If you just came from a more month at the end of the money type of situation, the last thing you want is to be back in that rabbit hole within a couple of days. We don’t want you to be that person. That’s why we are giving you these money-saving tips.

Yes, now you feel like a philanthropist and your pockets are so loaded that you feel they are too heavy for you. You can literally afford anything you want to at this point. We are here to tell you. Please don’t. 

 

Last week, I went for a financial accountability talk. If there is one thing that I left with was, if you feel like splashing money around, you may just want to delay that decision for 24 to 48 hours. High chances are that you will have changed your mind. You’ll also realise that whatever it is you were itching to buy is not as urgent nor is it as necessary as it appeared. 

Those zeros at the end of your M-Pesa balance or bank account can trick you to think that you have an endless flow of cash. So you go about using them like there’s no tomorrow. Be careful. Make sure you know where your money is going. Make sure you are frugal with every purchase. Frugal just means that you opt for the affordable and ask for that Ksh 10 coin change back. Budget for the entire month and not for one weekend. Whilst at it, map out your needs. Have savings. That portion that you will not touch come what may because this will go into future-proofing yourself and possibly your people. 

Is this a pet peeve? You want to pay for a gym membership, hire cars, sleep in hotels and consume things on loan. This is the surest way of getting yourself into a never-ending cycle of debt. It doesn’t have to come to this. 

 

Surely you have a room in the house you can use for exercise. If you want to escalate that, you can take advantage of the space outside your house to do the jogging or running. 

 

Why are you swinging from hotel to hotel? Because you got money? Bad, bad decision. Sleep in your house, whether it’s rental or you are sharing it with a friend. Taking things out on loan and hiring staff like cars, clothes and shoes, probably to impress people, is the kind of life you want to look at through your rearview mirror. 

We have referenced future-proofing yourself on the second point. Let’s take it further. With every salary, you earn commit a certain percentage (decided by you) as savings and purely that. This is different from an emergency fund. This is the money that you will tap into should you need to start a side hustle or invest in stocks or any other investment in future. You really have to do this before you divide your salary into catering for the needs of the other people in your life. 

This sounds like the opposite of what we’ve been preaching up there. But honestly, you have worked really hard or is it smart, for that money. Surely, you need to feel good about it and once in a while, treat yourself to something good. Whatever satisfies your taste, feel free and go for it. Whilst at it, remember all the aforementioned points.