusu in Hausa language) for me and my siblings. Her aim was if we must travel to the village at Christmas, then all of us must save whatever money people give to us. As a Nigerian then, there is no better place to spend your Christmas than in the village.
Even though my mom never sat any of us down to educate us on savings, somewhere in our little minds we knew we have to plan and save up for whatever we want to achieve. As I began to grow, I knew that, beyond what I know about savings, there was more to it. I started reading books on finance and I must say they have been helpful.
In order to overcome this challenge, people need to invest their time and resources on educating themselves on what money is and how to manage it. There are a lot of books and materials online that have different strategies on savings.
Source of income:
For some of us, our salary or what we get from our business is low. With the outrageous increase in price of fuel and commodities in the market in Nigeria, seriously it would be difficult to save up. I took a bike this yesterday morning to go out and the bike guy increased the money, I was like haba Mallam why are you increasing the money again, shey the one you guys increased is not enough and he told me the price of fuel was increased again a day before yesterday. I had to spend more than my budget today.
There is no other way to overcome this challenge than having multiple streams of income. Get a side hustle, do something other than what you are doing to earn more money.
Impulse spending and extravagant lifestyle:
Some people are not disciplined when it comes to buying and spending. They buy things they don't really need at the moment. There are times when I have money in my account, that's when ice cream, pizza, shawarma, pepper chicken and gizzard will be calling my name. That's also the only time I remember that I need a red shoe that will go with my handbag. Impulse spending.
The only way to overcome this is to prepare a budget and be disciplined to stay committed to it. Work on your mind, with the current situation in Nigeria I am becoming more disciplined. I have a list of things I really need at home and those are what I buy. Gone are the days I go to the market without a list, I buy just anything that looks good in my eyes. I am becoming more disciplined that I only buy what's on my list, every other thing looks like a tree to me. Work on your mind.
Lack of accountability:
Because some people do not have who they are accountable to, they spend the way they like. Yes, it's your money but you need to be accountable to someone.
The only way to overcome this challenge is to ask someone you trust to help you out. Some years ago, I had a friend that I was accountable to. To cut down my spendings, I spoke to her to help me out, and she was keeping tabs on my money. At first I was always getting angry, when I want to buy something and she turns me down; I will be like babe na my money oo, allow me buy wetin I want buy. But that paid off later on.
Saving money might really look difficult, but if we put our minds to it with discipline, it's achievable.
THANK YOU FOR READING TO THE END 🤗
