The holidays are here again and many Nigerians will pay visits to their favourite malls to pick or two things. For others, they may prefer to shop online. Whichever one you prefer, you need money to settle the transactions.
With the present economic situation in Nigeria, money is something you can’t afford to spend indiscriminately. Life continues after the holidays, and there will be utility bills to settle, children’s school fees and other essential responsibilities.
To prevent any financial hangover after the holidays, Jumia Travel shares five ways to prevent you from being in such situation.
1 Make a list of your cash flow
The number of financial sources you have will go a long way in determining how you spend during the holiday. This is because if one source is exhausted, others will suffice during the holidays. Another way is to allocate each financial source to a particular responsibility. Source one may be for Christmas and source two may be for school fees. And if you have one single source, it is advisable to avoid Christmas spending so that you will not incur debts.
2 Develop a budget
After listing the sources of your income, you should then develop a budget. You should not do this alone. Involve members of your immediate family so that the budget will reflect what they want. The budget should be based on available income.
3 There should be no impulse buying
If is not in the budget, you should not buy it. Impulse buying will no doubt make you spend more. Except what you want is very important, you shouldn’t purchase. This will help you save money.
4 Be smart about giving gifts
Exchanging gifts is an important feature of the holidays. If it is one or two persons you can offer gifts, budget for just that. Do not go overboard by giving out gifts with reckless abandon. This will not do you any good. By the way, you can simply apologise to those who didn’t get anything from you.
5 Change your mindset
Christmas is a time for you to have a good time with friends and family. You need money to have wonderful moments. However, if you don’t have the money to pull this off, you shouldn’t venture into it. Don’t say because a friend is doing it then you have to do the same. So, change your mindset if you don’t want to be in a financial mess after the holidays.
Contributed by Adeniyi Ogunfowoke, PR Associate, Jumia Travel
Skype: Sleeksavvy
