WHAT IS REALLY AND TRULY NECESSARY?

The alert comes in and you pay PHCN bills, subscription fees for DSTV, BIS, and WIFI/MIFI. A huge chunk of your salary is used for paying utility bills and you’re wondering how and if you’ll ever survive the 30days till the next payment….story of the life of a typical Nigerian employee.

Finding myself in that situation made me ask myself serious questions and also provide answers that were as honest to me as possible. I had to analyse my choices and financial habits and see what could be changed. I’ll share advise I got from my research in a practical way, since I’m currently living these advise.
Financial blogs suggest keeping a daily record of expenses, but the Naija reality makes it almost impossible. However, its all good advise, and you would be better putting it to use. The below are practical ways to begin the journey of being debt-free;

1. Your case is an emergency; And just like in the ER(Emergency Room), first thing to do is to stop the bleeding. STOP all loans from every source.

2. Start saving immediately; Start saving at least 20% of your salary. Put a standing order on your account(ask your bank or account officer).

3. Try to get out of existing debt; List your debt from the smallest up on the list to biggest debt down on the list, then start working your way out of it from smallest to biggest debt.

4. Make a monthly budget; And this time please adhere, *side eye*, It’s actually easier than it sounds. Simply list all regular expenses (Rent, School Fees and Feeding) and list all your irregular expenses, (Eating Out, movies, car maintenance, medicals). The trick is to break it all down to monthly expenses, even go a step further and open an account for them. Break it down into monthly expenses and you will see a reduction in expenses. When there is a defined purpose for money, waste is highly unlikely.

Above all, you consumption habits should be altered hereby reducing the likelihood of getting into debt again.