A joke about spending cautiously in December to avoid tagging one’s friends as “fake” when one unsuccessfully attempts borrowing from them in January trended on the social-sharing app, Twitter, some days ago. The reality is some people would like and share the post but would not heed that advice.
January is one of the months people accumulate most of the debt they struggle to pay throughout the year. The reason is not far-fetched: after the December celebrations come the January bills (school fees, rents etc.).
Considering the fact many companies pay the December salary ahead of the Christmas holiday, around 23rd typically, the employees (especially those without the 13th-month salary) have to work out a way to make their paycheck last nine days of December and 31 days of January.
Create a budget: Making a checklist of things you want to buy during the festive period and expenditure in January is a useful way of controlling spending.
Your budget should follow the 50:30:20 rules which advise you to spend half your income on necessities or needs, 30 percent on wants and invest the 20 percent.
Itemize all the major expenditures in January like rent and school fees-both of which prudence requires you should have saved the major chunk up to January.
It is advisable to set aside a part of your wants for any emergency to avoid asking friends for a loan in January. If you had transitionary income in December, keep them in the emergency fund.
Read also: Detty Fest still enthralls this December
Leverage December Gifts: In Nigeria, it is not unusual to receive gifts like food items and cash whether it is from your employee, family or friend. While it is tempting to throw “parte-after-parte”, wisdom requires many the most of such gifts so that you can allocate your funds to other things.
Give smartly: The festive season is a time to share and giving of gifts shows love and care towards family, spouse, girlfriends and boyfriend, less privileged etc. Since resources to meeting needs and wants are limited, you may need to prioritise the beneficiaries of your gifts.
Yes. You do not have to buy gifts for everyone on your street and in many cases all your loved ones want is just a token to show you care, not show expensive item.
If you can afford to and if necessary buy whatever you want for your loved ones otherwise you can take the opportunity to unleash your inner creative self, wrapping gifts yourself or creating hand-made cards.
Consider selling unused items and gifts: You can also make money selling off any unused item in December instead of keeping them especially if they are items you won’t need. An example might be a pair of shoes that don’t fit or an item you already have that was given as a gift.
